Ted Topping is an experienced speaker, author, consultant and educator specializing in perfecting the customer experience. In addition, he organizes a variety of Benchmarking Study Tours through his company, Creative Insights Inc.
Ted’s unique expertise comes from personal experience and decades of real-life consulting work.
He is a strong generalist who understands many aspects of a consumer-facing business. His approach is practical and action-oriented, and he delivers not just ideas but usable tools.
Ted always looks at a business from the big-picture, strategic perspective while helping clients understand and deliver the crucial details that make it all relevant to the customer.
As a speaker, Ted Topping offers real-life, actionable advice. His keynotes and interactive presentations are motivational, inspirational and entertaining, and they provide significant lasting take-away value.
Ted’s message resonates especially well with retail, hospitality, tourism and service companies, all of which need to deliver on the all-important details that create a memorable customer experience and sustained success. More…
As an author, Ted Topping has contributed to numerous how-to guides and resource publications. He is author of two industry guides for an international association based in the USA, and co-author of the best-selling Start and Run a Retail Business, which is available in several languages.
In his writing, as in his consulting work, Ted offers strategic advice and practical tools that will improve a business by helping it deliver on-brand service and a compelling customer experience. More…
As a consultant, Ted Topping strives to bring permanent, positive change to a client’s business, not just a quick fix.
His clients have included local, national and global consumer-facing organizations: brands and manufacturers; national and state trade associations; government agencies; small and mid-size retail, hospitality, tourism and service companies; dealers and distributors. More…
As an educator, Ted Topping combines big picture visualization and organizational skills with a practical understanding of how adults learn.
At the industry level, he designs, produces and leads customized, large-scale training programs. For individual clients, he creates and delivers interactive workshops that explain a topic effectively, and help participants understand how they can Put It to Work in practice.
Ted often includes a coaching component in his education-related proposals. His goal is to train the trainers so they can take practical knowledge and skills back to their operations and achieve meaningful real-world results. More…
Through Creative Insights Inc., Ted Topping creates and delivers customized Benchmarking Study Tours. This unique type of hands-on learning experience expands horizons, sparks ideas and inspires change. Benchmarking Study Tours provide practical ideas that people can take home and use, and the lessons they learn will stay with them for life.
Because the best way for adults to learn is to discover things for themselves, our Study Tour participants get to do this in a structured way. They obtain the core facts and information they need, but they also learn how things work “behind the curtain” while interacting constantly with facilitators and fellow participants. More…
Excerpts from a cable television interview in which Ted Topping discusses various aspects of service and customer experience, and ways that a retail, hospitality or tourism business can improve it.
Highlights:
0:00 Retail is a people business, driven by emotions
1:06 Apple’s emotional component earns its premium price
1:55 Emotional elements create the “I want” buying motive
2:43 As a business strategy, “in the middle” is old, terrible
3:25 Challenge in training service is an “age gap” of values
4:50 Employer needs to find the “right” values when hiring
5:37 “Extra mile” service even possible in city government
7:06 Most people are basically good, want to do a good job
