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Tag: Customer Service

  • Kansas City woman gets 90-minute massage, tips $25 for it. Then the worker asks her for more: ‘I won’t be going back there again’

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    Tipping has been a divisive topic among American consumers for years now.

    While there are industries where gratuity feels automatic, like restaurants, bars, and food delivery, there are other services where the expectations feel less clear.

    In fact, in recent years, tipping prompts have popped up in places people never expected, including medical offices and public water fountains.

    While massage therapy is a service where tipping is common, it’s not always clearly defined. Most clients expect to leave something extra if the massage was good, especially for longer sessions.

    Still, there are some questions. Is there such a thing as tipping too little for a massage? And more importantly, should a customer ever be asked to tip more? One Kansas City woman says that’s exactly what happened after a 90-minute session.

    How much did she tip for her massage?

    TikTok creator Alyssa (@alyssaj1992) shared a storytime explaining why she crossed one massage parlor off her list permanently. Her video has garnered more than 61,700 views.

    “Just got an amazing massage, 90 minutes. It was fabulous,” she says at the start of the clip. She explains that the session felt so good, she was already thinking about asking whether the business offered memberships or packages.

    She says she prepaid for the massage when she arrived and was asked whether she wanted to tip before or after the session. “I’m not gonna tip you before because I don’t know what kind of service you’re going to give me,” she says. “I already spent a hundred and some dollars for just the massage itself.”

    After the massage ended, Alyssa says she asked if she could tip using her card. When the employee said yes, she named an amount she felt was generous. “I told her how much, which I thought was actually a really good amount to tip her,” she says.

    The Interaction Turns Sour

    “She literally says, ‘Oh, um, 90,’” Alyssa recalls, referencing the length of the massage. “‘Ninety minutes is a lot of work. Would you consider more?’”

    Alyssa says the comment caught her completely off guard. She explains she had been feeling relaxed and excited about possibly becoming a regular customer.

    “All of me was just like, oh, I’m done,” she says. She told the employee no and immediately felt uncomfortable. “I feel super awkward, kind of embarrassed, like I just insulted you.”

    She adds that the tip in question was $25. “I’ve never tipped any masseuse more than $25,” she says. “None. Zero. Zilch.” While she admits she technically could have tipped more, she chose not to after being asked directly. “That’s just you,” she says, adding that the request crossed a line for her.

    Alyssa clarifies that the massage itself was excellent and that the employee wasn’t rude overall. Still, the moment stuck with her. “That last comment really did take me off,” she says. “I’m not getting a membership there. I will not go back.”

    How Much Should You Tip A Massage Therapist?

    Most industry guidance suggests tipping massage therapists similarly to other spa services. General advice places gratuity between 15 and 20 percent of the service cost. For a 90-minute massage priced around $100 to $130, that range often lands between $15 and $30.

    Tipping more than 20 percent is typically viewed as optional rather than expected and is usually reserved for exceptional service or last-minute accommodations. Tipping less than 15 percent can happen when the experience falls short, though clients are often encouraged to share concerns directly with the business.

    Context matters. Day spas and massage franchises usually expect tips unless gratuity is included. Hotel and resort spas sometimes add service charges automatically. Medical or therapeutic massage performed in a clinical setting typically does not involve tipping at all.

    In the comments, many viewers said Alyssa’s experience felt inappropriate.

    “I work at a massage spa in California and for 90 minutes $25 is perfectly fine,” one person wrote. “I would say most people tip between 18 and 30.”

    Another commenter reacted more bluntly: “COULD YOU CONSIDER A LITTLE MORE?!?!?! Nope. And now this tip is gone.”

    @alyssaj1992

    I won’t be going back there again

    ♬ original sound – alyssaj1992

    A hairstylist weighed in as well. “You do not need to ever be pressured to tip more,” they wrote. “If someone wants to leave a tip, it’s appreciated, but it’s never expected.”

    Other users shared similar experiences. One person said a business followed them outside after they didn’t tip. Another recalled being asked to tip 25 to 35 percent during a Botox appointment performed by the owner. “I refused and never went back,” they wrote.

    The Mary Sue has reached out to Alyssa via TikTok messages for more information about her experience.

    Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

    Image of Ljeonida Mulabazi

    Ljeonida Mulabazi

    Ljeonida is a reporter and writer with a degree in journalism and communications from the University of Tirana in her native Albania. She has a particular interest in all things digital marketing; she considers herself a copywriter, content producer, SEO specialist, and passionate marketer. Ljeonida is based in Tbilisi, Georgia, and her work can also be found at the Daily Dot.

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    Ljeonida Mulabazi

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  • The Penny Shortage Could Eat Into Your Profit Margin. Meanwhile, Investors Are Spending Millions on Them

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    Change is hard. Making change keeps getting harder.

    Owners of restaurants, cafés, and other retail businesses across the U.S. continue battling a worsening shortage of pennies after the Treasury Department stopped producing them on Nov. 12. But as entrepreneurs searched beneath sofa cushions and car mats for any extra one-cent coins they’d previously tossed aside, investors shelled out over $16.7 million for the final 696 pennies ever minted.

    That represents a veritable fortune paid for coins the government doesn’t think are worth producing anymore, since each one costs four times its face value to make. But that willingness by investors to fork out between $48,000 and $800,000 for the last pennies ever minted demonstrates the dramatically clashing fortunes of the nation’s one-cent piece.

    On the one hand, collectors continually increased their bids during a Dec. 11 Stacks & Bowers auction of the 232 lots up for grabs, each containing three of the final coppery portraits of Abe Lincoln ever produced. On the other, the National Restaurant Association (NRA) begged the U.S. Treasury to urgently distribute more of the now condemned pennies to its members and other small businesses, many of whom are now struggling to make change for customers.

    “When operators can’t provide exact change, it creates friction at checkout, frustrating customers,” said NRA president Michelle Korsmo in a letter to the Treasury and Federal Reserve. “In a highly competitive industry, like restaurants, any change to the hospitality our customers expect could mean a lost return sale for an operator.”

    It risks costing even more than that.

    Eager to avoid clashes with diners peeved by penniless business owners rounding up to the nearest nickel, the NRA says its members are instead routinely rounding down. That, Korsmo warned, will cost U.S. restaurants an estimated $13 million to $14 million per month unless they can get their hands on more one-cent coins soon.

    Meanwhile, with the profit margins of U.S. eateries averaging just 3 percent to 5 percent, the NRA said a penny here and a penny there will quickly reduce their monthly proceeds to nothing.

    To avoid that, the organization is calling on the Fed and Treasury to resume distribution of increasingly mothballed one-cent coins, which they stopped doing earlier this year. In addition, the NRA echoed an October appeal by the National Retail Federation (NRF,) which urged federal agencies or Congress to issue formal rules for business owners rounding off in making change without pennies.

    Regulations on how and when to round up or down would not only be valuable in navigating — or indeed preventing — disputes with customers angered at losing a few cents in the process. The NRF also said it would protect companies that do most of their sales in cash from “legal risks simply for implementing necessary practices in response to the nationwide penny shortage.”

    As Inc. previously reported, many small businesses are seeking solutions of their own. Some are appealing to customers to use their spare pennies for purchases, or in swaps for credit toward future buys. Other entrepreneurs are offering free drink refills or other giveaways to people handing over their reserves of one-cent coins.

    But all that is just nickel and diming compared to the money paid for the auctioned lots of the last pennies ever made.

    All 696 of those coins were struck with the Greek letter omega beside Lincoln’s portrait, signifying they were among the last minted in the penny’s 232-year history. And each set of those three, one-cent coins also contained a specially minted 24-carat gold version.

    That extravagance must seem well over the top to small business owners — especially those struggling to scrounge up the modest penny or two they need to send change-stickling customers happily on their way.

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    Bruce Crumley

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  • Bret Taylor’s Sierra reaches $100M ARR in under two years | TechCrunch

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    Sierra, a 21-month-old, San Francisco-based startup that builds customer service AI agents for enterprises, announced on Friday that it reached $100 million in annual revenue run rate (ARR). The company’s rapid growth suggests that businesses across industries are embracing AI agents.

    The startup’s growth rate surprised even its seasoned co-founders, former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor and longtime Google alum Clay Bavor, who wrote on their blog: “That’s a heck of a lot quicker than we expected.”

    Sierra’s customers include tech companies like Deliveroo, Discord, Ramp, Rivian, SoFi, and Tubi, as well as well-established businesses outside of the tech sector, such as ADT, Bissell, Vans, Cigna, and SiriusXM.

    Taylor and Bavor said they expected tech companies would feel comfortable experimenting with AI customer service agents, but they were astounded that older businesses also became Sierra’s customers.

    The company says it can build AI agents that can handle tasks like authenticating patients for healthcare providers, processing returns, ordering replacement credit cards, and helping customers apply for mortgages — essentially automating customer service work that previously required human agents.

    Sierra faces competition from startups like Decagon and Intercom, but the company claims to be the leader in the AI customer service category.

    Sierra was last valued at $10 billion when it raised a $350 million round led by Greenoaks Capital in September. Other investors in the company include Sequoia, Benchmark, ICONIQ, and Thrive Capital.

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    Based on its $100 million ARR, Sierra is currently valued at a 100x revenue multiple, a hefty valuation despite its exceptionally fast growth.

    The startup employs an outcomes-based pricing model, charging customers for completed work rather than charging flat subscription fees.

    Taylor and Bavor met at Google in 2005, where Taylor hired Bavor as an associate product manager.

    A Stanford computer science graduate, Taylor co-created Google Maps before founding FriendFeed, which Facebook acquired. At Facebook, he served as CTO and helped create the iconic “Like” button. He later founded Quip, a Google Docs competitor that Salesforce acquired for $750 million in 2016.

    Taylor went on to serve as Salesforce co-CEO alongside Marc Benioff for over a year. After Taylor left Salesforce in 2023, Bavor — who had spent 18 years at Google leading products like Gmail and Google Drive — invited him to lunch, where they decided to launch Sierra.

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    Marina Temkin

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  • Sonos’s CEO Keeps Responding to Angry Customers on Threads. It’s a Lesson for Every Leader

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    I have to imagine Tom Conrad has been very busy since being appointed first interim, and then permanent CEO of Sonos, earlier this year. The company was in a bit of a self-inflicted crisis after it rolled out a new app that removed a number of the features customers cared about, and provided an inferior experience overall.

    And yet, one of the things Conrad seems to find time for on a regular basis is replying to angry customers on Threads.

    For example, a Sonos customer posted a blistering, painfully familiar rant about the company’s app—calling it “the worst piece of shit software I have ever used.” In his reply, Conrad didn’t make up an excuse or give some corporate version of an apology. He replied like someone who understands exactly how much damage bad software can do to a beloved product.

    “We’ve made some material progress but there’s lots of work left to do,” he wrote. “It sounds like we’re doing a particularly bad job in your home and I’d love to learn more.”

    If you’ve ever used Sonos, you know this customer’s frustration isn’t new. For years, the company has made some of the best speakers you could buy. The killer feature was that Sonos speakers work together in a way very few competitors have ever matched. And yet the software experience has increasingly felt like the opposite of what the hardware promises.

    That’s the tension at the heart of this exchange, and the reason it’s worth writing about. People don’t get this angry over something they don’t care about. The original post isn’t just an angry customer venting; it’s a reminder that the gap between what Sonos promises and what customers experience has grown wide enough for even loyal users to wonder whether the whole system is worth the trouble.

    Most companies handle this sort of thing exactly the wrong way. They hide behind statements drafted by PR teams or send customers into endless support loops. They treat anger as a threat instead of what it actually is: an early warning sign that you have a very big problem. By the time people stop complaining, it usually means they’ve already stopped caring—and probably stopped using your product.

    That’s why this moment matters. Conrad could’ve ignored the post—or farmed it off to a social media intern—and no one would’ve been surprised. But he didn’t, and that tells you something about the kind of problem Sonos knows it has to solve.

    The company’s app redesign earlier this year was supposed to be a step toward a more modern platform—faster, cleaner, more flexible. Instead, it felt to customers like a regression. Features disappeared, and people who had invested hundreds or thousands of dollars into their sound system suddenly found themselves wrestling with something that used to “just work.”

    In his reply, Conrad gets right to the heart saying that he is in his role “in large part to fix the app.” He knows what’s broken, and he knows that nothing else Sonos does will matter if he doesn’t get this right.

    The lesson here is actually quite simple: When your product breaks the relationship you’ve built with your customers, you can’t delegate the job of repairing what went wrong. You can’t outsource rebuilding your brand’s credibility. As the CEO, you own it.

    By the way, this kind of engagement scales better than you might think. Not because a CEO can personally fix everyone’s problem, but because public replies send a signal—to customers, employees, and investors—that someone at the top is listening. It communicates that Conrad knows that improving the experience isn’t a side project.

    The company spent nearly two decades building a brand around effortless, elegant home audio. It can’t afford to let its app become a symbol of everything that frustrates people about modern tech. The longer that perception calcifies, the harder it becomes to change it.

    So when Sonos’s CEO shows up on Threads, it’s not a stunt. It isn’t even about the individual customer he’s responding to. Just follow the thread of replies and you’ll see him inviting countless more customers to send him a DM about their problems and complaints.

    Really, Conrad’s reply is about the thousands of other customers who might read the thread, and the millions of users who rely on Sonos every day. It’s a public acknowledgment that the company knows exactly where it fell short—and is willing to own the work ahead.

    That’s something every leader should pay attention to. Customers don’t expect perfection. But they do expect honesty and accountability. And when something goes wrong, they expect the people in charge to show up with more than excuses.

    The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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    Jason Aten

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  • The Penny Shortage Is Adding Up Frustration Among Small Retailers

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    Consumers may want to avoid offering retailers a penny for their thoughts from now on. What they could get for their cent is a blast of complaints from many businesses owners now struggling with premature shortages of the soon-to-vanish copper coin. That’s in turn creating awkward moments at the checkout stand, and requiring improvised solutions when making correct change for customers isn’t possible.

    The small coin conundrum is the result of President Donald Trump’s February decision to order “my Secretary of the U.S. Treasury to stop producing new pennies.” The move followed the Department of Government Efficiency first putting the penny in its sights, when its founder and leader at the time, Elon Musk, explained the lowest valued coin “costs over 3 cents to make and cost U.S. taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023.” With arguably more of the coppery orbs filling jars, car ashtrays, and spaces between sofa cushions than used in payments, Trump decided to halt minting of the coin and allow it to gradually disappear from circulation.

    So, why are retailers reacting now? Because a growing number of those businesses report they’re already coming up short on pennies when trying to make exact change for customers. That’s occurring as several centers that distribute the coins for the Federal Reserve Bank have stopped making deliveries. They‘re also slated to halt minting any new metallic portraits of Abraham Lincoln next year, when their use is expected to slowly taper off.

    For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, that gradual count down on the penny’s active service has already resulted in a shortage at many shops, restaurants, and chain stores — months earlier than anyone had expected. As a result, business owners are having to come up with workarounds when they can’t give customers the change they’re owed.

    According to several press reports, that forced Wisconsin-based convenience store chain Kwik Trip to start rounding cash purchases down to the nearest nickel. Rival Love’s Travel Stops are reportedly also rounding sales, but instead upward to the next five-cent level.

    Family-owned convenience chain Sheetz is taking another tack. It’s urging customers to come in and offer up their extra pennies in exchange for a donation to charity in their name. Sheetz partners with the Salvation Army to provide children with clothes, toys, and holiday parties.

    “Customers can also choose to trade in their extra pennies for a free self-serve drink or donate their spare pennies to support Sheetz For the Kidz,” Sheetz public affairs manager Nick Ruffner told the Nexstar news group. “Sheetz Donations can be processed through the register at all Sheetz locations to ensure all funds go directly to Sheetz For the Kidz, and the coins will then be recirculated for other customers.”

    Meanwhile, Sheetz and other retailers that are suffering penny shortages — and cringey moments having to explain their workaround solutions to customers — are urging clients to pay with cards or phone apps instead of cash. But the cent-less dilemma is spreading quickly enough to other businesses that their trade organizations are taking action.

    In September, NACS retailer group — whose members include the National Association of Convenience Stores and the National Grocers Association — did something rarely seen in the private sector. It asked the government to come up with regulations — this time for companies dealing with the penny’s spreading shortage, and eventual demise.

    “NACS has raised industry concerns with Congress and the Administration and is advocating for federal legislation to permit the rounding of cash transactions,” Anna Ready Blom, NACS strategic advisor of government relations said in a recent article on the organization’s site. “Businesses are desperate for Congress to address this issue by passing a law allowing them to round to the nearest nickel. Without federal legislation, businesses are left in the impossible position of trying to figure out what to do and at risk of being out of compliance with other laws.”

    The reason for the concern is that many states and localities have their own laws that prohibit rounding in cash transactions. As a result, NACS is urging the government to pass federal statutes to permit that solution when pennies run short, and define exactly how rounding should be carried out.

    If that happens, it should protect retailers from any potential legal pushback from consumers seeing their $5.63 purchase rounded up to $5.65. But it won’t spare cashiers the embarrassment while explaining to customers that they can’t make exact change, or prevent them from disappointing young clients who wanted an increasingly rare penny for the one cent gum machine.

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    Bruce Crumley

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  • How My Dishwasher Hunt at Lowe’s Became a Master Class in Missed Moments

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    There was a time when shopping in person meant something. You’d get eye contact, maybe even a smile. Someone might care whether you walked away satisfied or at least, with what you came for. Lately, retail feels like an archaeological dig site for customer service. I was reminded of this during a recent trip to Lowe’s, which began as a simple errand and ended as a case study in how customer experience dies—not from one big failure, but from a thousand small indifferences. 

    The spark of hope 

    It started promisingly. I was on the hunt for a new dishwasher. The store was busy, but one associate went above and beyond. He didn’t just point me to the appliance aisle, but he walked with me, asked a few smart questions about my kitchen setup, and even flagged a clearance model that checked every box: black finish, energy-efficient, and a serious deal. 

    He was one of those rare employees who got it. The kind who doesn’t just follow the process but thinks creatively. The unit was slightly taller than my counter opening, but instead of dismissing the problem, he brainstormed a workaround—adjusting the leveling legs, tweaking the height, even offering double-check specs. I was impressed. This was the kind of customer service and interaction that restores faith in retail—real human effort, genuine interest, and problem-solving in motion. 

    When the system takes over 

    Then came the moment to pay. That’s when things went sideways. Apparently, the dishwasher wasn’t “in stock” according to the computer system, even though I was staring right at it. The barcode wasn’t scanning properly, and the helpful associate couldn’t override it. So he called for the manager. Bye bye customer service.

    Enter Karen. Karen arrived with that brisk, confident energy of someone ready to fix things. She typed, clicked, and frowned. She tried again, then again, and then she sighed audibly. 

    “This isn’t supposed to happen,” she said to the screen. She called another manager. One was “at lunch.” The other was “in a meeting.” So, she gathered reinforcements—five other employees, each trying to diagnose the mystery of the ghost dishwasher. 

    For the next 30 minutes, I stood there while this ad hoc task force hovered around the terminal, discussing possible fixes, store policies, and, eventually, unrelated topics—upcoming vacations, a broken printer, and someone’s lunch order. I might as well have been invisible. I received zero updates, no estimated timeframe, and no reassurance. Instead, I just stood in quiet frustration amidst inside chatter while I waited, holding my credit card, wondering if anyone remembered I was still there. 

    The fix without influence 

    Eventually, someone found a workaround. The transaction went through. I signed the slip and walked away with my receipt and a strange feeling: relief, not satisfaction. Here’s what struck me most. The outcome was fine. The problem was resolved, but the experience was awful. I had no control, no communication, and no participation. The helpful associate who started strong was sidelined. The manager who tried to help got lost in her own process. I, the customer, had zero influence in shaping the journey. That’s the modern retail paradox. The system works—just not for the customer. 

    Process over people 

    Modern culture has optimized retail to death. Every transaction, approval, and exception flows through a maze of systems and rules. Employees follow scripts instead of using judgment. Managers focus on compliance over connection. While technology was supposed to make things smoother, it’s often just created new friction points no one feels empowered to solve. 

    When the system doesn’t allow for flexibility, people stop thinking creatively. They stop owning the experience. The “Karen” at Lowe’s wasn’t incompetent, but she was constrained. Trained to follow procedure, not to lead a customer through uncertainty. 

    The forgotten human element 

    Customer service used to be about helping people. Now it’s about people managing systems, and that shift has quietly gutted the emotional core of the in-store experience. Customers don’t expect perfection. They expect acknowledgment. They expect to be seen, heard, and informed. A simple, “Hey, this might take a few minutes, but we’ll get it sorted out,” would have changed everything. Instead, the silence spoke volumes. 

    What retail can learn 

    The lesson here isn’t about dishwashers but about design. Companies need to rethink customer experience as something that happens between people, not just through systems. Empower front-line employees to own outcomes. Encourage managers to communicate transparently, even when they don’t have all the answers. Most importantly, remember that every customer interaction is a story in progress. Whether it ends as a tale of frustration or delight depends on how much agency the customer feels they have in shaping it. 

    That day at Lowe’s could have been a shining example of service recovery done right. Instead, it became a microcosm of retail’s biggest challenge: confusing process for progress. Because the truth is, customer experience isn’t measured by how efficiently a system runs. It’s measured by how human it feels when things don’t go according to plan. 

    The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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    Andrea Olson

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  • Discord users’ IDs and data compromised in customer service provider hack

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    One of Discord’s third-party customer service providers has been infiltrated by an unauthorized party who was able to gain access to users’ information. Discord said it recently discovered the incident, which took place on September 20. The compromised data includes a “small number” of government IDs like driver’s licenses and passports, which some users may have submitted to verify their ages. To be clear, Discord itself wasn’t hacked, and you would only be affected by the data breach if you’ve ever communicated with the messaging service’s Customer Support or Trust & Safety teams. That also means the bad actors didn’t get access to your messages within the service, just whatever you may have communicated with customer support.

    Discord has been sending out emails to people affected by the breach, even those who have no accounts but have contacted their support teams for any reason. In the email, the service said that the compromised information may include your real name, your username if you have one, your email and other contact details, the last four digits of any credit card associated with your account and your IP addresses. The service will also specify in the email it sends you if any ID you’d submitted has been compromised, which puts you at higher risk of identity theft than other users. Discord clarified that the breach would not have compromised your full credit card number, your physical address and your password.

    The service said it quickly revoked the provider’s access to its system after learning about the breach and notified law enforcement of the incident. It also said that it will “frequently audit [its] third-party systems” to ensure they meet Discord’s standards.

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    Mariella Moon

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  • How Pana Food Truck Started Selling Arepas | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    German Sierra, founder of Pana Food Truck in Santa Cruz, California, never imagined his craving for a childhood comfort food would lead him to build a thriving business with a loyal following and the distinction of Yelp’s Top 100 Food Trucks.

    “My brother and I came to the United States in 2016 [from Venezuela],” he says. “There weren’t any arepas. We actually eat arepas every day in Venezuela, so we needed them. My brother was like, ‘Hey, why don’t we make some arepas and take them to the streets, and maybe people will buy them?’”

    Armed with foil-wrapped arepas and homemade Venezuelan juices, the brothers set up outside a supermarket. They didn’t sell a single one. A police officer stopped them, asking for a permit they didn’t know they needed. Instead of giving up, Sierra gave the food away and kept searching for a way forward.

    Related: They Built Their First Restaurant With Their ‘Bare Hands.’ Now They Have 380 Locations.

    “Sometimes there’s a little miscommunication between entities. Sometimes the health department will [have] different rules than the city,” Sierra says, describing the challenges he faced trying to get his business off the ground. “There are specific places to park. You cannot park everywhere because there’s gonna be competition with restaurants.”

    As a business with one core offering, Sierra had to sell the value of arepas to customers who had never heard of them.

    “It was hard in the beginning — and [is] still hard — to convince people why we don’t have other dishes,” Sierra says. “We wanted to focus on arepas [so] there is no confusion of what we sell, and it’s memorable.”

    Small adjustments, like listing arepas as “chicken” or “beef” on the menu, helped introduce the dish to American diners and reduce confusion without losing cultural authenticity. “When customers come, they want 30-second decisions — no half an hour figuring out the menu and what to get,” Sierra says.

    Related: He Grew His Small Business to a $25 Million Operation By Following These 5 Principles

    As word spread, Sierra focused on making connections with customers, pairing education about the food with free samples to encourage repeat visits. Early on, he recognized that an excellent customer experience made people more likely to choose Pana over another restaurant.

    “I didn’t wanna be just in the food truck business,” he says. “I want to be in the heart-warming business, because the food makes your heart warm. That’s the emotion I want to create every time.”

    Now celebrating six years in business, Pana continues to grow while staying true to its roots. In 2025, Sierra and his wife, Gabriella Ramirez, opened their first brick-and-mortar restaurant in downtown Santa Cruz. “It wasn’t an overnight success, and we’re still growing and improving,” Sierra says. “We are just a baby, and there’s so much that we can change and improve.”

    For Sierra, every arepa is a chance to share a piece of home, and to build what he calls “an arepa empire, one arepa at a time.”

    Related: These Brothers Turned a 2-Man Operation Into One of the Most Trusted Companies in Their Area. Here’s How.

    After turning a craving for arepas into one of Yelp’s Top 100 Food Trucks of 2025 and opening a brick-and-mortar, Sierra’s advice for current and future business owners is clear:

    • Start small but stay consistent. Break overwhelming challenges into smaller steps and commit to showing up for your customers every day.
    • Adapt to your audience while staying authentic. Customer education can help your audience understand new offerings and grow goodwill in your community.
    • Lead with generosity. Warm service and meaningful interactions matter just as much as what’s on the menu. Customers return not only for flavor, but also for connection.
    • Think about the big picture. For Sierra, selling arepas was never just about food — it was about creating heart-warming experiences. Any platform, whether it’s a food truck or restaurant, can be a vehicle to share your mission.
    • Play the long game. Building something meaningful takes time, patience and passion. If your business isn’t an immediate success, research the steps you’ll need to take to achieve smaller goals that get you closer to your vision.

    Watch the episode above to hear directly from German Sierra, and subscribe to Behind the Review for more from new business owners and reviewers every Wednesday.

    Editorial contributions by Jiah Choe and Kristi Lindahl

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    Emily Washcovick

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  • How to Overcome These 7 Hidden Purchase Barriers | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    You have had a promising conversation with your customer. They nodded, said they liked your offer, maybe even said, “Yes, sounds good.” But then there was no follow-up, no payment from that customer and you see zero sales.

    If this has happened more than a few times, you’re not alone. According to a HubSpot study, 60% of customers say “yes” or show interest during a sales process but end up ghosting before the transaction is completed, at least four times before they buy. So what gives?

    In business, the gap between “yes” and “checkout” is where most opportunities quietly die. It’s not just a sales problem. It’s a clarity problem, a trust problem and sometimes just bad timing. Let’s break down some most common reasons people agree with your pitch but still walk away and what you can do to close the loop.

    Related: Cart Abandonment Is Costing You Customers — Here’s How to Stop It

    1. They didn’t want to be rude

    Sometimes your customer may say yes just to end the conversation and avoid conflict. In sales, politeness can be your biggest illusion. The prospect may have no real intention to buy, but they nod, smile and may say, “I’ll think about it,” or “Send me the link.” We often take that as a green light. But it is not.

    What to do:

    Instead of asking, “Are you interested?” you can ask something slightly more specific, such as “What concerns do you still have?” or “Is this something you’re ready for now, or down the line?”

    Let them tell you the truth before you waste time chasing a dead lead.

    2. They don’t trust something — yet

    Trust is rarely built in a single conversation or one landing page. A customer might be sold on the product but unsure about your brand, your return policy or whether you’ll deliver what you promised. Even if they like what they hear, hesitation can creep in the moment they feel even slightly uncertain, especially in crowded markets.

    What to do:

    Make your trust signals visible and easy to verify. Add real testimonials (not vague ones), a money-back guarantee or some transparency around how long shipping or onboarding takes.

    3. The decision wasn’t fully theirs

    Customers will sometimes say yes because they want to buy, but they are not the final decision-maker. This is more common in B2B, but it happens in everyday transactions too (think of someone needing to check with their spouse or manager).

    It’s not that they didn’t like your offer. They just weren’t authorized to pull the trigger.

    What to do:

    Ask directly, “Is there anyone else who needs to sign off on this?” earlier in the conversation. If the answer is yes, give them shareable materials, FAQs or a few quick demos that they can easily forward.

    Related: Beyond the First Sale — How to Keep Your Customers Coming Back for More

    4. They mentally said “not now”

    Timing is a silent killer in sales. You pitch something that makes sense, and the customer is also mentally on board, but their priorities can shift. They may say yes, but they mean, “Yes … eventually.” And that “eventually” can slip off their radar unless you follow up with the right nudge.

    What to do:

    Instead of just asking, “Are you ready to buy now?” give them a reason to act sooner. A limited-time benefit, a booking link with available slots or even a checklist to prep for onboarding can shift their mindset from eventually to let’s do it now.

    Don’t push them, but you can try to shorten the gap between their interest and action.

    5. The process was just slightly too complicated

    It only takes a little bit of friction to lose a sale. One more form field, an unclear shipping note or maybe they have to complete too many steps to checkout. When people say yes, they’re thinking emotionally. But when they try to buy, logic will come. And if your checkout flow or subscription process makes them pause even for a second, they might not come back.

    What to do:

    Audit your purchase or sign-up process. Look for small steps that feel unnecessary or confusing. If you run an online store or take orders digitally, use tools that allow clear, intuitive checkout (with mobile in mind).

    Even service businesses( whether selling bouquets or booking consultations) benefit from POS tools that can streamline customer flow without needing custom development.

    6. The value didn’t match the price — in their mind

    They might agree with you in theory, but when it came down to payment, they didn’t feel like it was worth it for them. That doesn’t mean your offer was overpriced, just that the value wasn’t clearly communicated in a way that resonated. People don’t buy features, they buy outcomes. So, if those outcomes are not obvious to them, your pricing will always feel high, even if it’s not.

    What to do:

    Focus less on what the product is and more on what it does for that specific customer. Use examples or quick before-and-after stories that will show transformation. Let them picture themselves with the result. Also, consider offering flexible pricing (even if it’s temporary) to meet them where they are.

    Related: Forget Selling. Here’s How to Spark Relationships Your Customers Won’t Walk Away From

    7. They got distracted — and didn’t come back

    Modern customers are distracted. They’re scrolling during meetings, browsing tabs between errands and half-reading product pages while standing in line at the grocery store. Even with the best intentions to buy, their attention is fragile. One notification or interruption, and your offer can fade into the noise. They may have been 90% there and then forgot entirely.

    What to do:

    Don’t assume a lost sale means disinterest. You can use light, timed follow-ups like abandoned cart emails, reminder messages or even a friendly “Hey, still interested?” nudge.

    Also, make re-entry easy. If they do return, don’t force them to start over. Keep their cart, save their last viewed items and reduce the steps they need to take to finish what they started.

    There’s still a lot that can derail a buying decision between agreement and action. The trick is to build systems, messaging and good follow-up strategies that carry people over that final stretch. Good luck!

    You have had a promising conversation with your customer. They nodded, said they liked your offer, maybe even said, “Yes, sounds good.” But then there was no follow-up, no payment from that customer and you see zero sales.

    If this has happened more than a few times, you’re not alone. According to a HubSpot study, 60% of customers say “yes” or show interest during a sales process but end up ghosting before the transaction is completed, at least four times before they buy. So what gives?

    In business, the gap between “yes” and “checkout” is where most opportunities quietly die. It’s not just a sales problem. It’s a clarity problem, a trust problem and sometimes just bad timing. Let’s break down some most common reasons people agree with your pitch but still walk away and what you can do to close the loop.

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    Murali Nethi

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  • How to Consistently Exceed Customer Expectations | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    We’ve all heard the phrase, “underpromise and overdeliver.” Unfortunately, I often see businesses that tend to “overpromise and underdeliver,” failing to meet customers’ expectations.

    For me, it all comes down to trust. Can I rely on a company to consistently meet and exceed my expectations? As entrepreneurs, this can be a difficult question to confront. However, if you’re unsure how to respond, it may be time to reflect on your practices.

    Consistently exceeding expectations earns appreciation from others. What we truly desire is trust. In a landscape filled with wannabes trying to mimic reputable companies, the most effective strategy to differentiate yourself is not only to meet expectations but also to exceed them and then offer a little bit more.

    Related: If You Are Not Over Delivering for Your Customers, You’re Not Doing Enough

    Establish realistic expectations, then overdeliver

    Unfortunately, today’s consumers can grow accustomed to disappointment. That’s why companies that set realistic expectations are better positioned to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction. Here’s an example:

    While driving to lunch last week, a radio ad for replacement auto windshields caught my attention. Instead of touting how wonderful and fast the installers work or how great the company’s reviews and customer accolades are, the ad used a different strategy; they focused on realistic circumstances.

    “We may not always be perfect. Sometimes our employees punch in the wrong number or have trouble locating your address. At other times, we might underestimate how much time an installation will take. No, we’re not perfect, but you can rest assured that we’ll always do our best, make things right when needed and do everything possible to earn and keep your business.”

    The ad definitely caught my attention because I appreciated the company’s candor and honesty. In a world where most of us try to tune advertisements out, I’ll consider using the company the next time I need my windshield repaired or replaced.

    Why? Because my employees and I at Ditto Transcripts sometimes make mistakes. In the transcription industry, where turnaround time, accuracy and confidentiality are paramount, securing our clients’ trust and confidence remains our top priority. If we fail at any of these objectives, or if our transcripts don’t meet our 99% accuracy guarantee, I’ll do everything possible to correct the situation and satisfy the client as quickly as possible.

    The hidden ROI of overdelivery

    Most businesses strive to acquire new clients or customers, and on average, B2B companies can spend 20-50% of their annual revenue on this effort. Therefore, turning new clients into repeat customers is crucial for any company’s success.

    Given that repeat business is vital to our strategy and profitability, I personally review customer feedback and assess our service levels.

    For example, our Google reviews may include statements such as:

    • “Our transcripts were delivered early and accurately.”

    • “Their transcriptionist caught every word, even with poor audio quality.”

    • “You saved us, especially having such a tight deadline.”

    I genuinely appreciate it when our clients take the time to share positive feedback, as these reviews typically lead to repeat business. Moreover, when potential clients read favorable reviews, they are more likely to consider us for their transcription needs.

    By ensuring our clients are satisfied with our work, we can minimize or eliminate negative reviews. Always remember, taking the necessary steps to enhance customer satisfaction ultimately improves your return on investment (ROI) and bottom line.

    Related: This Is the Real Secret to Exceeding Your Customer’s Expectations

    What overdelivery looks like

    Often, it’s the small gestures that leave a lasting impression. For instance, sending a thank-you email to a new client is usually appreciated. However, a handwritten note can generate an even stronger sense of gratitude. Paying attention to these small details can lead to greater rewards.

    Consider what “overdelivery” looks like for your business. In our industry, it might include:

    1. Delivering transcripts ahead of schedule

    2. Proactively communicating with clients when issues arise

    3. Adding speaker labels or formatting without being prompted

    4. Following up with clients after delivery

    It’s important to note that “overdelivery” does not mean working for free or providing services at a significant loss. Instead, it involves exceeding client expectations through speed, accuracy, and quality. By focusing on successfully handling the small things, you may be surprised at the positive impact on your bottom line.

    Common mistakes that erode trust

    We’ve discussed many common mistakes that can erode trust and lead to revenue loss. However, a few of these mistakes are worth repeating.

    The first mistake is overcommitting while trying to secure new business. Most entrepreneurs have experienced this situation: Just as we’re nearing the finish line and sensing that our prospect is about to commit, a couple of concerns arise. In an effort to close the deal, we may overpromise without a clear plan for how to meet the customer’s expectations. Does that sound familiar?

    Overpromising simply to close a deal often results in underperformance and dissatisfied customers. To avoid this, it’s crucial to set realistic expectations from the start. Make sure to acknowledge the prospect’s concerns and assure them that you’ll develop a strategy to address their needs.

    Additionally, maintain open communication with the client to ensure their needs are consistently met. If, for any reason, you find that you cannot meet their expectations, be honest and communicate this as well.

    By establishing reasonable expectations, you and your team will have a better chance of overcoming challenges and pleasing the client. For example, saying, “Yes, Ms. Smith, I’m confident we can meet your 36-hour turnaround,” and then delivering the transcript sooner can help build trust and encourage repeat business.

    Build a culture of consistent overdelivery

    Now that you understand the importance of underpromising and overdelivering, it’s essential to instill this culture within your team. Leadership begins at the top, so ensure your employees comprehend your commitment to this approach. Focus not only on how this strategy benefits the company’s bottom line, but also on how it positively impacts individual employees.

    Start by evaluating your hiring practices. Are you looking for employees who take pride in delivering exceptional service? Acknowledge those who go “above and beyond.” Building loyalty and trust within your organization often leads to happier employees and satisfied customers.

    Create Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to improve quality control and internal communication. Ensure your team is clear about what they can and cannot do when handling customer issues. Proper training can enhance customer satisfaction and foster trust among your employees.

    Recognize consistent performance, not only extraordinary actions. While many appreciate acknowledgement for outstanding customer service, it’s crucial not to overlook those team members who consistently deliver excellent service. These are the employees you want to retain and incentivize.

    Empower your staff to make small decisions. Your sales team or customer service department typically interacts the most with clients and customers. Allow these employees to make minor concessions or resolve simple issues without needing to consult a manager.

    Discuss both positive and negative customer reviews and identify ways to improve in both areas. Owners and managers often focus on negative reviews, especially when they mention specific employees, shifts or departments. While addressing negative feedback is necessary, it’s equally important to recognize those who contributed to positive experiences and discuss how to implement these successful practices throughout your organization.

    Related: Trust Should Be the Foundation of Your Business — Here’s How to Earn It.

    Trust still — and always — matters

    The ability to underpromise and overdeliver is the cornerstone of many successful enterprises. The suggestions and recommendations I’ve outlined are more about common sense than complex strategies. However, every entrepreneur, including myself, needs constant reminders of their importance.

    Every time your organization delivers more than it promised, your trust factor increases significantly. Consistently overdelivering helps build a strong culture of trust, both internally and externally.

    The late Fred Smith, founder of FedEx, established a solid reputation by promising next-day and two-day package delivery. This positive reputation helped him secure a loyal customer base, even when his company’s rates were higher than those of competitors. More importantly, Mr. Smith built trust through consistent performance.

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    Ben Walker

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  • Your Ads Won’t Matter if Customers Hate the Experience | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    When business leaders consider brand building, they often think of traditional promotion, like print and digital advertising, or maybe a well-placed radio commercial to attract their target audience. They spend massive amounts of ad dollars to build brand awareness. But for most private businesses, brand building isn’t about throwing more money at advertising. It’s about creating an organization that engages, delivers on promise, and perhaps most of all, provides exceptional customer experience.

    According to a recent PwC Future of Customer Experience Survey, 65% of customers say a positive experience with a brand is more influential to them than great advertising. This is not to say there isn’t a place for advertising. But an engaging customer experience can be profoundly more impactful.

    Brands that crushed it with little advertising

    There are notably some massively successful brands that simply don’t advertise. In the B2B sector, have you ever seen an ad for McKinsey Consulting? Or consider Trader Joe’s, a grocery store chain with more than 600 locations and an incredibly loyal customer base. They don’t spend a dime on traditional advertising. Or think back to TGI Fridays in its heyday. Customers flocked to the casual dining hotspots, attracted by charming décor, a crowd-pleasing menu and its signature flair bartending that almost defined the era. While revenue was in the billions, TGI Friday’s focused on experience, not ad dollars, to create loyalty and buzz around the brand.

    Zappos is another excellent example of a brand that was built mostly on customer experience rather than big ad budgets. While the online shoe seller does advertise, the company is most recognized for delivering high-impact customer service.

    Former Zappos CEO, the late Tony Hsieh, was a trailblazer in the customer loyalty space and famously said, “Customer service shouldn’t just be a department, it should be the entire company.” Under Hsieh, Zappos implemented legendary practices like its 365-day return policy, unscripted customer service reps with no call time limits and surprise free overnight shipping upgrades. Imagine expecting the delivery of your new boots in a week, only for them to be waiting on your doorstep the very next day.

    Hsieh also wisely once said, “People may not remember exactly what you did or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.”

    Are you more likely to trust an ad in a magazine or the company that just delivered your package a week early?

    Related: How to Earn Customer Trust and Boost Sales Without Big Ad Budgets

    Misalignment can kill a brand

    What happens when a brand underwhelms, angers or alienates the very customers it intended to serve? Misalignment between brand messaging and customer experience turns once-loyal customers into disillusioned doubters who eventually turn to the competition to better suit their needs.

    Branding misalignment can take many forms. A hotel that advertises luxury accommodations has stained carpets and low water pressure in the shower. A software company that promises seamless integration has customers waiting hours for help desk support.

    A restaurant that advertises itself as a culinary delight serves up wilted salads by moody waiters. A supplier delivers low-grade stainless-steel parts that were promised to be titanium.

    When your marketing and advertising make promises that your operations are unable to satisfy, the business loses credibility, customers and ultimately money.

    The power of word-of-mouth marketing

    Most of us don’t make buying decisions in a vacuum. We search the internet, scour reviews and compare competing goods, services and suppliers. But the most significant green flags for purchasers are recommendations from people we know and respect. According to a 2012 Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising Report, 92% of consumers find more value in recommendations from people they know than any form of advertising. When a brand delivers an experience worth talking about, happy customers become their word-of-mouth marketing and are more persuasive than a two-dimensional ad could ever be.

    When was the last time you recommended a business or brand to a friend or colleague? While your endorsement may have been partly due to price, chances are there was something more to the experience that made the brand worth sharing. Your advocacy wasn’t due to a shiny ad, but rather how your customer experience made you feel respected, cared for and valued.

    Now those are impressions worth sharing.

    Related: Harness the Power of the 5 Senses to Make Your Brand Better

    Happy customers are your most powerful marketers

    By giving your customer a positively memorable experience, you transform that person into a brand ambassador willing to shout their support from the rooftops, and without ever dipping into your advertising budget. Word-of-mouth marketing scales organically when you consistently exceed customer expectations. So, give them something to talk about and see how that brand ambassadorship multiplies by dozens, hundreds or even thousands of raving fans eager to champion your business.

    Keep in mind that negative experiences are just as likely, if not more so, to spread like wildfire and scorch the brand you worked so hard to build. You have surely witnessed devastating brand damage from a single viral video posted to social media by an unhappy patron. Even more reason to ensure your customer experience goes above and beyond. Always.

    When business leaders consider brand building, they often think of traditional promotion, like print and digital advertising, or maybe a well-placed radio commercial to attract their target audience. They spend massive amounts of ad dollars to build brand awareness. But for most private businesses, brand building isn’t about throwing more money at advertising. It’s about creating an organization that engages, delivers on promise, and perhaps most of all, provides exceptional customer experience.

    According to a recent PwC Future of Customer Experience Survey, 65% of customers say a positive experience with a brand is more influential to them than great advertising. This is not to say there isn’t a place for advertising. But an engaging customer experience can be profoundly more impactful.

    Brands that crushed it with little advertising

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    Jason Zickerman

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  • What a Stuffed Giraffe Can Teach You About Scaling Service | Entrepreneur

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    A stuffed giraffe named Joshie broke the internet — and taught a masterclass in client service.

    When a three-year-old boy left his beloved stuffed giraffe, Joshie, behind at a Ritz-Carlton in Florida, the hotel could’ve done what any service-oriented company might: return the toy.

    Instead, they gave Joshie a vacation of his own.

    The giraffe came back in a box, safe and sound — accompanied by a photo album. Joshie lounging by the pool. Joshie driving a golf cart on the beach. Joshie getting a massage. The gesture went viral — not because it was a marketing stunt, but because it was business as usual for a company where service isn’t a tactic. It’s the culture.

    And it works.

    Related: We Have an Empathy Crisis on Our Hands. Here’s How to Combat the Rising Trend of Poor Customer Service.

    Service isn’t a slogan. It’s a system.

    In a world where pricing can be matched and products copied, service is often the last true differentiator. But it’s also where most businesses fall short.

    Here’s what the data tells us:

    • Nearly one in three customers says they’d walk away from a brand they previously loved after just a single poor experience.
    • More than half of U.S. consumers believe that most companies still have work to do when it comes to delivering a satisfying customer experience.
    • More than $3.7 trillion is lost globally every year due to poor customer experiences.

    That’s a problem — especially for service-based businesses where loyalty is earned through trust, consistency and follow-through, not flashy perks.

    Related: Still Chasing Quick Wins? Here’s How That Mindset Is Stopping You From Scaling Your Business

    Want better client service? Start behind the curtain.

    Most service breakdowns don’t start with the client. They start behind the scenes. Businesses with high internal responsiveness — how quickly and clearly colleagues communicate — outperform their peers in both client satisfaction and profitability.

    Why? Because great internal service creates great external results.

    • Clear communication leads to confident delivery.
    • Fast handoffs mean fewer dropped balls.
    • When your team is aligned, your clients feel it.

    Here are five steps to build a culture of service.

    1. Build a shared service standard

    If you don’t define what “great service” looks like, every employee will make up their own version. That’s a consistency killer. Write it down. Make it specific. Train on it. Then keep it alive. Your service standard should include:

    • How customer communications are handled
    • Follow-up timelines
    • Attitude and tone guidelines
    • Response expectations, both internally and externally

    Most importantly, it shouldn’t be a one-and-done onboarding checklist. Bring it into team meetings, use it in performance reviews, and tie recognition to it.

    Key takeaway: Clarity breeds consistency. And consistency builds trust.

    2. Start your day like the Ritz

    Every Ritz-Carlton shift kicks off with a short, focused meeting on service. They call it “The Lineup.” It’s not a chore — it’s their cultural glue.

    You can do the same. Even a five-minute huddle once or twice a week can keep service values top-of-mind. Talk about:

    • A recent service win
    • A client challenge someone handled well
    • One simple improvement for the week

    These aren’t just check-ins. They’re momentum builders.

    Key takeaway: Small, regular rituals shape big, long-term behaviors.

    Related: The 4-Step Secret to Exceptional Customer Service

    3. Share your “Joshie moments”

    You don’t need a viral stuffed giraffe to build a service culture. But you do need stories.

    Create a shared space — a file, a Slack channel, even a corkboard — where team members can log standout service moments. Call it your “Joshie File.”

    Highlight:

    • Internal wins (teammates helping each other)
    • External wins (client shout-outs or surprise solutions)
    • Process fixes that improved service delivery

    Use these stories in onboarding. Feature them in meetings. Turn them into training moments. Celebrate them publicly. Because here’s the truth: Culture isn’t taught. It’s caught. And stories are the best carriers.

    Key takeaway: Recognition drives repetition.

    4. Make internal service count

    Want to truly embed service into your culture? Redefine how you measure performance. Too many organizations reward output but ignore how that output affects others.

    Start asking:

    • Did this person communicate proactively?
    • Were they a roadblock — or a bridge?
    • Did they contribute to a team win or just focus on their lane?

    When internal service is part of the scorecard, people stop operating in silos. They start thinking like owners.

    Key takeaway: Reward the lift, not just the stats.

    5. Empower your team to take ownership

    Want world-class service? Empower your people to make decisions without waiting for sign-off from four layers of management. Define the boundaries. Give your team tools, training and trust. Make it clear: If something needs fixing, they can fix it. That autonomy leads to:

    • Faster response times
    • Happier clients
    • Employees who act like entrepreneurs

    And that’s exactly what you want—people who take ownership because they can, not just because they have to.

    Key takeaway: When people feel trusted, they lean in.

    Culture over campaigns

    You don’t have to send stuffed animals on vacation. But you do need to make people feel seen, understood and supported — consistently.

    Clients don’t want perfection. They want to know that when something goes sideways, your team has it handled. That they matter. That someone’s paying attention.

    And that kind of trust isn’t built on policy. It’s built on culture. If you’re in the service business — and let’s be honest, every business is now — this is your competitive edge.

    Not once. Not sometimes. But every time.

    A stuffed giraffe named Joshie broke the internet — and taught a masterclass in client service.

    When a three-year-old boy left his beloved stuffed giraffe, Joshie, behind at a Ritz-Carlton in Florida, the hotel could’ve done what any service-oriented company might: return the toy.

    Instead, they gave Joshie a vacation of his own.

    The rest of this article is locked.

    Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.

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    James Goodnow

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  • How Miami’s Pest Brothers Got Its Start | Entrepreneur

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    Jose Rodriguez wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and build a career in the pest control industry, so it was a dream come true when his brother, Michael, teamed up with him to start Pest Brothers. Their strong bond set the tone for a thriving business focused on building lasting relationships with customers.

    “I don’t think there are a lot of options where you get to work with your best friend and your biggest cheerleader,” Michael says. “For me, that was really the most important thing.”

    Related: Two Industry Leaders Share Their Best Advice for Restaurant Owners – And Reveal the Exact Amount You Can Raise Prices Without Losing Customers

    It turns out, going into business with your best friend can be your key differentiator. The two exhibit excellent teamwork, which is reflected in their customer interactions and many five-star reviews — securing their spot on Yelp’s Top 100 Local Businesses of 2025.

    “[Customers] find us well-tempered, well-mannered,” Michael says. “And the reason for it is we’re enjoying what we do and who we do it with. I think that’s really the basis for it all. And then from there, good things come.”

    Joined by their brother-in-law, John, each member of the Pest Brothers brings something different to the table, including recruiting, marketing and industry experience.

    Old-school relationship-building was key to their early growth. The team sponsors golf tournaments for local schools and attends community events to not only create visibility for Pest Brothers but also to honor their roots.

    “We were sponsors at the golf tournament for [my son’s] high school, where we get a lot of leads,” Jose says. “We advertise wherever we can because those are the folks who have fed us when we weren’t necessarily getting to Yelp’s Top 100.”

    Related: This Is What the CEO of Kickstarter Wishes Aspiring Entrepreneurs Knew

    Still, the brothers knew there was more they could do to boost online visibility. They saw Yelp as an opportunity to attract more leads, and the investment paid off quickly. “We tried out the free trial [of Yelp Ads], and it was an absolute success — almost like we flipped a light switch, and [leads] tremendously started flowing in,” Michael says.

    They received such an influx of attention from homeowners that they decided to stop sending out snail mail advertisements, which can have a low success rate.

    “Whenever we receive a lead on Yelp, it’s about speed to lead,” Michael says. “The more quickly we can reach out, the more quickly we can get to that house, service it and win that lead.”

    Its Yelp presence does more than lead generation, however. It also builds trust and helps turn potential customers into loyal, long-term regulars. Especially in the pest control and home service industry, a new customer doesn’t always mean one job. Every new lead is a chance to create a recurring customer — and the opportunities are rolling in for Pest Brothers.

    “These are folks that if you do a good job, they’re gonna reward you for a long period of time,” Michael says. “In terms of the Yelp leads I saw on our dashboard, views on our page have increased by 576% over the past 30 days [since winning Yelp’s Top 100]. You talk about market awareness — that’s tremendous. That’s viral if I’ve ever seen it, so it’s been awesome for us.”

    Once you have your audience’s attention, Jose emphasized how important it is to set clear expectations, such as how long a treatment will take or when the customer will see results. It’s this type of transparency that builds credibility, prevents confusion and earns five-star reviews.

    When mistakes inevitably happen, the brothers acknowledge them with grace, reaching out personally to customers to make things right. “If somebody calls you, you can definitely rectify their issue as soon as you can,” Jose says. “That’s literally the whole point of being a small business, [being] able to do that.”

    Related: She Created the Dance Studio She Was Looking For. Now, It’s a Nationwide Brand.

    After building Pest Brothers from a two-man operation into one of the most trusted pest control companies in the Miami area, co-founders Michael and Jose share what’s helped them succeed in the competitive home service industry:

    • Lead with trust. Customers extend trust when they let you into their homes and workplaces. Be reliable, show up when you say you will and treat every space with respect.
    • Invest in relationships. Repeat customers and referrals are the lifeblood of a service business. Learn people’s names, remember their concerns and treat every job as an opportunity to strengthen the connection.
    • Use tools to work smarter. From routing software to online reviews, technology can save time, improve efficiency and help you better serve customers. Leverage different platforms and tools to stay organized, respond faster and build your reputation.
    • Stay adaptable. Every job is different. Be ready to adjust your approach and keep learning new methods to stay competitive and efficient.
    • Build a reputation that lasts. Home services are about more than solving a specific problem. They’re about creating peace of mind. When people know you genuinely care about their home or business, they’ll trust you for years to come.

    Watch the episode above to hear directly from Michael and Jose Rodriguez, and subscribe to Behind the Review for more from new business owners and reviewers every Wednesday.

    Editorial contributions by Jiah Choe and Kristi Lindahl

    Ready to break through your revenue ceiling? Join us at Level Up, a conference for ambitious business leaders to unlock new growth opportunities.

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    Emily Washcovick

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  • The Future of Customer Service: AI Innovations and Real-World Applications

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    Exceptional customer experiences are now the standard. AI is revolutionizing how businesses interact with customers, enhancing experiences and meeting evolving expectations.  

    Incorporating AI into your customer engagement strategy can help your organization anticipate consumer trends, personalize content and recommendations, and empower customer service agents to focus on meaningful interactions. 

    Early AI adopters are realizing an astonishing $3.50 return on investment for every dollar spent on AI, so now is the time to act. This blog is part of the Art of Practical AI series, which explores how organizations are putting AI to work in real, measurable ways. In this blog, we will examine real-life solutions that elevate the customer experience, optimize business operations, and create strategic business insights. 

    Anticipating consumer needs with AI innovation 

    AI-focused organizations are uncovering new insights that anticipate consumer needs and simplify the customer experience. Analyzing large datasets can reveal shopping trends and streamline inventory management, particularly for retailers.  

    For example, Abercrombie & Fitch Co., a global retailer with more than 750 stores, is using AI data analytics to better serve its customers. By moving its on-premises e-commerce environment and data estate to Microsoft Azure, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. created a Global Data Cloud platform. This modern infrastructure allows the company to understand local shopping trends and predict which products should be available to meet customer needs. 

    Generative AI facilitates the creation of sophisticated models that can generate human-like text, images, and other content, enhancing the customer experience in a variety of applications. AI-powered chatbots use these AI models to provide intelligent, context-aware interactions, improving customer service and user engagement.  

    For instance, tax experts at H&R Block wanted to make filing taxes online easier, so the company used Azure AI Studio and Azure OpenAI Service to build a new solution on the H&R Block platform to provide real-time, reliable tax filing assistance. The generative AI–driven tax assistant answers tax-related questions and gives guidance on specific tax rules to help online filers feel confident in the process. 

    Thriving with AI-driven content creation and personalization 

    AI is helping businesses thrive in a competitive landscape where personalization is key. From automated content creation to personalized recommendations, organizations are using AI to power unique customer experiences. For example, Heritage Grocers Group, a leading grocery retailer, is using Microsoft Fabric to unify its data and analytics platform. By adopting this technology, Heritage Grocers Group has saved $500,000 and improved its ability to understand customer preferences and optimize product assortment by location. 

    Retailers are harnessing AI to create personalized shopping experiences that delight consumers. Walmart built a generative AI–powered search function that generates personalized responses to customer queries and will soon include customized product suggestions. 

    AI is enhancing in-person travel experiences, too. The City of Rome reimagined travel with a virtual tour guide named Julia. This AI-driven virtual assistant interacts with tourists, offering tailored itineraries or recommending a quiet spot for dinner. Julia uses a full suite of Microsoft products including Microsoft Fabric, Azure AI Search, and Azure OpenAI Service to guide tourists toward hidden gems, reducing congestion around the city’s most popular attractions. 

    Empowering customer service teams with AI automation 

    Customer service representatives are often the public face of a business and an important touchpoint in consumer engagement. Empowering customer service teams to meaningfully connect with individual customers can boost customer satisfaction and loyalty. Early generative AI adopters in customer service have seen a 40% increase in productivity, including a 14% increase per hour in customer care resolution. 

    Incorporating generative AI solutions into customer relationship management systems is helping businesses consolidate information and reduce manual processes for customer service teams. Digital financial services firm Ally Financial is using Azure and Azure OpenAI Service to replace manual note-taking with AI-generated call summaries, allowing customer service associates to focus on personal interactions. 

    Generative AI–driven chatbots or virtual assistants can provide support for common concerns, freeing customer service teams to focus on more complex queries. Telstra, a leading telecommunications company in Australia, developed two cutting-edge generative AI tools powered by Azure OpenAI Service. These tools help Telstra respond to customers more quickly and effectively, resulting in better customer experiences, reduced wait times, and manageable workloads for employees. 

    Transforming customer engagement 

    AI is empowering organizations across industries to reimagine the customer experience, helping them thrive in the digital age of personalization. These real-world examples demonstrate how businesses can harness the Azure ecosystem to accelerate AI transformation. 

    To dig deeper into how your organization can use AI to enhance the customer experience, please explore these additional resources: 

    • Discover Microsoft AI solutions: Find out how Microsoft is empowering the world to achieve more with AI, and discover the technology-driving transformation. 

    The Art of Practical AI

    Dig deeper into our three-part series showcasing how organizations like yours are turning AI into impact.

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    Microsoft in Business Team

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  • How to Transform Your Real Estate Business With a Customer-Centric Approach | Entrepreneur

    How to Transform Your Real Estate Business With a Customer-Centric Approach | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Success in real estate, and many other industries, is often determined by one key factor: customer service. While AI, technology and data analytics have become increasingly important, the human component remains the driving force behind long-term business success. Adopting a customer-centric approach is essential for cultivating lasting client relationships, while staying competitive.

    The power of exceptional customer service

    At the core of any successful real estate business is a commitment to exceptional customer service. Beyond just answering calls promptly or organizing smooth viewings, it’s about truly understanding clients’ deeper motivations and needs. Great agents don’t just complete transactions; they build trust. In an industry where emotions and finances are often deeply intertwined, clients want to feel understood, respected and prioritized.

    Exceptional customer service means consistently anticipating clients’ needs and acting in their best interests. When clients feel cared for and valued, they’re more likely to return for future transactions. They also become advocates who recommend your services to others. This is particularly important in an era when word-of-mouth referrals and personal recommendations carry significant weight. Studies have shown that personal referrals can be a key driver of business growth in real estate and other service industries.

    Related: Customer Centricity: What It Is, Why It Matters and How to Improve Yours

    Building long-term relationships, not just transactions

    One of the biggest mistakes real estate professionals can make is to treat each transaction as an isolated event. While closing deals quickly may seem efficient, it can lead to missed opportunities for growth and relationship-building. A customer-centric mindset means seeing each client interaction as an opportunity to establish long-term trust and rapport.

    This mindset shift transforms the relationship from a one-time transaction into a lasting partnership. For example, clients who are treated with care and attention are more likely to seek your services again when they’re ready for their next property investment. Furthermore, understanding a client’s long-term goals helps agents provide better, more tailored advice, leading to greater client satisfaction and loyalty.

    In real estate, like in any customer-focused business, building relationships means going the extra mile — whether it’s providing market insights long after a transaction has closed or offering ongoing support with property management. Clients who feel supported beyond the sale will return and refer new clients, expanding your network and creating new opportunities for success.

    Attention to detail makes all the difference

    The importance of attention to detail cannot be overstated. In real estate, small details, like remembering a client’s specific design preferences or scheduling viewings at times that suit their needs, can make all the difference. Successful agents know that every client interaction is an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to delivering value and ensuring a seamless experience.

    In many cases, it’s the attention to detail that transforms a stressful process, like buying a home, into a positive and rewarding experience. This level of care helps differentiate customer-focused agents from their competitors and creates an emotional connection with clients, further deepening the relationship.

    The business case for a service-oriented mindset

    A customer-centric approach is a proven strategy for business growth. Research by PwC shows that 73% of consumers say customer experience is a critical factor in their purchasing decisions. This is especially true in the real estate industry, where both financial and emotional investments are significant. By prioritizing client experience, businesses differentiate themselves in the marketplace and position themselves for long-term success.

    Putting people first leads to better outcomes for everyone. By delivering exceptional service, businesses can cultivate relationships that yield repeat business, generate valuable referrals and enhance their reputation. A strong focus on customer service ultimately leads to higher client satisfaction, which directly impacts revenue growth and brand loyalty.

    Related: Good Customer Service is a Disappearing Art — Here’s How You Can Be Different

    Automation and data are becoming increasingly prevalent, yet human connection remains irreplaceable. The real estate industry, in particular, is built on relationships and trust. By focusing on exceptional customer service and prioritizing the needs of clients, professionals can build lasting partnerships that go beyond the scope of a single transaction.

    Adopting a customer-centric approach in real estate, and in any industry, means recognizing that success isn’t just about the numbers; it’s about the people behind the transactions. When clients feel cared for and valued, they will return, refer others and contribute to the long-term growth and sustainability of your business.

    By emphasizing a client-first approach, real estate and other industry professionals can create thriving businesses that deliver value and build lasting relationships, all while standing out in a competitive and tech-driven market.

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    Ugo Arinzeh

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  • Auto lenders lean into AI for customer service

    Auto lenders lean into AI for customer service

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    Auto lenders are incorporating artificial intelligence into their processes to improve customer service automation and credit decisioning while eyeing uses for underwriting.   Subprime auto lenders can use AI to ensure staff and resources are assigned to tasks that help navigate affordability challenges, operational costs and credit risk, Harvey Singh, chief operating officer at Veros Credit, said during a […]

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    Amanda Harris

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  • 70% of Citizens applications will be cloud-based by 2024 | Bank Automation News

    70% of Citizens applications will be cloud-based by 2024 | Bank Automation News

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    Citizens Bank is deploying generative AI and migrating operations to the cloud as part of its cost-saving and efficiency measures.  The bank reported that 70% of its applications will be on the cloud by the end of 2024 and it aims to deploy generative AI to increase efficiencies at its call centers. “We have launched […]

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    Vaidik Trivedi

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  • Unhappy With a Service You’ve Been Paying For? It Might Be Time for a Breakup

    Unhappy With a Service You’ve Been Paying For? It Might Be Time for a Breakup

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    Finding a new person to do a service for you could take time, effort, and multiple tries. If you don’t have a replacement lined up, think about whether you’ll be in a jam before you find someone new and consider waiting until you do.

    Apart from obvious places such as Yelp and Google, you can seek out providers in places such as Angi (formerly Angie’s List) or Thumbtack for home projects. StyleSeat and Booksy can help you find hair, nail, massage, and spa services. Rover is good for pet services, including boarding, dog walking, and cat sitting, while TrustedHousesitters lists pet sitters and house sitters. For one-off projects, such as moving or quick home repair, TaskRabbit is a popular option.

    Plan for a Clean Break

    Now, for the hard part: the actual breakup. If you hate dealing with confrontation and awkwardness, be aware that this happens to service providers all the time. Anyone in the service industry is used to turnover, and nobody can meet their clients’ needs 100 percent of the time indefinitely.

    If the professional relationship is not firmly established or has been short-term, it may be fine to simply stop scheduling service appointments and let things die on their own. You may get a follow-up call or message asking if you want to continue services, and you can simply say those services are no longer needed. Ghosting someone who has been serving you for years, especially if they’re trying to reach you, is not a sign that you respect the work they’ve done.

    For these more established business relationships, it’s best to be polite and direct and to give the person the opportunity to respond. But even that may not always be necessary. Customer-facing industries such as salons are used to customer churn and recognize that clients don’t necessarily owe them an explanation for cutting them off.

    “Unless you’re super close to the person and have been with them for years and feel comfortable telling them, you don’t owe anyone an apology,” says Chelle Neff, who styled hair for 21 years and who owns three Urban Betty salons in the Austin, Texas, area. “I’d rather people ghosted me than have a weird explanation, an awkward exchange, or a lie.”

    Neff said that some customers just get bored and want to try something new, and some eventually come back. But ultimately, she says, if you’re the client, “you need to do what makes you happy.”

    Keep Things Professional

    Especially in small communities or industries where there are only a limited number of professionals doing the work, rumors spread, and negative feedback travels fast. Think twice before leaving a negative review or trash-talking someone who worked for you to your new serviceperson. When leaving any kind of public feedback, unless you had an extreme experience that is worth warning others about, you should take the high road and simply state facts as you’re transitioning to a new professional.

    Obviously, using a bad review to hurl personal insults or to criticize things that were out of the serviceperson’s control is rude and unfair. Think about how your review might be perceived by others. Were your expectations for the work you hired the business to do unreasonable to start with? Did the service professional promise something and then not deliver, or were your expectations just not fully communicated? You might want to ask a friend to take a look at what you plan to post before you hit Send. A negative review could backfire if you come across as a bad client; if the facts favor the service provider, the review could reflect more poorly on you than on them.

    If the person you broke up with works for a company and you take your complaints to their manager or the business owner, it could affect their chances for advancement or even lead to them getting fired. Make sure you are on solid ground and are not acting on anger before you take action like that. As a business owner, Neff says that contacting the business directly is better than leaving a negative review: “Nine times out of 10, if they’re a good company, they’re going to make it better and set you up with someone else too.”

    Whether it’s a review or you’re contacting supervisors in hopes of a solution, stick to the facts, including documentation of what you paid and what was provided, and don’t make it personal.

    If you’ve made it this far, you’re past the hardest part. You’ve gotten out of a bad working relationship and are hopefully enjoying better service that’ll go the distance.

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    Omar L. Gallaga

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  • Customer questions so absurdly stupid they’re hard to comprehend (30 Photos)

    Customer questions so absurdly stupid they’re hard to comprehend (30 Photos)

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    Stephen

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