February 2, 2012

BE DiFFERENT on the Threes - Dazzling Customer Service

THREES - Dazzling Customer Service
THREES - Strategic Planning
BE DiFFERENT on the Threes

Creating maniacal, loyal, “sneezing”, loyal customers is NOT about price. It’s NOT about products and services that actually work to specifications. It’s NOT about what you produce and how you price it. People expect things to work and they expect to pay a reasonable price for it. That’s the price of admittance. That’s what any organization must do to play the game. If you can’t provide stuff that works all the time at a price people are willing to pay, you don’t have a business. Period.

If your quest is to attract a band of loyal followers that will do business with you FOREVER, you must create a dazzling experience for her whenever she“touches” you. . You must focus your attention on How she FEELS when she engages with you as opposed to What she GETS from you.

So how can you create an environment that is capable of creating Dazzling Service Experiences?
1. Recruit people that have an innate desire to serve their fellow human beings. Customers can’t be delighted if a frontline person really doesn’t want to serve. And you can’t train people to like people. They either DO or they DON’‘T. You can train them to “grin” (to have a smile in your voice) but you can’t teach people to love others. Dazzling service experiences are delivered by individuals who actually want to make the customer feel important. To make them feel listened to. To honor them. To do whatever it takes to see their eyes light up. 80% of your recruitment budget should be dedicated to this task.
2. Design your Rules, Policies and Procedures to serve the customer. Every organization has Dumb Rules, rules that make no sense to customers. Rules that annoy and infuriate them and drive them to leave kicking and screaming to others. Rules have a legitimate management control purpose but if they drive business away because customers are unwilling to abide by them what ‘s the benefit? The issue is the customer element in Rule Design is missing. Management Control drives the process. Give the customer an equal say in Rule Design. Engage them to help. They will be impressed that you are open enough to involve them AND you will be on your way to Dazzle.
3. BE Flexible. Empower people to bend the Rules on the customer’s behalf. Even if you have designed a Rule System that optimizes on the Customer Experience, you will still have Control-driven ones that remain. Empower your frontline to bend them when it makes sense to serve a customer. Trust them to do the right thing to preserve the Dazzle objective. The end game is to deliver a mind-blowing service experience NOT to enforce the Rules that get in the way.

Dazzle = Serving People + Rules that Serve + Empowerment

Cheers,
Roy


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Posted 2.2.12 at 05:59 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 31, 2012

BE DiFFERENT: How to Build an Organization to Stand-out NOT Fit-in

Learn and Practice through this One-of-a Kind Executive Workshop Experience with Organizational Leadership Trainer Anders Skoe and Business Author Roy Osing
 

This intimate 3 ½ day Workshop will be held Sept 11 - 14, 2012 in the magnificent setting provided by the Palace de Menthon Hotel, in the village de Menthon St Bernard, on Lac d’Annecy France, (visit www.lac-annecy.com and www.laclusaz.com for information on the area).

This Workshop is The ONLY learning opportunity available that will engage you to both learn and practice what it takes to differentiate your organization from The Competitive Herd. To stand-out not fit-in. To create remarkable and unique value that cannot be copied. To provide exemplary leadership required to sustain your unmatched competitive position over the long haul.

Anders is a mentor, coach and trainer, in behavioral change. He has worked closely with about 20 000 individuals world-wide. In over 100 different countries he has conducted 4-day workshops in small groups (6 to 15), where participants have represented all nationalities and cultures. He has published four books and several articles on leadership and management behavior.

Roy is a Business Executive, Keynote Speaker, Business Advisor to profit and non-profit organizations, Personal Coach and active Blogger. He is the Author of the groundbreaking new book BE DiFFERENT or be dead: Your Business Survival Guide, which teaches practical and proven ways for organizations to distinguish themselves from the competitive herd and thrive and survive the unforgiving challenges of a chaotic and highly unpredictable marketplace. He actively promotes his work through Workshops, Keynote speaking, Media interviews and Strategic Planning engagements. In addition, Roy regularly publishes Blog Articles on his BE DiFFERENT Practices to help organizations better understand and implement his ideas. Click here for more bio information on Roy.

In the first part of the Program, Roy will step you through his practical and proven BE DiFFERENT Practices which will allow you to leverage the critical functions of Strategy, Marketing, Sales and Customer Service to create Organizational Uniqueness in a world of hungry competitors. If you are looking for the path to BE Remarkable and Indispensable to your customers and leave your competitors in the dust, this Workshop will amaze you.

Anders will then take these organizational imperatives to the Personal Leadership level. He will show you the Leadership traits and behaviors necessary to establish BE DiFFERENT as the way of doing business in your organization.

Here is just a taste of the topics that will be covered:
- Are you DiFFERENT or are you dead? Review BE DiFFERENT Quiz results
- Why Standing-out is critical to organizational survival
- Build a Strategic Game Plan for your organization by simply answering 3 questions
- Craft your ONLY Statement and claim a unique competitive position
- Excel at Execution; don’t get mesmerized by your Plan
- Relevance comes from providing remarkable Value, not flogging products
- Dazzle your Fans and earn their undying loyalty
- It’s about intimate relationships not short term sales
- BE DiFFERENT Leaders: Your role to create and sustain a Gaspworthy organization
- Problem Solving the BE DiFFERENT way

AND you will have an opportunity throughout the Workshop to apply what you learn. Anders and Roy will step you through practical exercises that will allow you to practice what you have learned and apply it to your own circumstances. More than a one-way process, this Workshop will give you a jump start to introduce BE DiFFERENT back home.

Here are the details:
- The Workshop will be limited to the first 15 attending Executives who register. This small intimate Group will maximize learning not only with Anders and Roy but also with Workshop colleagues
- Palace de Menthon Hotel (www.palacedementhon.com) 
- Workshop Cost: 3,000 Euro per person; 1,500 Euro are due on registration; the balance on Sept 11th
- Hotel reservations and transportation arrangements are the responsibility of each attendee
- Hotel charges are 244 Euro per day all inclusive (room, meals, wine with lunch/dinner and refreshments during breaks)
- Workshop commences 1630 hours on Sept 11; ends with dinner Sept 14

For additional information on this ONLY Workshop and to Register, please contact Anders Skoe at anders@skoe.as  and/or Roy Osing at roy@bedifferentorbedead.com

Posted 1.31.12 at 07:28 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 30, 2012

3 Alerts For Benchmarking

I know that Benchmarking is viewed as a necessary process for most organizations. But I have a major issue with it.
Beware of these 3 things:

1. It’s copying. It doesn’t make you special. It may help you improve your position in The Herd, but it does nothing to help you Stand-out from The Herd. Copying is the enemy of BE DiFFERENT. if The Herd goes East, go West. If The Herd says Black, say White.

2. It keeps you in The Herd. Best of Breed is still in The Herd. An imprint of the #1 Herd Member still keeps you with your ‘Sameness brethren’. The Herd is not your friend. You need to break away from it, not find consolation in it’s attributes.

3. It robs you of your individuality. Benchmarking forces you to conform. Forces you to BE SaME. Forces you to capitulate to the leader of The Herd. What’s your problem? Can’t think for yourself?

YOU owe it to yourself to express your uniqueness. The Herd is common. Invisible. Ignored.

Express yourself. Distance yourself. BE YOU!

It’s ok to observe what The Herd is doing and adopting from the Best what might improve your performance. It’s quite another thing to assume that copying them will help you win the competitive battle.

Winning is about Standing-out not Fitting-in.

Look at The Herd.
Go a DiFFERENT way.

Cheers,
Roy
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Posted 1.30.12 at 05:20 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 26, 2012

11 Steps to Build a Killer Loyalty Program

Everyone is trying to build a better Loyalty Program that will hold customers forever.

Here are some thoughts to consider (in no particular order)...

1. A Loyalty Program should be RELEVANT (something your Fans Care about) and UNIQUE (something they can ONLY get from you).

2. Identify your Fans and go get from them the Top 3 things they care about.

3. Design the Plan around these 3 things.

4. Observe what the competition is doing, but act on what your Fans are telling you. Many organizations design something on the basis of what their competition is doing. WRONG!

5. Consider building an ONLY Statement for the Loyalty Plan. “Roy’s Fan Club the ONLY one that….” Is how you could actually build it.

6. Avoid Benchmarking other Plans unless you want to exercise the Contrarian Marketing tool (go the opposite way). Copying Best of Breed might allow your status in The Herd to improve, but it won’t allow you to stand-out from The Herd. To BE DiFFERENT.

7. Consider greater benefits to those who have been with you the longest. Someone who has been with you for 10 years is worth more than someone who has been loyal for 2 years. Treat the 10 year old accordingly by delivering more benefits to them.

8. Design a communications strategy to support Roy’s Fan Club to be constantly engaging with your members. Keep the Club alive and constantly tweak it based on Fan Feedback.

9. TEST the Plan design with your Fans. Make sure it addresses their High priority wants and desires - the RELEVANCY Test.

10. Personalize the Fan Club. Have a variety of versions based on the unique desires of your various Fans. The One Size Fits All Approach is what The Herd does, and it produces Invisibility and Mediocrity.

11. Give Fan Club members a special “Fan Club Service Line” to call when they need to talk to you. Differentiated levels of service is an appropriate way to recognize the relative value of customer groups.

Cheers,
Roy
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Other Articles You Might Like
11 Questions to Ask a Job Hunter
Are You Flawed?
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Posted 1.26.12 at 08:04 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)