Mrs. Erickson and the Vision Circle

All I need is room enough to lay a hat and a few friends.
—Dorothy Parker

Mrs. Parker, one of the great wits of the 20th century, is also well known for being one of the hosts of the Algonquin Round Table. At these weekly luncheons, she and her New York literary friends traded recommendations, bon mots, and barbs, made new friends, and praised their old friends.

Dear readers and friends, crowd around the table for luncheon. Having you here makes this the hottest ticket in town already! I’ve invited a few writers to share their fresh perspective. I hope you’ll enjoy getting to know them—leave them a comment, and come on back to share your thoughts around the Maximum Customer Experience Round Table!

The Power of Purpose (Tissue alert!) at Dennis Snow’s Blog

My own personal Robert Benchley recommends improving the Customer Experience over giving in to social media hype. Social Media Seduction at The Ad Contrarian

If you haven’t had enough of Girl-Scout-Think this week: [U.S.] Postal Service Possibly Eliminating Saturday Delivery at The Perfect Customer Experience

So YOU Want to Improve MY Customer Experience? Practical tips from guest blogger Brent Leary at The 1 to 1 Blog

Brent forgot to mention one critical improvement: Why You Need Luxury Loo Roll , but Nick Cernis has it covered at Put Things Off. Be warned: you’ll laugh your *ahem* tush off!

Be Better by Being Wrong at Standing Out From the Crowd

Ladies and Gentlemen (Mesdames et Messieurs…) from my favorite raconteur, The Deep Friar. After you stop laughing at his tale of woe, how would you fix this Experience?

Most unexpected guest at our Round Table: Advice to Local Yarn Shops at Knit Purl Girl. Believe it—this post is full of great inspiration for your small business!

I hope you’ve eaten and drunk your fill with these great critics, tastemakers, and storytellers. Let’s do lunch again soon.

Love ‘em? Hate ‘em? Learn something fantastic as you clicked around? Think I missed the best one of the week? Please share in the comments!

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

If you’re going to write, don’t pretend to write down. It’s going to be the best you can do, and it’s the fact that it’s the best you can do that kills you.
—Dorothy Parker

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12 Responses to “Announcing the MCE Round Table”

Friar says:
28 February 2009, 11:11 am

I like the one about the toilet paper! That’s my type of blog!

Though I’m puzzled about eliminated the Saturday mail delivery. You mean you guys get MAIL on SATURDAY? (In Canada..it’s always been Monday to Friday…ever since I can remmeber).

PS. Thanks for the link love. Who’d guessed one of my rants would make MCE?

Karen Swim says:
28 February 2009, 1:47 pm

Hi Kelly, I love the round table! Wow there was some great stuff here. I loved Dennis Snow’s piece and it contains advice that is applicable to us all. Are we working or working with purpose? It validates what I tell companies all the time. Connect your employees to the company’s vision and values, show them how what they do contributes to the whole and honor it. You will improve morale, productivity and your bottom line. I was shocked by the knit post, who knew that knitters could give us pointers on running a business! I always love Friar, and this post was no different. I had no idea that the post office was considering eliminating Sat. delivery but it makes sense. I don’t often check the mail on Saturdays anyway, nothing important ever seems to arrive, so would not miss it at all.

Karen Swim’s last blog post…Quiet Whispers and Banging Drums: The Magical Mystery of Silence

bob hoffman says:
28 February 2009, 2:01 pm

My favorite Dorothy Parker story:

She was late (as usual) with a piece for the New Yorker. She finally turns it in weeks after it was due. The editor asks her why it was so late. She says,”Someone else was using the pencil.”

Best,
Benchley

bob hoffman’s last blog post…How Advertising Works – Part 4: The Second Principle

Kelly Erickson says:
28 February 2009, 3:25 pm

Friar,

Nick always knows how to turn a real need into a super laugh. That’s how to be remembered and be influential. Which of course, is why I remembered you when it was time to change up our Saturdays. Thanks for the laugh and for making me think!

I’m not old enough to remember (whew! something I’m not old enough for!), but a colleague told me that Saturday delivery in the U.S. is a fairly recent thing, that came along with the direct mail explosion. Still, what struck me was that when your boat is leaking, poking more holes in it is NOT the answer…

Karen,

Glad you like it. I think putting old friends and new together a la Mrs. Parker will suit our weekends here at MCE nicely. And I can never find enough opportunities to work my favorite reads into my regular posts, so heeere goes!

Benchley,

You shoulda married her. She loved you, y’know.