At the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner last night (Thanks Yorkshire Forward for the kind invitation), a great keynote presentation from ex Dragon’s Den man Doug Richard suggested that rather than ‘trains’, maybe we should be getting a  bit more excited by the ’Superfast’ Broadband we’re getting through the Digital Region initiative - guaranteed speeds of 25Mb/sec in our homes and offices. That, he explained, will significantly increase our opportunities and help our competitiveness, not trains, which did revolutionise things back in the last century.

It’s so easy to get stuck on the same track, and sometimes it’s the wrong one! What do you need to do to get on the right track?

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It’s free, but you will need to register – I can assure you it’s well worth your time doing so.

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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’!

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Zappos, the incredibly successful e-tailer which has a recognized ‘obsession’ with customer service offers it’s ‘new starts’ $2,000 to quit! After an intensive four week ‘induction process’ which introduces the new employees to the company’s ‘vision’, culture and processes, each employee is made ‘The Offer’. They are told “If you quit now, we’ll pay you your wages for the past four weeks plus a $2,000 ‘bonus’”. Apparently, less than 3% typically take up the offer!

Being a ‘Dramatically and Demonstrably Different’ business is often centred very much around all the people who work in it. They have to ‘own” what your trying to do and recognise how they can contribute to it. 3D businesses do all they can to get that ‘ownership’. The Zappos ‘Offer’ is a very powerful way of getting ‘buy in’ to what you’re trying to achieve.

It means the ones that stay WANT to be there!

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In fact, if it was, then everyone would be doing it and you’d be back to ’square one’!

Anyway, just to show you that there are lots of ways of ‘3D’ thinking, and the fact that it’s friday, I thought I’d share this with you – heart shaped oranges which are on sale in a department store in Seoul!

Not sure what it tells us really, but I’d argue that if you can be ‘Dramatically Different’ in orange production, then there’s hope for everyone!

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Here’s the audio of a young chap doing a bit of ‘Air Traffic Controlling’ when he went into work with his dad yesterday. Apparently his dad has been suspended pending further enquiries.

Obviously, if he was left to direct traffic on his own while his dad and his mates went for a sandwich, I’d be worried, but I can’t help thinking that it’s just a case of a dad proudly involving his son in his work and giving him a little go! I’m all for encouraging youngsters to understand the world of work, and in fact, I think that’s what the best businesses do. if that involves in them getting ‘engaged’ in doing a bit of something, I think that’s good.

Now, if he’d got him to fly the plane, that might be a different matter!

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What came next was even better. Unprompted (by me anyway) he told me that he was looking at my account and I hadn’t signed up for the Free Frequent Numbers scheme that they’d got which entitles me to free land line calls to 10 numbers of my choice. That’s my supplier telling me how I could spend less and save money with them!

Some would argue that it doesn’t make commercial sense to ‘give stuff away’. I’d say that they’ve demonstrated to me that they are striving for a long term relationship and that they are not ‘taking me for granted’.

I’d also suggest that it’s a clear strategic drive to do this. Interestingly, on the O2 website they say that they recognise that the market is crowded with competitors and ‘they aim to turn their customers into fans’ – well, they’ve done that to me!

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“I still paint grafitti because I genuinely think the side of a canal is more interesting a place to have art than a museum, and the fact of the matter is, if you exhibit in a gallery you have to compete against Rembrandt, but if you paint down an alley you only have to compete against a dustbin. I guess it’s the art equivalent of hanging around with fat people to make yourself look thin.”

That’s a quote from graffiti artist Banksy and I think he’s a great example of ‘Thinking in 3D’. He and his work really is ‘Dramatically and Demonstrably Different’. His ‘alternative’ approach provides a great lesson for anyone looking to make their business stand out – He chooses who and how he competes against.

3D businesses ‘choose ‘em or lose ‘em’ – that means they make a conscious decision to choose the customers that they WANT to work with, and the competitors they want to compete against. Sometimes that means providing a radical alternative to the existing ‘provision’, and not necessarily taking the big competitors ‘head on’. It is certainly not about being ‘all things to all people’ and it’s definitely not being ‘the same as’.

I wouldn’t consider my self an ‘art lover’, but I’m fascinated by his work – and that’s the point. Banksy has reached different ‘customers’ with his approach, and he’s certainly not afraid to ’stand out’ doing it!

If you’re interested in finding out  a bit more about him, have a look at this article from The Times Online.

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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!

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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!

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