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Profile Information

Title: CEO

Company: Customerville

Website: http://www.customerville.com

Which Restaurant Segment best describes my company: Other

Which department at the restaurant corporate office: Other

What is your profession: Consultant

Max Israel's Videos

Max Israel's Blog

Non-Operator

What You Need to Know About Eye Contact

Posted on February 26, 2010 at 5:55pm 0 Comments 0 Likes

There’s a lot you can learn from considering the phenomenon of eye contact. Just a fraction of a second’s eye contact yields a huge amount of information that you can – and do – use as you communicate with your interlocutor. Thinking about how this works, and why we’ve evolved to do it, can pay big dividends.

Take a look at this picture of three women and consider the amount of information you get almost instantly just by looking at their eyes. For just a little… Continue

Non-Operator

Meet your restaurant's toughest competitor for the next 10 years

Posted on January 10, 2010 at 7:55am 4 Comments 0 Likes

Your toughest competitor for the next 10 years isn’t going to be a rival brand, a new channel or trend. It’s the suddenly massive US household debt. The pain it will put Americans through as they divert spending to hack down their card balances will rob you of guests far more effectively than could any competitor. Here’s why – and how smart companies are preparing.

About once a quarter for the past five years, our own Joe Dion would walk into my office glowering at a… Continue

Non-Operator

White table cloth? The Top 3 Rules for Feedback

Posted on January 5, 2010 at 4:57am 0 Comments 0 Likes

Note: Customerville works with retailers and restaurant chains. Though this post was originally targeted more at retailers, several white table cloth restaurant operators pointed out that much of this applies to them as well. Enjoy!

As we wrote last week, luxury retailers everywhere are fighting to reconfigure themselves to survive and – in a few cases – prosper in the new, austere economy. One of the first things they’ll need to do is overcome a historical discomfort… Continue

Non-Operator

Luxury Brands’ Achilles Heel

Posted on December 31, 2009 at 9:51am 1 Comment 0 Likes

High-end brands of all kinds depend more than ever before on retaining a relatively small number of high-value customers. So why are they so uncomfortable asking those customers for feedback?

Last week’s vacation in Madrid was a real balancing act between dropping in on the best and brightest luxury retailers to see what’s cooking while simultaneously not allowing Mrs. Israel to make them vastly more successful than they already are. Despite a little stress in that… Continue