In business and leadership, the pursuit of distinction and the delivery of the Ultimate Customer Experience® are paramount. Yet, a pervasive challenge that I’ve observed in several organizations threatens to undermine these objectives: the echo chamber effect.

This...

The late, great Tom Winninger – a friend and Speakers Roundtable colleague – wrote a book over thirty years ago titled "Price Wars." And even though Tom was a brilliant visionary, I think even he would look at the level of pressure surrounding commoditization today and be...

This afternoon, I’m in a meeting in Buffalo, New York, listening to leaders of this retail company and their vendors talk about commoditization in today’s marketplace. In today’s rapidly changing business landscape, one of the greatest challenges organizations faces is the...

Walking through airports this past week, it seemed like every terminal had a new store featuring Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” equipment. As their website says, the technology “lets consumers enter a store, grab what they want, and get going.” In the ever-evolving...

Almost everyone with a few years of experience and who shares a comparable profession to mine – speaking for corporate conferences and consulting and training in sales and customer experience – will have a similar story.

Somewhere along the way, we encountered the executive who told...

Imagine a world where businesses not only understand their customers' current needs but anticipate their future ones. This isn't just a dream—it's the key to distinction in a crowded market. Your challenge in creating distinction and standing out from the competition lies, in part, in...