BE DiFFERENT or be dead: Your Business Survival Guide, by Roy Osing

Can a Customer Create their own Dazzling Service Experience?

2010-03-08T16:16:00+00:00

BE DiFFERENT or be dead outlines the philosophy of serving customers with the objective of dazzling them and gaining their loyalty.

It occurs to me, however, that there are some things that we, as customer, can do to promote and encourage our own service treatment that will dazzle us. So just maybe we can control our own service experience destiny.

In no particular order of priority, try these things and see what happens:
- engage with the server. Instead of taking the ‘ugly customer’ position where you are expecting great treatment, assume the ‘equal’ position and have a friendly one-on-one conversation with them.
- don’t demand things, ask for them. Demanding something in an authority position may get you something that you don’t expect!
- notice their name, remember it and use it. But PLEASE do it with a ‘I like you’ flavor.
- get to know something about them to show that you care about them as a human being. Learn a ‘secret’ about them and rainse it in conversation.
- help them serve you. For example, arrange the table when your food comes and hand them glasses that you don’t want. Don’t sit there in your authoritative perch and watch them struggle to take care of you.
- what you put out, comes back (‘The Secret’, remember?). In the service world this rings true because of the human interaction intensity. Treat people with kindness and respect and MAYBE, just MAYBE you will get the same treatment back.
- tip generously for dazzling service. The Tip is a medium of communication, and if you want a repeat performance show that you are delighted… with your wallet.

There you go. Your behavior as a customer CAN make a difference to architect a dazzling experience. It won’t work every time, but even one in five still makes it worthwhile doesn’t it?

Cheers, Roy

Remember to follow me on Twitter

Twenty Attributes of a BE DiFFERENT Leader

2010-03-05T15:14:16+00:00

There are always conversations going on about what a leader is and what attributes they possess. I have participated in these on an opportunistic basis; here is a taste of my consolidated view.

Stay tuned for the complete version in my soon-to-be-published book ‘BE DiFFERENT YOU: Winning on the Inside’

A BE DiFFERENT Leader:
1. creates discontinuity in their organization to expose opportunity for competitive advantage and growth.
2. makes people feel uncomfortable with their love of change.
3. is intolerant of sameness.
4. is at ease with uncertainty.
5. inspires people to get out of their comfort zone.
6. learns voraciously and contunuously
7. practices the art of Constructive Emulation: go find someone else’s good idea and make it GREAT for you.
8.always push the evelope wanting to extend the degree of change required.
9. create followers. Followers find leaders.

10. is a customer addict and models this behavior to the rest of the organization.
11. serves people not commands them to action.
12. is the consumate story-teller, breathing lfe into the organization’s strategy by providing examples of successful execution.
13. bashes barriers to progess on the inside to make it easier for people to get their job done.
14. constantly and passionately communicates the organization’s vision and strategy to capture the hearts as well as the minds of people.
15. asks ‘how can I help’ rather than commands ‘do this’.
16. gives hope to people in times of chaotic change.
17. turns Brave Ideas into Crude Deeds.
18. is Anal about execution.
19. makes decisions with incomplete and imperfect information.
20. is good at anticipating future trends and events, but is GREAT at responding to the random and the unexpected.

If you can check-off all twenty, consider yourself a perfect BE DiFFERENT Leader (but remember there’s no such thing as perfect in anything - assess yourself again!).

If you can honestly say that you exhibit half of these leadership dimensions you are well ahead of 99% of other ‘leaders’ in business. Well done and now focus your work on the remaining 50%.

Cheers, Roy

Remember to follow me on Twitter

Empowered Customers Rule!

2010-03-02T16:02:39+00:00

There is a compelling case for Customerizing your organization in current market and economic conditions. Making a right-angled turn from pushing products and services at people to determining what their individual desires are and creating VALUE to enhance their lives.

Yet it is amazing to me how many companies don’t get it. They continue to market the way they have done in the past, believing what worked then will get them to where they need to get to in the future. It won’t work. We all need to look at the evidence and then take action to renew our organizations to SERVE customers not flog at them.

Here’s the evidence that customers are empowered and show no sign of letting g of their new-found power:
- customers are avid researchers, a capability made possible by the Internet. They spend copious time analyzing various suppliers and what they offer before making an informed decision. Businesses better respect the intelligence customers have and their willingness to impose themselves for their own good.
- they make faster decisions than ever before as cyber space provides real-time information for them to process.
- customers are becoming the subject matter experts in the fields they must research to get the value they desire.
- switching suppliers is easier than ever before as options become more numerous and customer muscle tone improves.
- there is almost a limitless number of competitors to choose from; the Internet is giving birth to most new business formation.
- customers have leverage on the prices they pay for the value they receive. And they are becoming astute negotiators that can’t be pushed around.
- expect loyalty to be the illusive challenge if you don’t dazzle them. Customer fickleness is on the rampage and is ravaging organizations not sensitive to the serving philosophy.
- people are suddenly mirroring common business behavior and are inflicting pain on organizations when their needs aren’t met. They are just not taking it any more!

Ignore this evidence at your own peril. The control has moved from organizations to those that they serve.

Winners will be those organizations that first, recognize the empowerment shift that is rapidly upon us and, second, adopt BE DiFFERENT Practices to serve their customers in a compelling way that is unique versus the competition.

Cheers, Roy

Remember to follow me on Twitter

Customer Learning: Beyond Market Research

2010-02-27T16:00:05+00:00

A critical component of what I call Customerized Marketing is Customer Learning: the continuous process of developing a deep understanding of the customers you have chosen to SERVE.

It’s an organic capability to be acquired in your own organization rather than one which can be outsourced to another firm. Why? Because you nurture and retain the things that will distinguish your organization from the competitive hordes, and Customer Learning is one of these ‘things’.

People often ask me what the difference is between Customer Leaning and Market Research. Here is a side-by-side comparison....

Market Research:
- evaluates the market periodically
- can be outsourced to an external firm
- is viewed as a study
- takes a snapshot of a customer at a point in time-
- takes a narrow view of the customer
- describes the ‘average’ customer
- knows little about each individual studied
- uses few segmentation variables

Customer Learning:
- is an ongoing process
- engages all employees
- is considered a core competency of the organization
- looks at the customer continually
- looks a the customer holistically
- seeks to understand very small groups of customers
- targets knowledge on individuals rather than the ‘average’ person
- uses many segmentation variables to obtain robust information on many unique customer groups

The bottom line is that there is a role for Market Research, but it won’t get you a BE DiFFERENT advantage in your market. Invest time and energy in building a Learning capability in your organization and you will be handsomely rewarded.

Cheers, Roy

Remember to follow me on Twitter

Execute! Don’t Pontificate!

2010-02-24T16:00:28+00:00

I recently received an e-mail from my reader that reiterated the importance of a focus on Strategy Execution. I though I would share our conversation with you.

My Reader:
“Refreshingly candid thinking on the topics of differentiation, strategy and execution. Furthermore, the writing style is very approachable, and avoids jargon that permeates much of the management consulting industry.
I especially like your thinking around a bias for action, rather than conceptualizing ad infinitum or worse, pontificating. I earned an MBA a few years ago, and we developed strategy as part of the curriculum, however did not get into strategy execution, which as you say is more important. The best ideas of men and mice, so it goes.
I am working on an initiative to get my company into cloud computing, which makes your insights timely. Here’s the thing, we need to get into the market or risk losing existing business. And we need to do it quickly. A bias for action working with a corporate culture with a bias for reviewing, careful study, concensus, wide involvement, layered management. Certainly presents a challenge to rapidly deploy.”

My Reply:
“I share your concerns when study and review dominate action! This typically happens when:
- middle management feels they need to add value to the decision-making process (and slow the progress down as a result).
- people seek more information to make the ‘perfect plan (which doesn’t exist in any event - the illusive dream).
- there is an aversion to taking risk (people may have been punished for past mistakes which makes them reluctant to step out and take a risky decision)

The bottom line is: don’t give up on this, as all organizations have this inertia challenge. The thing that separated the good ones from the great BE DiFFERENT ones is the presence of people who care enough about the company and are tenacious about pursuing the truly critical things that need to be done. And they have a passion for staying the course of progress even at their own discomfort.”

Careful review and assessment of any new venture IS important, but only to the extent that it adds to the quality of the plan and decision to be made. Catering to the egos and self-gratification of layers of management is a waste of time, resources and it could impair an effective competitive response. AND it frustrates the warriors in the organization who want to make a difference and are frustrated by the internal roadblocks they face when trying to advance meaningful programs that contribute to success and survival.

My Reader’s insights on the education system are impressive, for indeed I strongly believe formal business education needs to be bleached in the practices that have proven to work in the real world and not based solely on management theory promulgated by ‘teachers’ who have very little practical and proven experience in leading or operating a business.

BE DiFFERENT take-aways:
- Execution ALWAYS trumps excessive study and review.
- An imperfect strategy well-executed BEATS a theoretically pristine plan that can’t be implemented.
- Competitive advantage is more about SPEED than the ‘perfect plan’.
- Formal Business education needs to be RENEWED with a strong emphasis on the executional element of strategy.

Leaders….. lead! Get involved. Cleanse the internal environment of barriers to action including the people that create them. Baby steps are required to develop an action-oriented, risk taking culture. Take them NOW.

Connect with me and let me know what you think.

Cheers, Roy
Remember to follow me on Twitter
Take the BE DiFFERENT Quiz

Creating Your Strategy doesn’t have to be Painful

2010-02-21T15:46:45+00:00

Creating a strategy for your organization doesn’t have to be time consuming, complicated and expensive.

I have helped organizations - both for-profit and not-for-profit - get the job done in 3 days and be executing on the 4th! And, they have enjoyed the BE DiFFERENT strategy-building experience.

In addition, the BE DiFFERENT method established strategy ‘elevator speech’ . You will build not only a succinct expression of where you intend to take your organization, you will also create the platform to drive all of your communications activities.

Check out these past blogs for a roadmap that will get the job done for you and will harness the energy and intellectual capabilities of the people who really know how to plot a successful course for you.

You can’t afford NOT to have a current strategy for your organization. Contact me NOW to help you out. And join me for the BE DiFFERENT or be dead Business Growth and Survival Webinar Series where I will dive deep into this process for you.

Cheers, Roy

Remember to follow me on Twitter

Customer Segments of 1: an Illusive Dream?

2010-02-18T18:54:04+00:00

Traditional marketing has been self-absorbed in the notion of market segmentation.

The segmentation objective is to identify market clusters that exhibit similar characteristics in terms of common variables such as demographics, lifestyle, political and buying preferences, product usage behavior and so on. Once a segment with similar appropriate attributes has been identified the marketing role is to develop programs to exploit the revenue opportunity in each segment.

The assumption made in the marketing program is that each person in the segment ‘looks the same’. Each has the same demand characteristics. Each has the same needs, wants and desires.

The ‘average’ peson becomes the target and there will be sales hits when the target actually does behave like the average and there will be sales misses when they don’t look like the average person at all.

Nothing wrong with the Marketing 101 approach. But its not DiFFERENT.

Consider the following aspects of BE DiFFERENT Market Segmentation that sets it apart from the commonly-used methodology.

- BE DiFFERENT segmentation considers segmentation as a strategic exercise asking the question “How should I segment the market in order to expose as many opportunities as I can?” comon segmentation variables such as demograhics and geographics are given mild attention only: the focus is on determining the appropriate variable that will unlock the growth key for the organization.

- BE DiFFERENT segmentation is a process of segmentation that is driven by the intent to find differences in customer clusters in order to expose as many customer clusters as possible. The axiom followed is that opportunity comes from differences NOT similarities, and that the greater the number of clusters defined the more intelligence you have on every person in the cluster AND the better the ability to match a product or service with their specific needs. In other words the Customer Learning Factor increases with the number of customer clusters defined and with it the revenue opportunity.

- BE DiFFERENT segmentation, as described in the previous point tries to define as many different customer clusters as possible. The Customer Learning Factor increases as does the probability of making a sale due to the fact that you are better able to match your offering with the more precise needs. wants and desires of the individuals in each cluster.

- Finally, BE DiFFERENT segmentation is a continuous process of going deeper and deeper into a customer cluster. Obtaining more and more information on the individuals in the cluster. Looking for differences until the end result is a cluster of one. If you have one million customers, the result would be one million clusters or segments of 1.

What are the implications of a million clusters of 1?
- you would BE DiFFERENT as few would undertake the journey
- you would have deep intimate knowledge of each of your customers - Customer Learning Factor = infinity
- your sales potential would be off the charts
- you would outperform your competition
- your customers would love you - matching your solutions exactly to their needs
- you would thrive
- AND you would survive any unpredictable body blows you might suffer in an ever changing world.

All because you choose to change the way you look at Market Segmentation.

Final word. Its not really about achieving Clusters of 1 status. Its about putting in place a BE DiFFERENT marketing philosophy to treat segmentation as a continuous learning process of driving our knowledge-gathering down to the individual. If you define 1000,000 clusters of 10 are you on track? ABSOLUTELY! Keep on segmenting is the point.

Cheers, Roy Osing
Remember to follow me on Twitter
Take the BE DiFFERENT Quiz

Measuring your Serving Competency on the Inside

2010-02-15T18:31:21+00:00

BE DiFFERENT Axiom:

If you can’t dazzle someone on the inside, you won’t likely dazzle them on the outside. Translation” employees need to dazzle one another if they in turn are to be able to dazzle a customer.

Organizations are a mosaic of customer - supplier relationships. Marketing serves Sales; Engineering serves Marketing and Marketing/Sales/Administrative functions serve the Customer Service Organization.

If external customers are to be dazzled, the delivery process needs to operate seamlessly and all delivery units in the organization need to dazzle each other; providing their piece of the service delivery chain and going the extra mile for their internal customer. If one link in the chain fails then the chain breaks and the external customer is ‘de-dazzled’. If on the other hand every link not only plays their expected part but also goes the extra mile for their internal customers, the service provided to the external customer will most likely blow them away.

How do you know what level of service quality is being provided?

I repeatedly advocate in BE DiFFERENT or be dead the constant measurement of the service quality provided to customers. The use of Customer Report Cards should be prevalent. Service stories should be told. And service heroes should be honored.

We need, however, to take this a step further and apply the Report Card process to measure internal service quality. Sales should rate the level of service Marketing provides them and Marketing should rate Engineering. Every internal customer-supplier relationship needs to fall scrutiny to dazzle measurement.

Its really not that difficult to do and it doesn’t have to be complicated. Pick six deliverables Sales expects from Marketing, for example, and have Sales rate on a 1-5 scale how effectively and consistently Marketing delivers each.

Have monthly joint review meetings to discuss the results and strike action plans to address any shortfalls.

Include internal service quality in the bonus compensation plan. I assure you that if part of Marketing’s bonus is based on the Report Card from Sales, the marketing folks will definitely pat attention to Sale’s needs, wants and desires.

The payoff: the service delivery process gets better and better over time; internal customers get dazzled.

And, the external customer both reaps the rewards of having a delightful service experience and returns the favor with continued loyalty.

Cheers, Roy

Remember to follow me on Twitter

BE DiFFERENT Service Strategy

2010-02-12T15:24:37+00:00

It’s all very well to say that you intend to compete and WIN by providing unmatched dazzling customer experiences, but exactly what does it mean?

What does it look like when your strategic intent is being successfully executed in the field? What behaviors do you witness? What customer feedback do you get? What service quality metrics are relevant?

Your Service Strategy is the call to action for how you intend to deliver the ultimate in serving customers.It is intended to breathe life into your service vision by specifying the exact deliverables you will produce and the results you expect. It is the promise, if you will, you intend to deliver on in the service world.

Lack of a Service Strategy clouds the issue. People are not clear on how to behave, on the results expected and on the measurements that are relevant.

A BE DiFFERENT Service Strategy reflects the two components:
- Core Service - the basic good or service you produce, without which your business doesn’t exist…. WHAT a person GETS when they do business with you.
- Service Experience - the experience they enjoy when they are in touch with you…. HOW they FEEL when they do business with you.

Here’s and example of a Service Strategy my team developed for a business organization I lead:

“We are easy to do business with. We care.
We provide and support innovative quality solutions.
We make promises and always keep them.f we fall short of our strategy, RECOVERY will be out #1 priority”

Core service elements are covered - solutions are provided (not products); promises are kept.
The Service Experience is addressed - a caring attitude is expected; Recovery is invoked when a mistake is made; systems and processes are created to make it easy for people to transact business.

Workshop this Strategy with all teams in the organization. Define their required behaviors. Define the appropriate measurements. Bake it into their performance plan and bonus compensation.

You will see your Service Vision come to life!

Cheers, Roy

Remember to follow me on Twitter

Do you speak ‘Customerese’?

2010-02-09T20:30:29+00:00

When it comes to deciding whether or not your organization is REALLY customer-focused, obsessed, intimate, centric, or whatever other description you wish to use, you simply need to listen to your internal language.

Do the people in the organization speak Customerese? Does the customer vocabulary reflect the customer-serving philosophy of a BE DiFFERENT culture?

When it comes to truly existing for the customer, language speaks to intent and behavior and makes a difference; in the BE DiFFERENT garden, a rose is NOT a rose by any other name.

Off the top, i can think of a number of customer-intended words that are used in a variety of businesses. Do any of them resonate with you?

Passengers… readers… donors… callers… golfers… players… patients… calls… transactions… students.. cruisers… skiers… riders… pensioners… retirees… are common references made to the entity that generates revenue for your organization, be it for-profit or not-for-profit.

Question is, do these references shout out reverence for these wonderful people that create meaningful work for us? I don’t think so. They appear in most cases to be labels that talk to the activity that they engaged in rather that a unique person who has needs, wants, and desires that should be served. In fact this vocabulary actually gets in the way - it side-tracks us - from our behavior to serve and create dazzling experiences for people who return the favor with their continued loyalty.

Referring to a customer as a ‘call to be processed’, for example, suggests that the right behavior is to deal with what the person wants and then get rid of them as quickly as possible. A ‘student’ is there to learn what you teach them; a ‘patient’ receives the medical treatment decided by the medical practioner and the donor gives money to the charity asking for it.

All of this customer slang language describes the customer on the receiving end of organizational behavior rather than on the front end shaping what the behavior should be.

BE DiFFERENT organizations put the customer in the control position and exist to serve them in a way that respects their individuality, delights them with the service experience provided to them and honors them for deciding to do business with them as opposed to the other choices they have.

There will be some that say it really doesn’t matter what you call them and that it is merely semantics. Ask a student if they feel like a customer to the education system and is able to get a personalized approach to learning; ask a patient if their Doctor makes them feel special with a dazzling bed-side manner or ask a passenger on an airliner if the service staff ‘exists’ for them. I rest my case.

Customerese will not on its own create a customer-inspired organization, but it is a step in the right direction.

Remove any industry-speak language in you vocabulary and start referring to the objects of your affection as CUSTOMERS. Tell your employees why you are making the shift; explain the BE DiFFERENT cultural drivers behind your actionsand use the change as an opportunity to declare the customer-sering behaviors you expect to see.

Oh, one other thing, be ready for intense push-back. Some Doctors, for example, like ‘patients’ because it sustains their superior position. Be tenacious, hoever, and don’t relent. This is the right thing to do and your customers will thank you for it.

Cheers, Roy

Remember to follow me on Twitter