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Clark talks a lot about customer no service. It’s something that corporate America works overtime to try and provide us. They don’t seem to understand that it’s cheaper to keep an existing customer than to go find a new one. But there is some good news on this front. One of the hottest waves in consulting is to look at a business through the eyes of a customer, according to Business Week. There is suddenly a realization that you really have to abide by the adage that “the customer is king.” For a while, everything was about “right sizing” and seizing market share through buying up competitors. But now companies have figured out that making an experience positive for a customer will make them more money. Companies are bringing in anthropologists, psychologists who work side by side with executives. They brainstorm about how the customer sees things, and they make suggestions about how to change things. Not your typical consultant, but they’re actually getting things done. One of the companies mentioned in the story is Kaiser Permanente. The execs were considering building bigger centers with fancier furniture. But they learned that what people really wanted was to be treated with respect and dignity, and not be left alone in a room naked for a half hour, waiting for a doctor. They didn’t give a hoot about how the building looked. So be smart about keeping a customer, instead of spending a ton to bring in new ones.

Have you ever gone to the hospital for a non-emergency procedure? If so, you probably figured you’d be billed later and you could pay them when you got around to it. But more and more hospitals aren’t getting paid in that scenario. Hospitals lose about $22 billion a year from non-payments and they’re tired of it. So, more and more are calculating what your portion will be before you leave the building. Some are even adding up your bill before you have the procedure, according to the Wall Street Journal. Clark says more power to them. If you owned a business or restaurant, you wouldn’t allow people to take items or eat and then send them a bill that they could pay later. You’d pay right then and there. But, in exchange, the hospital should give us some kind of written estimate, detailing what we will pay. What’s fair is fair.

From time to time, Clark has sounded sort of Pollyanna when it comes to the job market. Some people have told him he gives people false hope and should not be encouraging when things are really so bleak. But he doesn’t think that is the case. He likes to see the silver lining and to share that with people who sometimes think things aren’t going to get better. The good news is that the sky is much more sunny now, based on recent actions of top company executives. In recent surveys of CEOs, 96 percent said they expect sales to increase or remain the same. About 93 percent expect capital spending to increase. In other words, almost no one in corporate America expects things to turn the other way in the job market. The Business Roundtable, a group of corporation lobbyists, has upgraded its index as to how well the economy is doing from a 52 two years ago to a 96 today. So, there is a clear difference. If you’ve been settling for less in the job market over the past two years because of the job market, it may be time to start searching for greener pastures again. You may face rejection, but it's a great time to be networking.

Only about one-third of people take our cars in for repairs when there has been a serious recall. Manufacturers are required to send out a notice about a recall, yet people seem too busy to respond. That’s the owner’s fault. But what if a car company never told you about defects? Mitsubishi Motors is accused of covering up defects in its vehicles from 1993 to 2000. The defects involved problems with engines and fuel tanks, and knowing about them could have saved consumers millions. It’s disgraceful that a car company would do that. But part of the responsibility lies with you. There are two places on the Internet to easily find out what’s going on with your car. Check NHTSA.gov, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, for information on recalls. And autosafety.org is the place you want to check for issues with your car.

“Customer no service” seems to be everywhere these days. To drive home that point, the University of Michigan does quarterly customer service surveys that tell us exactly how companies are doing. This quarter the survey covered transportation, communications and utilities. Of all the industries rated, the ones that make us the happiest are delivery services. FedEx was tops with a score of 83, which is comparable to a “B.” UPS got an 80. And the US Postal Service was third with a 77. Even though the USPS has a monopoly on 1st class mail, the organization is still in survival mode and has clearly responded. In the airline industry, Southwest was the only airline to get a passing grade. The airline, which has been declining over recent years, got a 73. No one else was anywhere near that. In the cell phone industry, zero companies got a passing grade. And, Sprint got the lowest score of any company. What about satellite and cable TV? As for cable and satellite, the only companies that got a passing grade were Dish and DirecTV. Both got 71, which is not a great score. But Comcast got the lowest score of any pay television company at 56. In fact, Comcast got the lowest score of any company in any industry in the survey. Satellite is definitely not perfect. But clearly this survey shows which is better. As for utility companies, people are very happy. The highest rated company was Southern Company with an 81.

The hot thing in the clothing market for teens and pre-teen girls is to wear as little clothing as possible. It can be very disconcerting for parents and sometimes for teens, as well. A lot of teens and pre-teens or “tweens” don’t want to wear these clothes, and one 11-year-old girl made her feelings known. She was in Nordstrom recently and was floored by the clothing, or lack there of. So, she wrote a letter to the company president asking why she has to dress “half naked.” The company read the letter and now promises that it will put more modest clothes on its floors. Clothing lines will shift over the next few years to more modest looks. A few lines are already out that teens like, and you can find more on these lines at modestbydesign.com. So, parents, if you get worked up watching your teens walk out the door in skimpy clothing, tell them there are alternatives. Clark is a big fan of uniforms in schools or some kind of dress codes. For guys, Clark would like to take pictures of them and show them what they look like in 10 years. They would have a laugh.