Chip Bell's Page
http://www.chipbell.com/blog/
Chip R. Bell is a senior partner with the Chip Bell Group and manages the office near Atlanta. He has served as consultant, trainer, or speaker to such major organizations as GE, Microsoft, State Farm, Marriott, Lockheed- Martin, Cadillac, KeyBank, Ritz-Carlton Hotels, Pfi zer, Eli Lilly, USAA,...
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"What is impressive is not only how Winters builds a case for the urgency and need for bold, inclusive conversations but ...
This practical, accessible, nonjudgmental handbook is the first to help individuals and organizations recognize and preve...
This book is the first practical, hands-on guide that shows how leaders can build psychological safety in their organizat...
"La’Wana Harris has opened this coach’s eyes to the power of coaching practices to create new paths for diversity and inc...
Change is difficult but essential—Esther Derby offers seven guidelines for change by attraction, an approach that draws p...
Sought-after speaker and consultant Joan Kuhl arms young women with the tools they need to transform male-dominated corpo...
Islamist terrorism is not about religion, says Leena Al Olaimy, an Arab Muslim, Dalai Lama Fellow, and social entrepreneu...
Most books for people who would rather get a root canal than face a roomful of strangers tell readers how to fight agains...
“This is a must-read for bosses and subordinates alike, as it exposes our flaws but teaches us how we can work together t...
In forty-two succinct, surprising essays, legendary scholar Henry Mintzberg brings management down from the clouds and on...
Without a deep understanding of your company’s culture, any change effort you undertake will fail. Bestselling author Jon...
We are living in a time when dishonesty and duplicity are becoming commonplace. Each of us can fight this cultural corrup...
Tom Szaky sets out to do the impossible – eliminate all waste. This book paints a future of a “circular economy” that rel...
Top Cornell law professor Lynn Stout and her coauthors Tamara Belinfanti and Sergio Gramitto offer a visionary but practi...
Veteran project manager and University of California professor Zachary Wong identifies the eight most common people probl...
The new edition of a bestselling classic, Help Them or Grow Watch Them Grow offers advice on talent retention for the mod...
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
Hardwire Learning into Customer Contact Performance
A reputable B2B company recently received feedback indicating widespread customer concern they were not helping their customers remain on the cutting edge of their own industries. The company was so focused on trying to sell they lost sight of helping their customers stay informed on their new ...
April 19, 2017
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
Guest post by James Mapes The founder of Quantum Leap Thinking, creator of The Transformational Coach, and an expert on the psychology of applied imagination, James Mapes is a highly acclaimed business speaker and personal excellence coach. HOW TO IGNITE YOUR BRAIN WITH STORYTELLING Thos...
April 19, 2017
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
“Is this a happy day for you?” I cheerfully asked the sales clerk as I was checking out of a large retail store. Ironically, “Joy to the World” was playing in the background and twinkling holiday lights were everywhere. To be honest, my query had an ulterior motive. I was trying to lift up ...
April 19, 2017
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
Bill Treasurer is a Kaleidoscope Leader
Kaleidoscopes are really cool toys. Turn them or shake them and they surprise you with their ever changing cavalcade of sparkles! But, the stones inside (granddaughters call them jewels) never change. You don’t open up a kaleidoscope and change the cut glass that creates the visual magic. Great...
April 19, 2017
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
A More Perfect Derriere: Confident Humility
Guest post, by Bill Treasurer Leaders are likely to get a butt kick during some point (if not many times) during their career. Butt kicks are life’s mysterious and painful way of reminding us of the dangers of too much or too little confidence. There is a delicate balance to leadership. Let’s b...
April 19, 2017
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
Unleashing the Power of Small Batch Service
The news announces that Sears is closing stores. Last week Macy’s and JC Penney made similar announcements. What’s happening to big box merchandising? Some can be blamed on the change in buyer demographics—“shop ‘til you drop” baby boomers are buying less as they approach their later years; mil...
April 19, 2017
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
We checked into the Lake Lure Inn. Built in 1927, the antique North Carolina hotel served as command central for the making of the movie Dirty Dancing. You now can stay in the Patrick Swayze Suite or the Jennifer Gray Suite. Furnished with exquisite period furniture with meticulous attention t...
September 30, 2016
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
Olympic Service with Abundance
The antique pipe under the bathroom sink at my weekend river house finally busted, streaming water all over the floor. Fortunately, I was there when it happened and could quickly stop the hemorrhaging. But, it was 9 o’clock at night and I needed a part I did not have in order to repair the p...
August 31, 2016
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
A Ring for Your Customer’s Horses
The Medici family was the richest family in Italy in the 15th and 16th centuries. Based in Florence, their banks (one of the first branch banking systems in history) loaned money to kings and rulers throughout Europe. They were to Europe what John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie or J.P. Morgan w...
July 27, 2016
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
Serving Customers When Pain Is Involved
The Cincinnati Zoo is forced to shoot a rare gorilla that potentially threatened a boy who had fallen into the gorilla cage. Disney World lost a 2-year old guest to an alligator in an on-property lagoon. A massive hurricane put the local utility company in its bull’s eye. All these tragedies in...
July 11, 2016
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
Walk into the lobby of a Westin Hotel and your nose knows the scent suddenly shifts from the “smell of the street” to a signature fragrance called “White Tea.” Reach the checkout counter of Dallas garden center Nicholson-Hardie and you can pet a big calico cat sprawled across the counter comple...
July 11, 2016
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
Lighting Up Customers With Sprinkles
Today was my semi-annual dental cleaning. My dentist, Dr. Norm Lee, is a big fan of “only cleaning the teeth you plan to keep!” I got more than clean teeth; I got service with sprinkles. But, I am getting way ahead of myself. My teeth cleaning started with a text two weeks ago reminding me of ...
May 25, 2016
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
The EASY Way to Customer Loyalty
Guest Post by Joseph Michelli, Ph.D Ok, the title is a smidge misleading. If customer loyalty was something easily achieved, the American Customer Satisfaction Index would not be approaching a 9-year low. However, “EASE” is a key to driving customer satisfaction, engagement, loyalty and referr...
April 12, 2016
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
The Platters were a favorite singing group of mine. They had forty songs that made the Top 100; four that were #1 hits. One of their top songs opens with the lyrics: “You’ve got the magic touch; it makes me glow so much. It casts a spell, it rings a bell, the magic touch.” Now, assume your cus...
April 12, 2016
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
Rethinking the Value Zone: Why Focusing on its Employees First was the Right Move for HCLT
Guest Post by David Burkus In February 2006, Vineet Nayar, the president and CEO of HCL Technologies, one of the largest IT service providers in India, made a shocking announcement to a global meeting of their biggest customers. In short, he told them that they were no longer his top priority. ...
April 12, 2016
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
The Secrets of Leadership Revealed!
There is an old adage that goes, “authority is the last resort of the inept and frustrated.” Parents who have found themselves relying on “…Because I said so” to direct a reluctant child know the absolute truth of this adage. When rank becomes the only means of ensuring compliance, one has long...
April 12, 2016
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
Create a Stained Glass Experience
My son and his fiancé elected to get married in a large antique church in mid-town Atlanta. Their choice of church was driven in part by the magnificent stained glass windows in the sanctuary. Just at the “I do” part of their late afternoon ceremony, the setting sun suddenly showered through on...
January 29, 2016
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
Leading a Culture of Innovation
A CEO met with her senior staff and posed a typical CEO question: “What strategies and tactics would you recommend if we needed to increase our productivity by 10%?” Her executives quickly outlined belt-tightening steps and “do more with less” recommendations. Then she asked, “What if needed to...
January 6, 2016
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
Host! The word carries a variety of meanings, each painted in the color “help.” It conjures a maître de escorting a guest to the best table; a hotel concierge taking the stress out of a tourist’s holiday; or the greeter at a large party ensuring no detail is overlooked. And, it is the perfect m...
December 26, 2015
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
‘Twas the night before conference and all through the hall, not a vendor was stirring, no emails no calls. The banners were hung ‘ore the expo hall floor, and signage was out by each breakout room door Attendees were nestled in hotel room beds, while visions of networking danced in their...
December 13, 2015
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
Making change happen in organizations would be a lot easier if there weren’t those pesky resistors. There are the angry types filled with long memories of pain. There are the pessimistic types who would throw a wet blanket on the most carefully planned party. Finally, there are the silent gru...
November 24, 2015
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
Dont Get Sucker Punched by Competitors
“Sucker punch” is an interesting moniker for an unexpected blow for a competitor. Historically a label from the world of boxing, its use has been expanded to the business world. The implication is a hit that should have been predicted. The fact that the inevitable was missed or ignored leaves t...
November 19, 2015
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
Customer Experience – On Purpose
“Every business must serve a social purpose”. These are not the words of a social campaigner or a politician; they are the words of a banker, Ashok Vaswani, the CEO of Retail and Business Banking at Barclays, one of the world’s largest banks. Barclays has been involved in at least one major tra...
October 28, 2015
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
Who’s “Killing” Your Customers?
Jerry Lee Lewis (aka, The Killer) has been a wild country music singer performing for over sixty years! His performances are electrifying with acrobatic boogie-woogie piano playing and wall-to-wall non-stop passion. Having attended his concerts more than once, I have watched him amaze huge audi...
October 28, 2015
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
Today is October 8th. National Customer Service Week started on Monday and has run through the week. However, we started the ‘celebration tips countdown’ a full week before. With a hat-tip to former Tonight Show host, Dave Letterman, we have been offering you a way celebrate the week…and, all...
October 9, 2015
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
National Customer Service Week has been this week–October 5-9. After bringing you ten days of ideas, today we end our ten-day celebration countdown. We will have one more thought provoking blog on Monday, October 12th. Don’t miss it! I took my beloved Lucchese boots to McMillan’s shoe repair st...
October 9, 2015
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
Build Customer Loyalty through Participation
“Dinner on the ground” was code for participation in small towns in the South when we were growing up. While this event went with all family reunions, its most special form of community occurred after certain church services. “Dinner on the ground” was a super event for little boys to run, holl...
October 7, 2015
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
Kermit the Frog (a.k.a., Jim Henson) sang an insightful song on both Sesame Street and The Muppet Show—“It’s Not Easy Being Green.” It could be about remarkable service. Some of the lyrics (written by Joe Raposo) go, “But green can be cool and friendly-like; and green can be big like an ocean, ...
October 7, 2015
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
Surprise Your Customers with Hidden Treasure
We had our granddaughters visit one weekend at our lake home. There is absolutely nothing more jarringly creative than a nine-year-old or more innocent than a seven-year old. Grandparents wonder why their grandchildren can’t stay “puppies!!” One morning we decided to stage an elaborate backyard...
October 7, 2015
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Chip Bell posted a blog post
The outcome in grocery shopping is to get groceries desired as conveniently as possible, but that’s not the final memory the customer has of the experience. Ever gotten home and discovered two eggs were cracked? Or have a bloody cut of meat soil the birthday card you bought for Aunt Molly? Too ...
October 7, 2015
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Chip Bell is now a member of Berrett-Koehler Community
