July 14, 2010

(Another) Six Competencies to Covet

Hope the first six-pack was useful. Here are six more traits to acquire in your Competency Coveting journey:

> LIFELONG LEARNER—If you’re not learning you’re dead (or soon will be). Look for evidence that prospects have been active learners. What areas are they interested in? Who have they learned from? How can their learnings be put to use in your organization?

> INFECTION AGENT—the ability to “infect others” with the virus of your Strategic Game Plan is critical in terms of executing it. Some people have the interest, passion and tenacity to get others excited about advancing the cause. Find them!

> FRIEND-MAKING—deep customer relationships result in a revenue stream that goes on forever. Such connections depend on trust… and friendship.

> STORYTELLING—stories “breathe life” into a strategy. They paint pictures of what it looks like when a Strategic Game Plan is being successfully executed in the field. You need people who can “light their eyes up” with a story about some aspect of your strategy. Talk the event. Talk the person. Talk…..

> SIMPLE THINKER—BE DiFFERENT is simplicity. Execution is simplicity. Elegance that can’t be implemented is worthless. Think Simple. Find Simple. Dumb EVERYTHING down.

> @CONNECT—think about this one from an internal perspective. Results (i.e. delivering what the customer wants) are produced through processes working ACROSS the organization and vertically. A customer Order is created in Sales; fulfilled in Operations and billed in Accounting. A team of people engage together to get the job done. This requires the ability to CONNECT with others and build effective relationships with them. Service breakdowns often occur when a link in the teamwork chain breaks. Constant CONNECTIONS go a long way to avoiding such problems.

Hope you are enjoying my Ride to Covet. Let me know your views and any comments you may have.

More comin’ at ya….

Cheers, Roy
Remember to follow me on Twitter

Other Competencies to Covet Blog Articles
First Six to Covet

Posted 7.14.10 at 07:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 12, 2010

Have You Had a High Definition Moment Lately?

A High Definition Moment is an interaction between a customer an an organization that is jam-packed with EMOTION. HD Moments either leave your customer Breathless or Pissed-off. Gasping or in pain. Dazzled or postal. They are VIVID in terms of the FEELINGS that are created between person and Company. They are of such HIGH RESOLUTION that the picture of what you are experiencing is easy to describe and relate to others (both good and bad news depending on the outcome).

HD Moments are, as SAS CEO Jan Carlzon coined “Moments of Truth” when advocacy bonds are established with customers or enemies are created. Or as Seth Godin proclaims, when Sneezers who will spread your word to others are born for your organization or protesters with followers will pronounce how crummy you are.

HD Moments are STRATEGIC. Loyalty is either created or destroyed. Any organization must as a strategic imperative create HD Moments for their FANS if they are going to thrive and survive.

How do you do it? Well, its about building a team that can deliver these kinds of FEELINGS every time their organization touches their FANS:
> HAPPY
> AMAZED
> WARM
> FUZZY
> DAZZLED
> BREATHLESS
> GASPING
> SURPRISED
> IMPRESSED
> MAGICAL
> TRUSTING
> SMITTEN
> HONORED
> IMPORTANT
> UNINHIBITED
> COMFORTABLE
> OPEN
> HEARD

How often have you felt this way when doing business with a company? How often have you felt WARM and FUZZY when interacting with a Voice Response System? Never I suspect; in fact quite the opposite FEELINGS are produced. Too bad. A testimony to the mediocrity in business these days.

Consider this word tablet your design parameters for constructing customer interactions in your organization. Assign a senior person as The Chief High Definition Moments Officer to make it matter in your organization. Recruit people who are at ease with HONORING others. Establish Rules and Policies that leave your FANS BREATHLESS. Build automated systems that SURPRISE people.

It’s NOT about you. It’s about your FANS. And, by the way, you really have no choice. If you can’t create this context for the people who choose to do business with you they will leave you in a heartbeat or ignore you completely.

Cheers, Roy
Remember to follow me on Twitter

Recent Articles
Six Competencies to Covet
Some Call It Non-Strategic; I Call It CRAP
Leadership By Serving Around
Shouts for the ONE and ONLY

Posted 7.12.10 at 07:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 9, 2010

SHOUTS For The ONE and ONLY

One of my earlier Blog Articles dealt with creating The Only Statement for an organization as a means of declaring it’s distinctiveness. The idea is to get away from aspirational intentions in favor of defining the specific thing that differentiates you from your competition.

Others also speak of the importance of this approach: “You don’t want merely to be the best of the best. You want to be the ONLY one’s who do what you do”—Jerry Garcia, The Grateful Dead is one such well known supporter. In addition, many Marketing Experts such as Seth Godin advocate a short, punchy, clean and crisp way to create a market position. In fact he says that if you can’t spell-out your position in eight words or less you don’t have a position.

My ONLY Statement approach definitely satisfies all requisites for clarity and brevity. And It has definitely caught on.

Here are some organizations that are using it to distinguish themselves from the competitive blur that pervades the marketplace these days. BE DiFFERENT SHOUTS to all of them for their leadership.

“CJSmusic is the ONLY music service in Canada that offers online music lessons and composition services for advertisers, filmmakers, and composers.”

“Squamish Riverjet... Featuring British Columbia’s ONLY Purpose Built adventure Tourism Jet-Boats”

“MUG Solutions... We provide the ONLY solution that permanently stops people from depositing bio-hazard contaminants through manhole covers.”

“Urban Pill is the ONLY city lifestyle guide willing to recommend businesses & activities that match your MOOD ... and offer rewards through natural gaming!”

“BE DiFFERENT or be dead is the ONLY book that offers a practical how to approach to enhance the performance of organizations to ensure they thrive and survive in the long term. The ideas presented here have been tested in the real world and have been successfully implemented across all critical business functions.”

“Queen’s Full-Time MBA is one of the world’s premier MBA programs, renowned for its leading-edge curriculum and innovative approaches to learning. But what really sets it apart is its focus on you. ONLY Queen’s provides personal development coaching to build on your individual strengths, as well as specialized electives tailored to your specific career aspirations, in order to help you achieve the greatest personal and professional growth.”

“ONLY CBS Positioning Campaign focusing on the Company serving YOU. Nice!

“Bruce Allen’s Reality Check: ONLY on CKNW Newstalk 980.”

“Introducing Live Agent ONLY for Business; ONLY from Rogers”

Ms Lube is the first and ONLY all-female automotive service center in North America…”

I encourage you to declare yourself from the ONLY perspective. Give it a try. It’s not easy otherwise everyone would be doing it. But it is worth it.

If you have an ONLY Statement that you want an opinion on or want to share connect with me. I would be pleased to assist in any way that I can.

Cheers, Roy

Remember to follow me on Twitter

Recent Blog Articles
Avoid Aspirations to BE DiFFERENT
Six Competencies to Covet
It’s not Non-Strategic. It’s CRAP
Leadership by Serving Around
What’s Your Remarkable Point of View?

Posted 7.9.10 at 07:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 7, 2010

Six Competencies to Covet

This is a multi-part blog article, but as I write this on Maui looking across to Lanai, I have no idea how many I will write on this topic. It’s not just that I am captured by the beauty of the Islands its that Competency Coveting has many aspects to it and every time I write on the topic I learn more about what skills and attributes are truly required in an organization wanting to be successful and survive the randomness and unpredictability of the times we are in.

Why are Competencies important? They ENABLE certain outcomes that are mandatory if your organization wants to BE DiFFERENT. A Brave Idea without skilled people to turn it into a Crude Deed will remain as an unfulfilled dream. THis stuff is Important. Critical. Life-or-death dependant.

So, here are Six Competencies your organization needs to COVET if you want to distinguish yourself and have the competition chasing you:

> LISTENING—you can’t discover Customer “Secrets” and create dazzling Customer Moments if you are not a 100% Listener.

> APOLOGIZING—a successful Recovery Act after you have screwed a customer around begins with “I’m Sorry”. Make sure you covet people who do this naturally. Some can’t. Some don’t want to.

> HUMAN BEING LOVERS—Dazzling customers is all about taking care of them and it can’t be done if your people would rather be doing something else other than dealing with humans. It’s always amazed me how a customer quickly gets that the server really doesn’t like their job!

> HIGH PAIN TOLERANCE—greatness doesn’t come without disappointment and pain along the way. Resilience pays off.

> BORN APTITUDE TO SERVE —again, memorable Customer Moments are possible ONLY through employees that have the natural ability and desire to serve others. Find them. Nurture them. Protect them. Hug them. Reward them. Cherish them.

> ABILITY TO FAIL SUCCESSFULLY—Progress requires people trying stuff and failing along the way. That’s innovation. But failing is only useful and strategic if the learning from it advances us toward our Strategic Game Plan. Failing begets LEARNING.

So as we go along the Competency Coveting trail, write them down and compile the complete list. Begin thinking about the questions you will ask in an interview with a prospective position candidate. Measurement of these competencies is critical; start developing your thoughts on how you will do this.

More comin’ at you later…..

Cheers, Roy
Remember to follow me on Twitter

Posted 7.7.10 at 08:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)