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    • COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      Sharpening Your Skills: Understanding Customers
      09 Jan 2013Sharpening Your Skills

      Sharpening Your Skills: Understanding Customers

      In these previous articles, professors discuss a range of topics about customers: why they are not always right; understanding their motivations; providing them dramatically enhanced services; and making things right when you don't meet their expectations.
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      Questions To Be Answered

      • What's the biggest obstacle to excellence in service organizations?
      • Should I do what my customers tell me to do?
      • How can I understand my customers better?
      • After the screw-up, what next?

      What's The Biggest Obstacle Obstacle To Excellence In Service Organizations?

      Break Your Addiction to Service Heroes

      In their new book, Uncommon Service, coauthors Frances Frei and Anne Morriss show it is possible for organizations to reduce costs while dramatically enhancing customer service. The key? Don't try to be good at everything.

      Should I Do What My Customers Tell Me To Do?

      Customer Feedback Not on elBulli's Menu

      At its height, Chef Ferran Adrià's elBulli restaurant may have been the most popular in the world, but why? In professor Michael Norton's course, students learn about marketing from a business owner who says he doesn't care whether or not customers like his product.

      How Can I Understand My Customers Better?

      Empathy: The Brand Equity of Retail

      Retailers can offer great product selection and value, but those who lack empathy for their customers are at risk of losing them, says professor Ananth Raman.

      After The Screw-up, What Next?

      JetBlue's Valentine's Day Crisis

      It was the Valentine's Day from hell for JetBlue employees and more than 130,000 customers. Under bad weather, JetBlue fliers were trapped on the runway at JFK for hours, many ultimately delayed by days. How did the airline make it right with customers and learn from its mistakes? A discussion with Harvard Business School professor Robert S. Huckman.

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      Frances X. Frei
      Frances X. Frei
      UPS Foundation Professor of Service Management
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      Robert S. Huckman
      Robert S. Huckman
      Albert J. Weatherhead III Professor of Business Administration
      Unit Head, Technology and Operations Management
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      Michael I. Norton
      Michael I. Norton
      Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration
      Director of Research
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      Ananth Raman
      Ananth Raman
      UPS Foundation Professor of Business Logistics
      Chair, OPM
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