CustomerFaithful

In recent weeks, I’ve been researching business travellers – listening to their stories and exploring their world. And the wisdom of this business crowd is centred around productivity – every individual I spoke to had their own sacred rituals and routines for multi-tasking and making the best use of time. At the heart of this [...]

At first glance, it might seem things could hardly get worse for Toyota – up to 8m cars being recalled globally on safety concerns, new sales predicted to be as much 20% down for February 2010, whilst tackling embarrassing congressional hearings in the United States. Yet the biggest fear for Toyota execs should be what [...]

In these tough economic times, it’s hardly rocket science for companies to focus on protecting their business. And for the embattled airline industry, fighting to hang on to the loyalty of your customer base is an obvious priority. Or so you’d think. I’ve flown British Airways for over 20 years in business (that’s a business [...]

Tuesday was not a good day. From just after 0900 through till nearly 1800, all my company email stopped working – inbound, outbound, everything. At first, you’re unaware of the scale of the problem – an email gets bounced, it happens. But then you notice, after 30 mins or so, that every email is failing, [...]

We can all relate to that slightly nervy feeling, when you sense you’ve been waiting at the airport baggage carousel just a bit too long, right ? Perhaps part of the problem is that all you can do is stand (no seats of course – thanks, BAA) and wait – you feel you have no control [...]

A few weeks ago, I had some landscaping work completed on my garden. When the landscapers had finished and came to tidy up the site at the end, they mistook some wooden supports for my coldframe as rubbish, and junked them in the skip ! What to do ? Find an alternative support, like a few bricks ? [...]

Since August, there have been fragile signs that the world’s major economies are starting to move in the right direction again. Yet most forecasters agree that any recovery will be slow, making investment decisions difficult for listed companies and traders alike. So – how can forward-thinking firms balance their need to be prudent in today’s [...]

Rail travel in Switzerland (known as SBB) is widely recognised as being one of, if not the best in the world. Having spent nearly 20 years using it first-hand, I’d agree that it’s hard to fault. Unsurprisingly, the cornerstone of its success lies in the functional basics – a reliable, punctual and comprehensive network. Yet [...]

2009 is turning out to be another wet summer in the UK, encouraging the annual migration of British tourists to fly off to warmer climes. Many of them will fly with troubled British Airways through its still-shiny Terminal 5, which handles some 30 million BA passengers each year. So who better than ‘the world’s favourite [...]

With all the gloom and doom over politics in Britain these days, it’s easy to paint the whole Government Machine in one dreary (or maybe angry ?) colour. But I took heart from Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC to its friends) this week – believe or not, they provide great customer service. Now, I can [...]