August 4, 2010

The One and ONLY Learning Experience

Establishing a clear and compelling reason why someone should do business with YOU and not “the other guy” is critical to your long term success and survival. Yet organizations struggle with it. They either give up the challenge or rely on aspirational claims that do nothing but contribute to the BLUR in the herd where competitors are faceless. Or they resort to using words like “better than”, “the best” or “perfect” which do little to clarify the distinctiveness of any organization.

In BE DiFFERENT or be dead, I discuss my Practice of creating The ONLY Statement as the vehicle to express your unique competitive claim. It seems to resonate with people. My Readers, Seminar and Workshop Participants are quite captured with the ONLY notion. It is simple, clear and effective in communicating your competitive claim and I have written several Blog Articles on it (see below).

I plan to hold 6 Learning Experience Workshops in the Vancouver area this Fall and invite you to join the fray as Tom Peters would say.

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS OF THE EVENTS IN VANCOUVER

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS OF THE EVENTS IN TORONTO

Please let me know if you are interested in HOSTING a future event. Hosting = providing a Conference Room for 15 people + Coffee for the morning, in return for 3 FREE seats and involvement in the Event’s promotion.

You will see that each Session is restricted to 15 people, so if you are interested in attending one of them please CONTACT ME as early as possible.

Thanks for your support.
Cheers, Roy

The ONLY Statement Blog Articles
Absolutes of The ONLY
SHOUTS for The One and ONLY
What’s Your Remarkable Point of View?
The ONLY Statement: The Birth of Differentiation
The ONLY Queens

Posted 8.4.10 at 06:35 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 3, 2010

It’s Only Words

BE DiFFERENT or be dead.... the journey to distinguish your organization from the competitive herd. Not for the faint of heart. It’s tough. Painful. Long.

Here are some words that describe the fundamentals of the journey….
> Value Creation
> Only Statement
> Simple > Simpler > Simpler > Simpler..
> Customer Learning
> Customer Secrets
> Competencies must be coveted
> Packaging
> Holistic Offer
> Intimate Relationships > Connectivity
> Feelings
> Customer Opportunity Spotter
> Frontline Leaders = SHE
> “I’m Truly Sorry”
> Small Groups of Customers
> Line of Sight
> Execute > Execute > Execute…
> Constructive Emulation
> Dumb Rules
> Human Being Lovers
> Dazzle
> Service Recovery = Fix it and do the UNEXPECTED
> Leading by Serving Around
> Managers of Irrelevance
> Barriers to Customer Exit
> Experience Marketing
> Strategy = Pounding on the Basics

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

Posted 8.3.10 at 07:30 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 28, 2010

Strategic is “Pounding on the Basics”

Here are some BE DiFFERENT Strategic Acts to think about in addition to the Helium-filled Plans that are often Brave Notions that don’t find their way to the trenches where winning really occurs. In no particular order…

> recruit people who genuinely love human beings. YES, it is Strategic!
> take notes. It’s an expression of the fact that someone cares enough about what you are sating to record it for further deliberation and ACTION.
> do stuff. ACTION gets results, thinking doesn’t.
> apologize when things are screwed up. Recovery depends on assuming responsibility for what has happened. “I am truly sorry” starts off the loyalty building process the right way.
> cut the CRAP in the organization that is no longer relevant AND that clogs the wheels of progress (Tom Peters’ call it the GRUNGE - awesome word!).
> over-react when a customer is screwed over. Again, successful Recovery demands SPEED to get things right.
> problem solve. Things NEVER go right the first time. SH*T Happen. Solutions are needed.
> form cross-functional teams. Results are produced ACROSS the organization demanding people working together harmoniously.
> tell stories. It’s a vital element of strategy. The best way of explaining to someone what the strategy means is to tell a story about it in action.
> use Internal Report Cards to measure service quality on the inside of the organization. If internal customers aren’t dazzled it is highly unlikely (no, IMPOSSIBLE) that external ones are
> recognize Service Heroes constantly.
> encourage employees to successfully fail. A Successful Failure results in learning which advances the organization. An unacceptable failure has no learning element and simply destroys value.
> practice Leadership by Serving Around is rampant across the organization.
> gather Customer Secrets. They are the fuel that powers your marketing and service machine.
> change your business vocabulary to be more customer-centric. Wash your mouth out with Customers!
> get feedback on your performance from your boss, peers and “subordinates” by using 360 degree feedback.

Are you practising these? If not, start the journey…

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

Related Blog Articles
Hire Human Being Lovers
Be Anal About Execution
Customerize your Language
Leadership by Serving Around
Execute. Don’t Pontificate!
Do You Speak “Customerese”?
Service Recovery: Recover from your Screw-ups

Posted 7.28.10 at 08:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 26, 2010

Wanted: Chief Serving Officer

The importance of SERVANT LEADERSHIP, by Tom Peters…

It seems that the ‘Chief’ designation is well used in organizations these days: Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Marketing Officer are but a few positions that carry this prestigious Tag.
The Serving side of a business (some call it the Service side) gets short shrift however. Very few companies have established a Chief of this side of the business. The CSO, Chief Serving Officer, must in my view be established in any organization who has a strategy to acquire and retain loyal customers. This is a huge mistake! If Serving is a critical component of your strategy you need single finger accountability to a senior executive for the flawless delivery of Core Service and the creation of Dazzling Customer Experiences.

Diluting the responsibility across the organization will simply not work. It won’t get the attention required. Nor the Focus. It requires a Champion who can sit in Executive Team Meetings and hammer the table when actions in the organization are preventing Raving Customer Fans from being secured.

Here’s the CSO Position Description:
> Create a Service Strategy for the organization.
> EXECUTE the Service Strategy.
> Be accountable for the results of the Service Strategy.
> Define Core Service for the firm and put in place the necessary tactics and program to deliver it at a satisfactory level 24X7.
> Re-engineer customer serving processes from the customer’s point of view.
> Strike the Dazzling Serving Recovery Strategy for your company. Recovering from your Serving Blunders builds loyalty. Its a critical piece of Strategy.
> Develop the ABSOLUTELY-MUST-HAVE-WILL-TAKE-NOTHING-LESS competencies of Frontline positions.
> Define the recruitment process to be used in bringing on Customer Servers.
> Empower the Frontline to bed the rules on the customer’s behalf.
> Insist that all leaders in the Serving Organization participate in 360 Degree Performance Feedback.
> Get the value of the Frontline Leader position re-valued in the organization to be THE MOST STRATEGIC POSITION EVER.
> Be the ultimate guardian of MOMENTS OF TRUTH with customers. Watch them. Evaluate them. Improve them. Coach. Coach. Coach.
> KILL DUMB RULES. The internal rules and policies that infuriate customers.
> Set up Dumb Rules Committees throughout the organization to seek out and cleanse the internal environment of stuff that makes no sense to customers.
> Be THE Advocate for the Frontline. Protect them. Nurture them. Celebrate with them. Help them. Be the Do-whatever-it-takes person to make sure they can delight customers.
> Set up Customer Feedback Panels to hear the truth about how you serve them. Get the CEO involved as well. The entire Executive Team. Leaders need to hear how your Serving is perceived.
> MEASURE. MEASURE. MEASURE. Analyze service results monthly. Take improvement action on shortfalls from objectives. Celebrate success. Honor people.
> Post Serving Results all over the place.
> Assume the role of Chief Storytelling Officer. Get out in front of people with stories that breathe life in the Service Strategy.
> Pay homage to Service Heroes. Know who they are and the names of their kids.
> Establish an Internal Serving Measurement System. Measure the quality of Serving provided among internal suppliers and customers.

These are STRATEGIC Acts that must be performed to BE DiFFERENT in Serving Customers and dominating your competition. Put a CSO in place to make it happen.

Cheers, Roy

Remember to follow me on Twitter

Recent Articles
Dominate for Success
Caring is Strategic
Dazzling Service Recovery
The Customerized Organization Structure
Twenty Attributes of a BE DiFFERENT Leader
The Serving Customers Model
Serving Customers NOT Providing Customer Service
The Four Steps to Dazzle Customers

Posted 7.26.10 at 07:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)