HOWARD TULLMAN JOINS LISA DENT ON WGN RADIO TO DISCUSS CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ISSUES

 LISTEN TO THE SHOW HERE

LISTEN TO THE SHOW HERE

NEW INC. MAGAZINE COLUMN BY HOWARD TULLMAN

 

Your Customers’ Biggest Problems Aren’t Unique. Use This 1 Simple AI Method to Fix Them Fast

The most valuable data-centric businesses today understand that the game has changed again.

EXPERT OPINION BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS @TULLMAN

Jun 22, 2026

 

Time is the scarcest resource in our lives. Data may be the oil of the digital economy, but the timeliness and contextual delivery of that data is what creates real value. One of the things I learned in my first business—providing market-based vehicle valuations to auto insurers—is that it didn’t matter how fresh and accurate our data was or how quickly we responded to inbound inquiries. What mattered is whether the folks asking for the answers were accessible and available when we got back to them with the information. The when and where of the data delivery (context) was just as important as the what (content) in the final analysis.

Driving our people crazy to meet certain performance standards, arbitrary operating metrics, turnaround times, or other contractually mandated service levels was simply stupid if the results didn’t matter to the customers. Not everything needed to be instantly available or made into a crisis or a fire drill if no one was going to appreciate, recognize, or compensate us for the extra effort. Youthful and aggressive enthusiasm eventually led to painful experiences.  

It took a while to get the flow and timing correct in that business, but the core offering–real-time and precise valuation information as opposed to the stale, generalized historical data that was the industry standard–radically changed the way in which claims for lost or stolen vehicles were settled in the auto insurance game. Today, 44 years later, that business, CCC Intelligent Solutions, is still operating as the unquestioned industry leader, works with every major insurer, and is worth billions. The most important lesson we learned is that a one-dimensional emphasis on the speed of delivery or the quantity of the data alone often creates more undue stress rather than building value.

Today, the most valuable data-centric businesses understand that the game has changed again. Now, the key and central concern is capturing vast amounts of data regarding relevant activity—in the moment, at the edge and from both employees and their customers—and then converting and communicating it back to the team members as immediate, actionable instruction. The clearer and more immediate that any strategic inputs can be, the more accurate and valuable the decisions relying upon them will become. The only right time is real time and right now.

And, with considerable assistance from AI tools, we’re seeing the emergence of companies like Pulse that are developing systems to provide real-time data flow, extensive and timely analysis and actionable feedback that can be used effectively to inform and improve employees’ qualitative behaviors rather than simply their quantitative decisions.

These new systems function as intelligent filters, flow managers, and ranking agents so that, by the time the often overwhelming and unmanageable volume of customer feedback data is parsed, parceled, and prioritized, any business can turn scattered, duplicative and unhelpful volumes of customer inputs from multiple sources spread across their entire organization into sorted, identified, consolidated and actionable categories and clear, next-step instructions and directions.

These new systems reinforce what we’ve known for decades but help to organize and deliver better, more timely and comprehensive solutions. Three key areas of addressing customer issues and concerns really stand out, and I believe that they are true of almost every business.

A small number of recurring problems and errors cause the bulk of issues with customers

As many times as you tell your team how, when and what to say, they still forget, quit, freelance, get bored, and get upset or distracted. Automated and interactive scripts, dynamic checklists, sidebar chats and prompts can constantly provide and reinforce the right messages, paths and online responses to issues and objections. Training and practice are helpful, but not as valuable or effective as real-world experiences and immediate feedback.

Problems are rarely unique to individual, unhappy customers. Solutions need to address root causes and then be quickly circulated to the entire team

Solving one-off problems with unhappy customers is necessary, but it’s not sufficient in the long run as a strategy for overall improvements in deficient processes and unsatisfactory behaviors and/or product performance. Even more importantly, once a broader fix is determined and in place and applicable to all customers, it’s critical that the solution (either what’s working or what’s not working) be immediately transmitted to the entire team and incorporated in all of the supportive tools and materials, all future interactions, and all new changes and product enhancements and improvements.

All of us are smarter than any one of us

It’s hard to overstate the value of aggregated, collated, and carefully analyzed data collected from literally millions of conversations, transactions, interactions and dispositions when you’re trying to continually enrich and enhance the customers’ experience and your product or service’s brand, reputation, consistency, and value. Tools like Pulse’s Feedback Intelligence OS put all of this accumulated knowledge and experience directly and immediately and intelligently into the hands of your key decision-makers with actionable instruction and guidance.

The goal today is to make all your people smart as fast as possible and Pulse may be one of the best and most cost-effective systems out there to move your business quickly down the path to improved results and better satisfaction inside and outside of your business.

NEW INC. MAGAZINE COLUMN FROM HOWARD TULLMAN

 

Ikea Is Making a Massive Customer Service Mistake, and It’s a Warning for Every Modern Business 

Companies that hand off critical moments to third parties to save a few bucks are sacrificing future sales and brand equity.

EXPERT OPINION BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS @TULLMAN

MAY 5, 2026

In the not-so-distant past, and long before the carefully crafted legends of Nordstrom’s in-store customer experiences spread far and wide, the state-of-the-art in the consumer retail business from a customer service and satisfaction standpoint was Chicago-based Marshall Field’s, which was later folded into Macy’s.

There were myriad stories passed down through family generations of how Field’s would accept years-old goods for no-questions-asked returns and refunds, how every fall, senior staff from the store would ride along with their delivery drivers to personally oversee the seamless delivery from storage of important clients’ furs and other winter garments, and how expert tailors, seamstresses and jewelry specialists could clean, repair and restore virtually anything for their clients as they worked tirelessly in their underground ateliers and craft workshops.

This kind of demonstrable commitment to end-to-end customer satisfaction and thinking far beyond the immediate sale toward a long-term and loyal relationship—and the entire organization’s willingness to go above and beyond the basics to deliver whatever was required—was built on decades of exemplary service, a powerful brand promise, and a culture where every expected action was a personal commitment, a one-to-one connection, and an obligation to do things right, start to finish. No sale was complete until the buyer was 100 percent pleased. The result was the kind of consistent customer loyalty and exceptional degrees of customer satisfaction that every new business dreams of. It was driven in no small part by a strategy of vertical integration and across-the-board accountability so that the entire process was under consistent supervision, direction, and control.

Today, even some of the most well-known companies with high-quality products, like Ikea, spend millions of dollars promoting their image and product quality and then totally drop the ball when it comes to support and delivery. They seem to fail to understand that every step in the process is critical. Nothing is more important to a completed sale than a smooth and successful delivery and a competent installation, especially when you’re dealing with bulky, complex, and expensive goods, including furniture of all kinds, onsite and in-home assembly of storage units, and connecting large-scale electronics. As amazing as it seems, and rather than making this a strong source of positive competitive differentiation (as other vendors in the same space, such as ABT and Wayfair, have done), Ikea has farmed out the entire delivery process to third parties.

Worse yet, Ikea washes its hands entirely of any responsibility for their delegees and their results and outcomes. It’s hard to get someone to answer the phones or follow up on delivery, and it seems like the left hand has no idea what the right hand is supposed to be doing. It’s unfortunate and unhappy customers are stuck in a whirlpool of denial, indifference, and finger-pointing, wherein no one at Ikea makes any attempt to resolve any difficulties or performance problems. They lay all the blame on Task Rabbit, which might just as well change their name to Trash Rabbit or Task Rubbish.

By farming out their future connection and severing the customer connection at the very worst point in the process, they’ve just become the latest business to believe that the “savings” from incorporating the often untrained, incompetent and indifferent minions of the gig economy into their delivery system are worth the damage to their brand and reputation as well as the psychic injury and actual harm done to their customers. There aren’t too many ways that a lazy moron can mess up a pizza delivery, but there are a million ways that some part-time installer can ruin a brand-new wall unit, misalign or otherwise damage hinges, handles, and closers, or simply rush through an assignment and do a half-assed job.

We’ve heard for years that you never get a second chance to make a first impression, and while that’s largely true, the more important consideration is that the most lasting impression, reaction, and feeling that any customer has is the final touchpoint, which is always the delivery. Companies that hand off that critical moment to amateurs and untrained third parties to save a few bucks are sacrificing future sales, positive word of mouth promotion, and vast amounts of brand equity.