Alex Bollen, Research Director Ipsos MORI: What can our personal relationships teach us about customer relationships?

I’m all agog about the prospect of a new retail bank hitting us in our unprotected goolies. If it does, we’ve nobody to blame but one Anthony Thomson.

What do the following have in common? A plastic food container, a refrigerator, washing machine, dry waterless car wash preparation, cooking oil, the shaft of a golf club, face cleanser cream, dental adhesive and a brand of tea?

It’s a fact that many organisations routinely lie to us. Actually, they don’t: it’s their employees who do the lying

I believe in the survival of the fittest, which is why I never read the Guardian and other purveyors of milk-sop sensitivity.

As the economy becomes increasingly volatile, how can managing directors, CEOs and owner-managers prosper in uncertain times?

"Ask yourself how many new customers your organisation acquires every year. Before you answer the question, let’s agree on the definition of a ’new customer’."

"After all that rhetoric, there’s hardly any time at all to tell us about all the things that went wrong before they finally got it right."

"I’m going to tell you something now that I’ve been keeping hidden for many years, because of the shame, the guilt, and yes, the stigma."

I caught the assistant’s eye and politely asked if the call would be much longer. She cupped the mouthpiece and said "I’m talking to a customer - I can’t do two things at once."