That’s iProgress!

How much would an iPod have cost in 1976? According to a little snippet I read in the great Wired magazine it would have been $1 Billion! That’s because of the cost of transistors back then! It would also be the size of a building, so not too handy when you’re out jogging!

So what? Well, I think it’s a fantastic illustration of the impact of progress on our lives and of course on business and the way we do it. Massively reduced costs, technological advances, ever increasing ease of use and a need for total flexibility are all things we face – they pose both opportunities and threats.

Are you embracing ‘progress’ to your advantage?

Currys Achieve Their ‘Goal’!

It WAS a goal! That’s according to the electrical retailers Currys anyway! Before the World Cup started, they launched a marketing campaign offering £10 ‘refund’ on TV’s bought for every goal England scored in the World Cup.

Despite the referee saying otherwise, they have kindly honoured Frank Lampard’s ‘Goal’ which I can’t help thinking is a refereshingly nice gesture.

I’m sure that the resulting good will and word of mouth created is a nice end to what was no doubt a very ‘cost effective’ marketing promotion for them!

ps.

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?

A: It didn’t according to FIFA!!!!

Want To Be 10% As Innovative As Google?

Lots of us would I’m sure. Well if you’d like some ideas how, check out this little article I wrote for BNet UK on innovation and creativity.

It’s simple stuff, as ever, but it might just get you thinking.

What will be better is, if it gets you doing!

Latest Podcast! It’s Short and Sweet!

Here’s the latest Podcast! It’s a short and sweet one and lasts less than 15 minutes! It might be short, but there’s some great stuff on there I promise! 

Podcast #6 contains:

• Organisational Stupidities! – Daft things that exist in your business that are ‘holding you back’. find them, and eliminate them – fast!
• Rework! - A brief review of a great book
• Websites Worth Wandering On To! – 3 websites I like!
• Get back To the Future - A simple process for  business improvement that anyone can use

You can listen to it here: 
 

Click here to download Podcast

You can also download it to your ipod by clicking here or on the itunes icon at the top of the website

Related links for this podcast:

Rework! – Buy it here from Amazon

Websites Worth Wandering On To…

Customer Collective and sister site The Social Customer

Smarta

Management Issues

Keep your eyes (and ears!) open for our next podcasts – we’ve got some great interviews lined up – watch (and listen to!) this space!

Better still, subscribe at iTunes or subscribe to the podcast RSS here so you never miss another!

Get Motivated! Get Animated!

You’ll love this! It’s a fascinating illustration of a presentation by Dan Pink who’s written some great stuff:

It was kindly sent to me by Andy Bradshaw of Voddie who do a great job of designing and maintaining this website – Cheers Andy.

If you like this, you’ll find a load more of them in the RSA Animate series.

They really are quite mesmerising!

iPad – DO believe the hype!

Well, it’s out this week here in the UK. Yes, it’s iPad time! The buzz is already kicking in..the anticipation, the excitement, and the hype! Well, let me tellyou… it’s all true! It’s fantastic!

I had a good ‘play’ with an iPad this weekend thanks to the kindliness of Andrew Seaton, MD of our IT providers, Resolve IT Solutions. He leant me his – now THAT’S ‘Customer Delight’!!!

I’m no techie, so can’t give you the lowdown on it from that point of view, but it ‘feels’ great, looks brilliant and sounds good too. The quality of the visuals is outstanding, especially the videos, the onscreen keyboard works well and browsing is easy - it will definitely be a ‘must have’! 

What exactly for? Well, that obviously depends on the apps that get developed I’m sure. An initial thought is that the iPad will accelerate the bringing together even closer the web and literature, magazines and news media. It will be great for reading newspapers and magazines ‘online’ – the screen is big enough to do that, but it’s compact enough to be easily portable.

I know, I like my gadgets, but I’m sure that this is THE gadget (for now at least….. until the next one!)

Thanks again to Andrew and bring on the UK launch!

Mon Dieu! It’s The Line To the Lord!

Customer friendly organisations are ‘easy to do business with’. Even his Holiness ‘On High’ has apparently taken this message on board!  Just when you thought that call centres had taken over every part of our world, they’ve ‘moved upstairs’!

News comes of The Line To the Lord where you can confess your sins ‘virtually’! Callers are advised “For advice on confessing, press one. To confess, press two. to listen to soome confessions, press three.”

What is interesting however, is that there is a limit. Like all good customer foicused businesses, they focus on a niche market – the service will apparently only help deal with small, everyday sins.

Callers are advised to contact a priest if they wish to confess a ‘mortal sin’!

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!

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!

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