Category: Customers and customer service

  • Our many everyday opportunities to negotiate

    I might write about negotiation, but I’m still amazed at how often everyday negotiation opportunities present themselves. And identifying such opportunities is nothing short of critical, as finding chances to negotiate is often the only way to make life negotiable. To see what I mean, consider three recent interactions with a single bike shop. The…

  • Dissatisfactory service: Separating the person from the problem?

    It happens too often: dissatisfactory service spoils an otherwise satisfactory experience. Given the ubiquity of such events, it probably makes sense to consider our reactions carefully, comparing them against the types of reactions that can make life negotiable. Let’s start by considering two real and recent experiences from my own life: Last Friday, we arrived…

  • Making hotels negotiable

    The Memorial Day weekend saw me and many others staying in a hotel. And staying in a hotel reminded me just how many aspects of a hotel stay are negotiable—how many aspects of a hotel stay often require negotiation to make life negotiable. Luckily, many hotel negotiations rely heavily on just one principle: the notion…