“What Do You Think About These Customer Engagement Beliefs?”
When I recently participated in a symposium on AI for university students, I shared that while AI knowledge and technical skills are increasingly important, employers also value cognitive and behavioral skills. These include critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration, interpersonal effectiveness and teamwork.
That conversation reminded me of a few principles from my “Customer Engagement and Sales Beliefs” that reflect additional essential competencies:
- Every customer contact is an opportunity to make a positive impression to gain and keep a customer
- Whether our role is customer-facing or not, most of us contribute to customer engagement, business growth, or sales in some way
- Customer engagement and sales are one integrated process
- Building relationships and driving sales are interconnected activities
- Effective customer engagement is a core value and way of behaving for the entire organization
- Effectively engaging customers is personal choice and ownership
What do you think? Have you seen any of these beliefs show up in your own work or experiences?
If you’re interested in continuing this conversation, give me a call. We can help you with the following.
- Shift mindsets and comfort levels around business development and sales
- Implement a common narrative for customer engagement among all employees
- Enable employees to understand and embrace their role in contributing to business growth
“AraMgt’s 5Element™ Managing Change Model”
Employees often respond to organizational change with a spectrum of emotions and behaviors. Some embrace change with a sense of enthusiasm, optimism, and curiosity for potential gain. Others may feel uncertain, resistant, or even a sense of fear and loss of control.
AraMgt’s 5Element™ Managing Change Model is designed to assist organizations effectively ease transition and improve overall outcomes.
- Plan: Develop a clear roadmap for change.
- Inform: Communicate the vision and expectations.
- Involve: Engage employees in the process.
- Coach: Provide support and guidance.
- Understand: Assess impact and respond to concerns.
Does this resonate with you? I’d be interested to hear how this compares to what you’ve seen in practice…what has worked( or not worked)?
“Great Evening as a Panelist for Felician University’s 15th Annual Business Symposium 2026 The AI Factor”
I appreciated the opportunity to be a panelist at Felician University’s 15th Annual Business Symposium 2026 on “The AI Factor”. My discussion explored how organizations are integrating the technology and potential impact for the workforce. I addressed the audience questions on entering and navigating the AI-driven economy, valuable skills and behaviors, and strategies for managing and advancing their careers in an AI-enabled world.
Thank you Michael Omansky, Assoc. Prof. of the School of Business and Information Science, for inviting me to join other panelists Fred Munao, President of Select Records and Anthony J. Scardino, Assoc. Dean of Graduate Programs, SOBIS, and moderators Selma Jasarevic, Assoc. Dir. of Admissions, and Fanny Johnson, Assist. Dir. of ABSN Enrollment.
AI Adoption: A Change Management Blueprint
The process of introducing AI at your organization conceptually mirrors your past experience implementing technology or operational change in how you do business. During COVID we integrated virtual meeting platforms into employee and client communications. Using business intelligence systems to manage customer relations and develop strategy are now everyday practices.
There’s understandable concern about how AI might affect education, career choices, and the workforce. These changes are real—some roles will evolve, and others may disappear. Two core components of successful adoption are management taking an active leadership role and employee buy-in which are reflected in the following 5 elements:
- Justify and quantify reasons for change
- Select the stakeholder team
- Create and communicate the vision & solution plan including examples of AI applications
- Evaluate resistance and support for change
- Assess talent and training needs for new skill acquisition
“8 Behaviors That Stall Organizational Growth”
You have a presence on social media. You’ve spent money on digital advertising, website design and SEO to drive web orders and sales leads. You are fully staffed. The bank has approved your much needed loan. You are an established business or a fully-funded start-up.
Yet, you’re still not where you want to be? The answer might lie in the improvement opportunities I’ve seen experienced by the solo entrepreneurs to major organizations:
- Business practice loopholes in business development and sales
- Floundering and stuck in a comfort zone of doing things
- Lack of accountability to coworkers, deadlines and outcomes
- Could be more proactive in optimizing touchpoints with the customer
- Supervisory ownership to improve performance and engage employees
- New initiatives get bogged down during execution
- Manager style and silos hinder a productive and a healthy work culture
- Hiring the right people and keeping employees
If you recognize any of these challenges and are now ready to address them, I invite you to reach out. Together we can identify root causes with customized solutions to make a difference for you.