Scott McKain

Frankly, it shouldn’t matter if it’s a movie about superheros or a new tech device you just have to own…ANY product or service that can attract over ONE BILLION DOLLARS in sales over its first couple of weeks in the marketplace can probably teach us something or two we could learn about improving our own organizations. So it is with the hit film, “The Avengers,” which over the weekend became only the eleventh movie in history to join the Billion Dollar Club of features earning that level of ticket sales. Here’s an astounding aspect — the movie is only in its second week of release here in the U.S. What has made “Avengers” such a phenomenon? It’s easy to dismiss its success as solely based upon the star power of characters like Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the rest — and the charismatic actors playing the roles like Robert Downey, Jr. — however, there is much... (more)

Too “good” to be true?

My wife and I laughed about it — even though, I guess, when you really think about it, the story wasn’t funny. Perhaps, it was because it is just so darned strange. Did you see it? A guy, Marek Olszewski, breaks up in Poland with his girlfriend, Anna Maćkowiak…he just unexpectedly dumps her for another woman. However, as the story — published in print or online by FOX News, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, Yahoo! News, MSN, New York Post, and New York Daily News (among others) — goes, poor Marek was having dental problems…and his dentist is his form... (more)

A customer’s perception determines their evaluation of you…

In a recent interview, New York Times columnist David Brooks remarked he was disappointed with President Obama — and with his own decision to vote for Obama in the election four years ago. Conversely, he also mentioned his good friend, the Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne, was excited by Obama, and happy in how he had cast his ballot. Interestingly — and this is NOT a political discussion, it is about how a customer/voter evaluates your performance — Brooks then explains his reason for dissatisfaction, and his friend’s justification for the opposite conclusion. Brooks expected Oba... (more)

Opening the Valve to a distinctive organization

Seth Godin recently posted a link to the employee handbook of Valve — the company famous for video games such as “Left 4 Dead,” “Half Life,” “Day of Defeat,” and many others. Founded by former Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington in 1996, the handbook is so incredibly powerful it could be the source of hundreds of posts. Let’s start with this quote: “We are all stewards of our long-term relationship with our customers. They watch us, sometimes very publicly, make mistakes. Sometimes they get angry with us. But because we always have their best interests at hea... (more)

What are you doing to provide what people remember?

Immediately after I finish a presentation — as I did yesterday in New York for Stop & Shop, for example — I receive comments on implementing the Ultimate Customer Experience ® and on creating organizational distinction. Give it a month, however, and people remember Taxi Terry, our small-town grocery store, and my wreck in a Hertz rental car. Why is that the case? The latest issue of Fast Company provides a great insight into this phenomenon. It from an interview with Steve Jobs relating an epiphany he had shortly after he and his kids watched the DVD of “Snow White.” “The technol... (more)