MD For A Day!

Looking to generate ideas and get a different perspective on your business? Here’s a simple, little  ‘technique’ I like to put forward in my speaking and workshops on leadership and ’maximising people performance’.

It’s called ’MD For A Day’!

Basically, it’s a quick and easy process of asking a question like this to your people:

‘If you were MD for a day here, what would you do, change or introduce?’

Ask lots of people – the seniors, the old hands and especially the newcomers and the juniors. It’s a great way of starting debate and discussion, to identify issues and to see what others see as important.

You never know, they might just point out a couple of things that you’re not aware of!

Conjoined Creatives? Now, That IS ‘Dramatically Different’!

“Once in a lifetime offer! Two young creatives, conjoined in body and soul are selling their wares for one lucky creative director. It could be you. Treat yourself to these little gems and see your business flourish.”

Being ‘Dramatically Different’ isn’t just limited to businesses as a way of standing out – it works for individuals too. Here’s a nice story of two women who have put themselves up for auction on ebay as a way to develop their careers in creative advertising. Amy Jackson and Hollie Belton have been working in advertising on a ‘placement year’ and are now looking for ‘fulltime employment’. They are appealing to Creative Directors in advertising agencies by auctioning themselves off to the highest bidder!

They’re doing something (even if it is a bit ‘gimmicky’) to ‘stand out from the crowd’.  I’m sure some people will be ‘horrified’ at their ‘upfrontness’! I applaud it. I also work on the view, that those that don’t like it are unlikely to be ideal employers for these girls.  

That’s the same in ‘business’ – I talk about ‘choose ‘em or lose ‘em’ when it comes to targetting customers – it’s difficult (impossible?) to be all things to all people.

In other words, be ‘Dramatically Different’ in a way that appeals to your target audience – don’t worry about the rest!

 

Dramatic Difference? It’s Child’s Play!

I just had to put this up! It’s ‘stolen with pride’ from my IT partner Andrew Seaton of Resolve IT Solutions. It’s a brilliant example of being ‘Dramatically Different’ in something that we all definitely see as being ‘the same as….’

It’s the ‘safety video’ on Thomson Airlines. I’m sure it will ‘engage’, even ‘charm’ you:

South West Airlines have for years encouraged their staff to be ‘Dramatically Different’, and here’s an example of one of them doing just that!

I do remember flying on Easyjet when the steward told us during his ‘safety bit’ that it was non- smoking and ‘the only fags allowed on this flight are crew members’. It made everyone smile and helped build some lovely ‘rapport’.

These are all ‘little things’, but usually it’s those ‘little things’, often nothing to do with the ‘core’ product or service, that make that difference!

Kayaking To Success!

I love getting real examples of businesses and leaders that actually do stuff that works… and do it well.

I’ve just come across a nice profile of Paul English of Kayak, on Inc.com. Kayak is the highly successful travel website comparison site and the article highlights the role of Paul as a leader when it comes to creating a real customer focus across his business.

In what can often be seen as the ‘faceless’ sector of web business, he seems to very much try to ‘humanise’ the business, and does it by ‘leading from the front’.

Here’s an extract from the article:

About a year ago, I bought a red telephone with a really loud ringer for the office. Whenever a customer calls the help number on our website, that phone rings. The engineers initially complained about it. They said, “That’s so friggin’ annoying!” And I’d say, “There’s a really simple solution: Answer the friggin’ phone and do whatever it takes to make that customer happy. Then hang up, unplug the phone, walk it down to the other end of the office, and plug it in down there.”

 It’s like hot potato. Except I take it seriously. When the phone rings, I literally jump over the desks just so I can get to the phone before anyone else. I love talking to customers, even angry ones. I learn a lot from them about how to make the site easier to use. When the call’s over, I’ll say, “If you have any follow-up questions, my name is Paul English; I’m the co-founder of the company.” I’ll give out my personal cell-phone number. Only one out of 20 people might actually call, but they’re blown away when I do that…….

 

The article highlights some really great examples of what I see in totally customer focused businesses:

• They’re easy to buy from and deal with
• They get ‘customers’ on the agenda…. and keep them there
• They hire for attitude, not just skill
• Leaders act as role models – they ‘walk the talk’

You can read the article here…… and after you have, ask yourself:

 ’How do we measure up against those 4 factors?’

 And then maybe work out what you need to do to ‘walk the talk’!

The Changing Face of Customer Service – Then and Now

Here’s my first ever ‘guest post’! It’s from Brenda Harris of  Executive MBA Programs. She’s from Houston, Texas, so welcome Brenda! (Incidentally, if anyone else would like to contribute something ‘topical’, please don’t hesitate to do so). Anyway, here goes…. over to Brenda:

There are some things that don’t change down the ages when it comes to customer service, like the fact that the customer is king. But then, there are many others that change with each passing year or even month, and this is why customer service as most of us remember it a few years ago has undergone a sea change. While there are many factors that have contributed to this change, we cannot deny the fact that it is mostly due to the way we access and share information today – in other words, the World Wide Web. 

Then – It was a time when organizations did have policies in place for customer service and tried to satisfy their customers as best as they could. But then, they were not too worried about the repercussions that the actions and words of a few unsatisfied customers could bring about.

Now – Any organization that is worried about its reputation cannot afford to take even a single customer for granted, not with the viral nature of social networks and the far-reaching tentacles of the Internet. If you have one unsatisfied customer, you can bet your last dollar that they are going to shout out your misdeeds or lack of concern for the customer from the highest rooftop in their loudest voice (or in Internet parlance, post adverse comments on popular forums or start hate groups on social networks like Facebook and Twitter which spread faster than wildfire because people are always tuned in to these communication channels.

Example: The Southwest Airlines was recently in the eye of a storm involving a plus sized customer who created a hue and cry on Twitter following the airline not allowing him to travel on their aircraft because he was overweight and did not fit comfortably in one seat. Following the controversy, the airline had to issue an apology and offer the passenger a $100 refund before the angry voices on Twitter would subside.

Bottom line: At the end of the day, the fact is that the quality of customer service may or may not have changed, but organizations are being held accountable for their actions on a public arena, one where the customer is almost always right and the company is almost always the bad guy. It does not really matter that the organization has set policies in place and that this is how things have always been done; today, when the customer has a voice that’s loud and clear and a bright and visible platform to air their grievances, perceived or real. This means that companies have to be extremely careful of how they tread, or better yet, they must have a presence on the Internet too where they can address legitimate grievances and expose the fraudulent ones for what they really are. Comcast did this quite successfully when they got on Twitter to address the negative diatribe against them before it got out of hand, so there’s no reason why others cannot adopt the same strategy to address the customer service needs of today.

 

This guest post is contributed by Brenda Harris, who writes on the topic of executive mba programs . She can be reached at her email id: brenda.harris91@gmail.com .

Are You ‘COMPLETELY’ Happy? It’s A Tough Question!

I was asked yesterday about customer feedback questions to get a feel for what they think about your service. Customer feedback is critical to maintaining and improving competitiveness. Unfortunately, I think far too many businesses don’t (or daren’t) ask the ‘tough’ questions.

I think you should avoid the ‘tick boxes’ and ‘score out of 10′ questions and ask:

“Were you COMPLETELY happy with our service?” with a YES / NO answer and a follow up ‘Why / Why Not?’

Here are a few more follow up questions worth considering.  My personal view is that they should ‘stretch’ customers to commit to answers, so things like:

• Was there anything / anyone that particularly ‘impressed’ you about our service?
• Was there anything / anyone that particularly ‘disappointed’ you about our service?
• If we could improve just one thing what should it be?
• Please sum up our business / service in just a few words.

The idea is to ‘provoke’ people to give an answer. For example, there is an arguement that if they don’t give an answer for the first or second questions, then things are ‘ok’, but as you know ‘ok’ is not the stuff that people tell others about. It’s not a ‘bad’ rating, but it’s not exceptional or ‘dramatically different’!

They are tough questions, but we are in ‘tough times’!

What questions do you ask?

Warming To The Idea of ‘Personalisation’

Discussing the ‘customer delight’ idea of ‘human bed warmers’ at the Kensington Holiday Inn (see previous blog), a friend who has a Range Rover (although I don’t hold that against him!) explained to me that he can pre-time his in car heating system to warm it up before he gets in! Very nice, especially in all these recent ‘wintery mornings’!

I just thought it was a great, simple example of building in ‘personalisation’ into the core offer. I don’t suppose that many people buy a big luxury car just because you can heat the seats up before you set off, but it’s one of those little things that

a) is ‘dramatically different’

b) (I suspect) relatively ‘cheap’ in the overall costs

c) helps customers ‘tailor’ the product to their needs

In the world of huge choice and ‘same as’, ‘personalisation’ is a great way to ‘differentiate’ your business, your products and your services and create ‘delighted’ customers.

Thinking Allowed!

I saw a sign on the wall at a client’s office recently that said ‘Thinking Allowed’!  I love that! In so many businesses it simply isn’t. People are ‘encouraged’ to be ‘busy’, even worse ‘being seen to be busy’. What do you do to allow, even ‘encourage’ ‘thinking’ in your business?

Simple things – is there time ‘allowed’ in meetings? Is it on the agenda? Are individuals ‘allowed’ to spend time not just doing the ‘day to day’? And when I talk about individuals, I don’t just mean your senior managers and leaders. What about your ‘front line’ staff, the people who ‘do’ stuff day after day. Why not give them some short amounts of time to ‘think’? You may be quite amazed at what they come up with!

How about yourself? Do you create time for yourself to ‘think’?

So, go on, ‘think’ about it, and then (and this is the critical bit), DO something about it!

Demonstrate You Care For Only 20p A Time!

Ecclesall Road in Sheffield is a busy retail street with lots of great independent retailers and is a major thoroughfare in and out of the city. As a result, parking is always a bit tricky. The City Council has introduced a charge to park in and around the area – not much, just 20p which I can’t imaging puts that many people off.

Mookau, one of the very distinct independent retailers there that sells gifts and homeware has introduced a nice little touch. Walk in to the shop and they’ll give you your 20p back! You don’t even have to buy anything! I often suggest that being ‘easy to buy from’ is one of the first principles of customer care.

This is a great example of not just ’being easy to buy from’, but actually demonstrating it to existing and potential customers!

Of course, you’re not going to dash to Mookau just for 20p, but

a) you now know that they’re thinking about their customers, and

b) like me, you might just tell others about that too.

What do you do to demonstrate you care about your customers?

Get ‘Intimate’ With Your Customers!

As Valentine’s Day approaches, it seems like a good time to get ‘intimate’!! No, don’t worry, I’m not going all ‘rude’ on you, I just thought it might be time for a little ‘prompt’ to get you to look at your ‘customer relationships’.

How well do you and your people  know your customers? How ‘intimate’ are you?

In other words, are your key customers ‘complete strangers’, ‘just good friends’, or is your business ’passionate’ about them?

Do you and your people know their ‘background’, their needs, their issues, their opinions, their problems, their plans, and their feelings about you? If you do, the key here is, do your customers know that? What do you to demonstrate that?

 No, I’m not suggesting you send them a Valentine card, but what could you do to let them know that you are ‘thinking about them’? (And…no, not just on Valentine’s Day!)

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