Using a low price loss leader item and training front line employees to upsell customers to a higher margin product is a practice that’s been around since Moses played goalie for the Egyptian soccer team. It’s also one of many such tactics that millennial and Gen Z-aged employees despise. Unless they’re being closely monitored by…
Immediately following the Columbine tragedy that rocked the world twenty years ago (4-20-1999), Frank DeAngelis vowed that he would remain the school’s principal until the class of first grade students in the elementary schools that fed into the high school had graduated. His goal was to prevent a mass exodus of faculty and staff and…
It’s 8:07 am in Denver and the daily newspaper “guaranteed to be delivered by 7 am” is not here. Again. And when it finally arrives, it will be thrown from the window of a hail-damaged 2006 Saturn Ion by a 30-something woman, and it will land at the edge of the curb at least 35…
When I hear the word family, beyond the mental images of my own, I can’t help but think of the Cleavers, the Bradys, the Cunninghams, and the Huxtables. Growing up, I probably spent as much time hanging out with those families as I did my own. Television families of the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s…
Walking through Denver International Airport on my way to Nashville last week, it wasn’t difficult to pick out the Southwest gates from those of all the other airlines. They were the only ones that looked like …well, like it’s late October. That’s because Southwest Airlines takes fun very seriously. They know if they promote a…
I went camping with my wife in the Colorado Rockies over the weekend. The campground was clean and pristine, particularly the public outhouses. Anyone who’s frequented campgrounds that have no running water knows how disgusting the restrooms generally are. The sign that hangs above the toilets in the two gender-neutral stalls reveals the answer to…
Ritz Carlton. Zappos. Starbucks. Nordstroms. Southwest Airlines. These iconic brands are legendary largely for the outstanding customer service they provide. That level of customer service is based upon a simple — but profound — leadership principle. And while the phrasing varies from one great organization to the next, the tenets of the principle don’t: Hire…
For a high school teacher, the most frustrating night of each semester is the one set aside for parent-teacher conferences. Although parent’s night for 1st and 2nd grade students always draws a full house, the parent-teacher conferences at the neighboring high school are sparsely attended, generally attracting only those parents of the highest achieving students. Those…
Growing up, I saw a lot of ads on TV and in magazines for products that were compared to Brand X. Of course, there was no such thing as Brand X, so advertisers had the freedom to disparage it as if it were the competitor’s product, and then point out how theirs was clearly superior. Mature adults…
As the keynote speaker for more than a hundred franchise conventions and meetings over the past decade, I believe I’ve uncovered the #1 reason for the huge chasm between those franchisees who are getting wealthy and those who are barely hanging on. While the economy, geography, and increased competition are big factors in a franchisee’s success, they are out of their control. But even…