I absolutely love how EBay, a marketplace platform, is redefining itself from a perceived second-hand sales shop to a story-telling vintage connection. "In today’s world, shopping has become overly convenient, generic, and sterile — a passive, uninspired experience, stripped of the meaning and excitement it once carried. “eBay Stories” counters this by showing how every item discovered on the marketplace holds a story that makes it more special, personal, and worth having." How clever to tap into the emotions of buyers with these personal "discoveries".

So this is an example from my current part time workplace. I know the real answer, but would love to see what you come up with. Why did this health insurer change up where and how its customer service employees worked? Brining them from centralised locations for phone and chat support, to having them (where possible) work in their local area? Sometimes from their local store where they might also do face to face customer sales and support?

Chewy is a mail order pet supply company in the U.S. I've been a happy customer for years, but not long ago I ran into an issue that they just don't seem equipped to resolve. A new pkg of our regular cat food seemed a bit off. To make sure it wasn't a new recipe, I contacted the manufacturer, who sent a replacement, though they are normally wholesale only. My next Chewy order of that food was also off, so I contacted Chewy this time. I've had lots of great customer service experiences with them, and the customer service representative was super friendly and offered to replace the food. They have always immediately issued a refund or replacement, no questions asked. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't just going to get another off package, so I explained that this was a repeat problem, and could they make sure that their entire batch in storage hadn't gone bad. The agent agreed and carefully wrote down the issue, which would go to their fulfillment department, but guess what? My replacement was another off package of cat food. I've sent them a couple of detailed feedback notes, but I've also stopped buying our cat food from Chewy (we buy other, nonperishable things from them). What's your take? I have theories, and I'm curious to hear yours.

Trish! Thank you so much for not just one, but FOUR ideas of how to bring the "Inspiration Point" out into the open. Your input is incredibly valuable, and I'm anxious to move forward in a more intentional direction to engage artists in this initiative. "...if people don’t perceive it as important, they’ll treat it like background noise." "we need to make this a lot more interactive" "Creating a bit of FOMO" "Recognition....creates this loop where people keep checking in to see what others have done, and to see if their own work might be featured too." With gratitude, I'll keep you posted on how I implement this strategy. Andie

Alrighty! So it’s Saturday arvo! The onions hit first.The sausage sizzle lives outside the store, run by local groups. Why do they stick a food queue at the door of a hardware shop? What's the strategies behind this do you think? (Even if you see or think the right answer has been commented, keep thinking and comment whatever comes to mind! There's no right or wrong answer it's all about seeing what we can find. That's how we train our brains)