Steve Montgomery

Are online reviews undermining the trust consumers have in sales associates? That depends on the sales associate. Like all of us, I have dealt with sales personnel that I felt were great and others that were not so great. Frankly, I would rather deal with a live, knowledgeable sales...

When determining the amount to pay out as a referral bonus, we encourage clients to look at what their cost of replacement is -- both hard and soft. Once this amount has been determined, they can then determine what portion of that they would like to invest in having...

What are customers likely to remember more -- the person that said hi at the door, or the fact that someone guided them to the shortest checkout lane? I think the answer is clear.

That being said, on my latest trip to a Walmart the "greeter" was standing at...

Many of our holiday celebrations center around a meal. Super Bowl is all about grazing. Instead of a the meal being the focal point, the TV(s) are.

With the other events there might be some nutritious fare as part of the meal. With Super Bowl is more typically what...

Having a paid spokesman talk about your product or service is not new. However, in the ads there was always a disclaimer that said, albeit in very fine print, that the person was being compensated. But that's not true for the online reviews and that is the basic difference. ...

It used to be that the disgruntled customer and the retailer had a reasonably private resolution to any issue. True there was always word of ought (good or bad), but if the issue and its resolution were not fodder for the world to chime in about. Today, with all...

I admit I am not a Starbucks customer, so I don't have a large number of shopping occasions to base my observations on. I agree that expanding the menu to other day parts is a good use of the real estate, but expect that many will object to the...

Part of the determination of the success of Target's attempt will be determined on how one defines effective. There is no question that having unique merchandise or models blunt the ability of someone to make exact comparisons (just look at what Sam's has done in this area). Does that...

This will gain Walmart positive publicity which is never a bad thing. They are going to see lots of really bad items, but there are enough new items in the marketplace every day that it is likely that there will be a few winners.

In order to pay more I need to either charge more, have fewer employees to do the same work, etc. We know charging more isn't going to work as customers will not pay more. Having fewer employees isn't likely to work as there is a defined amount of work....