Leadership and Managing


Recent Leadership and Managing Articles

Obit: Monument Co. Misjudges Funeral Industry, Pays with Its Life

By Phaedra Hise |  Jan 1, 1997

A look at how a well-known memorial-carving company went belly upafter new owners took over.  Read more

Hollywood Lures High School Animators with Sweet Deals

By Hal Plotkin |  Jan 1, 1997

An innovative training program in a California high school is churning out graduates who command high salaries.  Read more

Garbage In, Garbage Out

By Scott Adams |  Jan 1, 1997

The creator of the comic strip Dilbertcomments on what's happening to trash cans in some big name-brandcompanies.  Read more

Measuring Morale

By Jack Stack |  Jan 1, 1997

A noted CEO tells readers there is only one way to know how morale is at your company: ask the people who work there.  Read more

Comforts from Head to Toe

Jan 1, 1997

People enjoy being comfortable, and they notice when they're not. Here are two businesses that gain customer gratitude by providing creature comfo...  Read more

Giving Where It Counts

Jan 1, 1997

Do your customers really need another box of chocolates or corporate knickknack during the holidays? For years, General Engineering Laboratories, a consul...  Read more

Good Psychology

Jan 1, 1997

Everyone knows the auto-repair business has an image problem. "Customer satisfaction is hard to achieve when the industry's revenues are based on large, u...  Read more

Who Was That Masked Shopper?

Jan 1, 1997

When you have one location, quality control is simple. But as a company grows, it's hard to keep tabs on everything. The founders of the Ruby's chain of r...  Read more

Inside Inspiration

Jan 1, 1997

"Employees know what they need most to serve customers best," says Patty Remen, corporate relations manager for The Davis Companies. The $47-million staff...  Read more

Lowering the Language Barrier

Jan 1, 1997

Finding a good interpreter is crucial to providing foreign customers with services such as equipment-orientation seminars. Marty McCann, an audio engineer...  Read more

First-Class Passenger Lounge

Jan 1, 1997

When you enter Direct Tire, based in the Boston area, you pass under a banner that reads, "We'll Fix It So It Brakes." That slogan, which owner Barry Stei...  Read more

Keep in Touch

Jan 1, 1997

Are your customers frustrated when they can't reach you? Do they have to be transferred three times before reaching the right person? Here's how three dif...  Read more

My One and Only

Jan 1, 1997

Peter Bull of Cherry Hill, N.J., didn't want his customers to feel the frustration he feels when talking with a customer-service rep who doesn't know him ...  Read more

A Stitch in Time

Jan 1, 1997

Diteck, a manufacturer of surge protectors, based in Largo, Fla., tracks the true cost of customer service independent of warranty costs or operating erro...  Read more

Company Tracks Comments of Customers and Employees

Jan 1, 1997

Are you tired of tracking customer complaints with inefficient paper systems? So was AFFINA Corp., a Troy, Mich., supplier of market research and database...  Read more

Favoring Family Values

Jan 1, 1997

Working parents constantly juggle the demands of work and family life. Employees who spend work time worrying about their children or elderly relatives sp...  Read more

Prescription for Burnout

Jan 1, 1997

"All you have to do is answer customer support phones for two hours to realize how stressful it is and how important those reps are to building customer l...  Read more

Educate Staff about Past Mistakes

Jan 1, 1997

When the office gets busy, there's a great temptation to dictate orders to the troops and skip explaining the whys of company policy. "But don't do it," u...  Read more

Conversation Peace

Jan 1, 1997

When a customer working with several employees at a company gets two different answers to the question, "What's going on?"-- who's right? At Sealund Assoc...  Read more

Every Complaint Scores a Homer

Jan 1, 1997

Tom Dickson, owner of the Lansing Lugnuts, a Class A minor-league baseball team, based in Lansing, Mich., likes to use customer complaints as a guide for ...  Read more

Revive the Routing Slip

Jan 1, 1997

Houston-based Pro-Mark, the world's largest manufacturer of drumsticks for musicians, drums up attention to clients' needs and positive feedback by Read more

Nuts-and-Bolts Problem Solving

Jan 1, 1997

Floor employees closest to production are often best qualified to respond to customers' needs. Bob and Tom Jagemann, who run a family-owned tool-and-die s...  Read more

Nurture the Nurturers

Jan 1, 1997

Do you ask employees for their opinion on improving customer service? Adept Inc., an information-technology consulting firm, headquartered in Wellesley, M...  Read more

Ask, Don't Tell

Jan 1, 1997

Dickinson Theatres uses the motto "Ask, don't tell" to create a strong customer-service training orientation at its 39 locations. Jeff Garber, operations ...  Read more

I've got to cut costs. Any unusual ideas?

By Stephanie L Gruner |  Jan 1, 1997

It's not unheard of to ask customers to pitch in when high costs are choking your business. Here's how two CEOs did it: Ask for help wi...  Read more

Focus Lens on Focus Groups

Jan 1, 1997

Most people are aware of customer focus groups, in which customers are brought together and asked by a professional facilitator their opinions regarding a...  Read more

Form a Customer Advisory Board

Jan 1, 1997

The key to outstanding customer service is to find out what customers want and then give it to them. The best way to do that, contends Gary Nelson, is to ...  Read more

Keep Customers in the Know to Grow

Jan 1, 1997

We want our clients to understand the market and how to get ahead," says Victoria Manning, marketing analyst for John Hewitt and Associates (JHA), a risk ...  Read more

I Wish Our Sales Presentations Were More Polished

Jan 1, 1997

HMC Group, an approximately $16-million architectural-design business in Ontario, Calif., holds dress rehearsals for sales presentations--with an audience...  Read more

Make Errors Headline News

Jan 1, 1997

Successful firms learn from their mistakes if they're careful not to sweep errors under the rug. "Unfortunately, many customers mistakenly think they do u...  Read more

Customer-Driven Bonus Plan

Jan 1, 1997

Irv Shapiro recalls summoning his managers and asking, "How many of our clients are actively referring customers to us?" Days later, the answer came back:...  Read more

Help Employees Reduce Work-Related Stress

Jan 1, 1997

Employee stress and customer service are like oil and water--the two don't mix. A stressed-out employee in any industry is likely to be irritable or downr...  Read more

Phone Manners

Jan 1, 1997

Top-rate customer service often depends on doing little things right. Michael Bruns, CEO of Comtrak, a Memphis-based courier company, surveyed his custome...  Read more

Reward Experience with Equity

Jan 1, 1997

Training and retaining employees can be crucial to achieving successful service. Clean Cut, a full-service landscaping company, in Austin, Texas, accompli...  Read more

Turn Salespeople into Profit Watchers

Jan 1, 1997

Manco, a fast-growing distributor of duct tape and other consumer products based in Westlake, Ohio, sells to Wal-Mart and otherbig customers. In the past,...  Read more