Dan Blacharski
Stakeholder value delivers the greatest benefit to the corporation and shareholders
The greatest behind-the-scenes struggle throughout much of corporate America is the division between shareholder value and stakeholder value. For years publicly-held companies have focused on short-term shareholder value, and one need only listen in on any quarterly earnings call to understand that the biggest...
The real key to retail growth is last mile delivery
In the 1950s, suburban moms with bouffant hairdos, horn-rimmed glasses and long dresses phoned their local grocer, who took their order in the morning and sent over a high school kid on a bicycle later that afternoon. The modern idea of what has come...
Is retail really seeing a new normal?
One of the most important narratives in retail for 2019 is retail's "new normal," a deeply disruptive environment that calls for big changes to cater to the wants and needs of a new audience. Retailers need to move and adapt faster than they have...
The Green Customer Imperative
Green and eco-friendly policies were once on the fringe, but demand has risen dramatically and created a cycle of affordability, which in turns increases demand even further. Millennial customers in particular have a new set of expectations, and are increasingly demanding eco-friendly policies before...
Turn your customers into brand ambassadors
Despite the best intentions of Madison Avenue, a company's brand is elevated primarily through two areas: social media, and customer reviews. This reality takes control of brand value at least one step away from the marketer, pushing control closer to the customer, who has...
How companies in the TMT sectors are using disruptive customer strategies to stay relevant
For companies in the technology, media and telecommunications space, traditional B2B customer-focused tactics have been augmented by other tactics which have been traditionally used in the B2C and consumer space, such as social media. According to Corey Torrence, Managing Director at Blue Ridge Partners,...
2018 retail trends will focus more on customer experience, automation
Major shakeups in the retail industry, bankruptcies and closings, and a surprising number of once-flourishing shopping malls turning into deserted wastelands dominated the news in 2017 – but it's not all bad news for 2018. Retail experts are seeing exciting new trends, new store...
The Continuum of Human and Machine Customer Experience
In an increasingly competitive retail environment, competition on price, or even quality and mix of goods, will create only transitory wins. Those factors bring customers only until your competitor sees your success and then does the same thing. Most retailers understand that real success...
The myth of the retail apocalypse
Massive retail store closings and bankruptcies are causing concern, hype, and a little bit of over-reaction throughout the industry. While any growth-oriented enterprise will be rightfully concerned about the shrinkage, jumping to conclusions about a “retail apocalypse” is dangerous, and it’s even more dangerous...
Smart homes disrupting the construction industry
There’s a smart home in China that’s pretty advanced when it comes to what houses of the future may be like, which is why it’s called – understandably enough – the Baitasi House of the Future. Architects designed the home especially for Whaley, a...
Automotive customer service gets a boost from smart car tech
The auto repair industry is a latecomer to technology-driven customer service. An industry dominated by smaller shops and owner-operated franchises, customer service tends to revolve around customers phoning in or walking into a shop and talking to a live, but often overworked human who...
The End of Cold Calling
Every company has one. The traditional salesperson who travels out to meet customers in person, lives out of a suitcase, and is constantly on the phone. He’s a cold-caller. He knows everything about every prospect’s regional sports team, he remembers their birthdays and their...
Three New Rules for Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing, the low-budget cousin of the retail industry, has had a long and somewhat checkered past, often associated with black-hat SEO and get-rich-quick courses that promise untold wealth from selling other companies’ goods and services. At its most basic definition, affiliate marketing takes...
Retail Thinking Outside the Big Box
Store closings, shopping malls transforming into desolate wastelands, and retail deserts where once flourishing strip malls with high-profile anchor stores have been taken over by storefront churches, neighborhood bodegas and check-cashing stores with bars on the windows: It’s the retail apocalypse. Distressed bond issuers...
Gig Economy Fills an Unmet Need in Customer Experience
The “gig economy” has come out of the shadows, and is quickly redefining how we think of the customer experience. Two factors are powering the gig economy engine: The fact that millennial workers are looking for alternatives to traditional employment, and that the back-end...
The New Mobile Portal: More, Faster, Better
Customers have come to expect three things from companies with which they do business: More, Faster, and Better. Not only do they want these three things, they want it on every available platform, and in equal measure. No longer satisfied with seeing mobile versions...
Engaging the Customer in Healthcare
The healthcare industry has historically been behind the times in customer service and customer experience. Finance, banking, and consumer segments have long ago adapted, using innovations and a changing mindset to meet a new generation of consumers’ demand for omnichannel service, immediate access, and...
Is Your Company Giving Away Customer Loyalty?
Customer loyalty is something every company wants and needs, and every manager understands just how essential it is to growth and success. But often, the concept of “loyalty” it is often cloaked in fuzzy imperatives with no defined outcome or strategy, and driven by...
The Jimmy Stewart Model of FinTech Customer Experience
The financial services industry has been subject to radical swings in how they approach customer service. From the pre-automation era of the ‘50s and ‘60s, modern innovations such as online loan portals didn’t exist yet, but loan officers had more leeway in going outside...
Knowing What Your Customers Will Want Before They Realize It
Knowing what your customers want may be an obvious piece of intelligence to gain on your path to success, but it’s only the beginning. The real key is to know what they are going to want next year, before they even realize it themselves....