Be Different or be dead

January 16, 2017

7 easy ways to finally complete your To Do list

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7 easy ways to finally complete your To Do list.

Too much energy is consumed on making the list.

There is something gratifying about jotting down all the things you need to do. It quenches one’s thirst for being organized and for wanting some control over one’s life generally complicated by too many things to do with insufficient time and financial resources to do them.

When we complete the list we feel that we have accomplished something.

The longer the list, the more pleased we feel as the long list represents mastering the translation of our complicated and ever changing personal world into concrete terms.

We spend considerable time making the list and managing the list when changes are required.

Frequently we lose the list.

Occasionally we are unable the decipher items on the list due to the abbreviated language we use to save time making it.

And list making teaches a bad habit, namely that if you write an action plan down it will happen.

We all know this is delusional thinking. The list is never completed the way it was originally conceived yet we continue to pour our energy into making the list knowing (hopefully) that it is a draft at best.

It’s time to change the list dynamic from making the list to doIng the list.

I know it’s called a To Do list, but it’s realły a statement of intent: “(I intend)To Do” is the common interpretation of what the list means however the ‘Do’ action piece normalły gets short shrift.

It’s time to rid ourselves of good intentions; cut back on the time spent on creating the list and increase the time spent DOING it.

The list is an imperfect ‘creature’ anyway; it will never be 100% complete. Tomorrow something will come up that will render the list or a portion of it irrelevant. And the list will have to be revised.

Here are some quick-hit suggestions to do the list.

▪️Think short term. What absolutely must get done in the next 7 days? If you think beyond the next week you allow intentions to guide the list, you waste time and DO nothing.

▪️Limit the list to not more than 3 things. You can’t DO more and if you think you can, you are falling victim to intentions.

▪️Allocate the 3 DO items to the 7 days you have available. Space them out; don’t cram them in to one or two days where time constraints could impair your ability to execute.

▪️Don’t allocate the full 7 days to your DO items. Leave some spare time to deal with temporary unexpected events (which will always happen) that distract you from your list.

▪️Stay focused and avoid multitasking. ‘Get-one-done; move-on-to-the-next’ is the formula for DO. Some argue that sequential action is unimaginative; perhaps, but it gets things done.

▪️When an item on the list is done, strike it off but don’t replace it with anything. This could jeopardize the remaining item(s). You are on a 7-day DO cycle; new items will be listed at the start of the next cycle.

▪️Develop the next list at the end of the 6th day. Carry over incomplete tasks if they are still a high priority. Incorporate what you have learned from DOING in the current cycle.

Apply this template to your career and job where success is measured by what you DO, not by your intentions.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 1.16.17 at 04:16 am by Roy Osing
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January 6, 2017

Why survival is threatened by being the same as others

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Why survival is threatened by being the same as others.

Does ‘sameness’ threaten the survival of an organization?

BE DiFFERENT or be dead.

The implication is that if you’re NOT DiFFERENT, sooner or later you will be irrelevant and you will die.

Sameness kills.

The path to organizational death is predictable.

Sales revenue declines because the value proposition of the organization is limp; it has no distinctive substance.

People stop buying because the company’s offerings are no longer relevant; they no longer serve a compelling need. They lose their edge that was the original reason people bought from them and not their competition. Their product portfolio is now common and indistinguishable from that offered by others.

Customers migrate away, looking for more value for their money; to get their specific needs satisfied.

Price cutting is invoked as the salvation, believing that lower prices will increase sales volumes. Footnote: with a limp value proposition, driving prices down also drives revenue down. Most products in the commodity category are price elastic folks!

With revenues going south, management decrees that costs be reduced to preserve operating margins. Across-the-board cost cutting is ordered as a ‘balanced’ approach which means customer serving functions get whacked; fewer frontline people are expected to handle increased volumes of calls (from the price reductions).

Customer service suffers

Customers look for alternative suppliers. Degenerating customer service creates an immediate disloyalty response. Customers find it easy to switch suppliers since so many alternatives are in their faces; they are coveted by many other providers.

Revenues spiral downward; margins are squeezed; more costs are sliced from company operations; customers are casualties.

It’s a relentless cycle.

Leadership looks for a short term strategy to reverse the trend; they are forced to abandon a longer term growth view.

The organization looks to acquisitions as a “fast and easy” way to expand their customer base and bolster their revenue line. This process burns valuable time and people resources and is limited by financial capabilities due to shrinking margins and an unhealthy balance sheet.

Acquisition activities shift priorities away from fixing the @home value proposition issues to assessing potential acquisition candidates and determine how to integrate the winner into the buyer’s overall operations and culture.

Revenues continue to decline; confidence erodes.

The cycle becomes entrenched; the organization explores selling off assets to improve financial results.

No investments are made in solving the endemic value proposition issue they face.

It’s not a matter if they will die; it’s a question of when it will happen - how long can they hang on.

When customers start to leave, they are telling you that you are becoming irrelevant; that you don’t have any uniqueness relative to your competitors.

You are the same as them.

Fix that problem and the revenue line will take care of itself.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 1.6.17 at 06:15 am by Roy Osing
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December 26, 2016

8 practical ways to be an awesome marketer

Source: Pexels

8 practical ways to be an awesome marketer.

There are organizations that are really good at marketing who they are and what value they create.

They exhibit marketing effectiveness.

They have marketing awesomeness.

There are others, on the other hand, who struggle to get their message across and are not contenders.

Building marketing awesomeness isn’t just the job of the marketing department; the entire organization must take on the responsibility and work in harmony to deliver it.

Awesomeness-building routine

▪️Consistently WOW! your customers — Delivering awesome customer service is fundamental to building muscle; it’s the basic platform you need to build a strong sustaining brand. If you don’t serve your customers in an exemplary way (or at least have plans to), ignore the rest of this article.

▪️Lead with innovation — Be the first ones to do something creative and ‘out there’. Yes, it’s risky to try something new, but if you try often enough you will have the winners that add dimension to your brand.

▪️Surprise your market — Do something that people don’t expect. Awesome marketers pulse surprises from time to time, creating buzz and attracting a great deal of attention.
And they don’t surprise just anybody; “delight tactics” are aimed at their loyal customers. Check out Richard Branson to see how it is done.

▪️Earn the customer’s business everyday — Don’t feel entitled to it just because you have it. This is all about never taking the customer for granted; assuming that since you already have them, you don’t have to do much to keep them.

This is a fatal mistake! Investing in deepening your relationship with a customer and earning their trust will not only keep them spending with you, it will also motivate them to “spread your word” to others.

▪️Integrate yourself in your community — People want to do business with organizations that care about the communities they are in; that give back in some meaningful way.

Awesomeness is built with a huge dose of humanity, and social investing is an effective way of allowing your softer side to be seen. And target community investments to programs aligned with your strategic plan; avoid trying to support every cause out there.

▪️Adopt customer learning as a core competency — Learn about your customers as a continuous process rather than a periodic task.

Customer needs, wants and desires change and it is critical to keep up. Awesomeness grows proportionately with how knowledgeable you are about who your customer is and what their top priorities are.

▪️Have fun! — It’s amazing how impactful it is to shed business formality and show an informal playful persona from time to time. Casual language, humour and making fun of yourself are ways to show your customers that ‘it ain’t all about the bottom line’.

▪️Think “ME” — Shift your thinking from mass production to personalized value creation. Narrow your focus to create solutions for small groups of customers rather than trying to come up with one size that fits all (which doesn’t work anyway).

Keep in mind that awesome form isn’t developed overnight; it can take years of blood, sweat and tears before the market sees you as a contender.

However, there is no time like the present to get on with it.

Define your awesomeness building program.

Start executing.

Don’t look back.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 12.26.16 at 04:27 am by Roy Osing
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December 12, 2016

Why a loyal customer should command more of your money

Source: Unsplash

Why a loyal customer should command more of your money.

Put your money in the rare customer who loves you back.

If you accept the proposition that anyone who is willing to pay you for a good or service is worth paying attention to, then any customer is good your business.

Right?

Maybe not.

Some customers produce revenue for you, but the emotional and financial costs you incur to generate it are unreasonable.

Some customers are more of a hindrance than an asset.

These are low or ‘no value’ customers who should command an investment proportionate to their worth.

Many organizations that I have experienced have difficulty scaling the level of investment they apply to the value of the customer.

They assume that ‘a customer is a customer’ and therefore apply the same effort to satisfy each one of them.

They treat all of their customers the same way; the highest value customer receives the sale level of service, for example, as the no-value one.

Or, they actually provide the no-value customer premium benefits that high value ones don’t enjoy. My favourite example of this are the promotional incentives offered to lure customers away from their current supplier.

“Come to us and receive 3 months free service” or “Switch to our product and a flat screen LED TV will be yours” are commonly used offers when an organization wants to add new customers.

The costs of acquiring a new customer are significant, and are often incurred for a customer who spends virtually nothing with their new supplier or they switch again when a better offer comes along leaving unrecoverable investments in their wake.

Furthermore there is unintended collateral damage from this type of promotion. Existing customers discover the special offer is available, but not to customers who may have been with the organization for many years and demonstrated their loyalty many times over.

These disenchanted ‘loyalists’ voice their displeasure to others and often switch to another organization they believe will treat them more fairly.

High performing organizations invest in customers who provide a decent return on that investment. The higher the value, the greater level attention and resources applied.

And the more favourable treatment given. The highest value customers receive the better levels of service and any new promotional offerings. Check out The Grateful Dead who understood this.

No-value ‘promiscuous’ customers, on the other hand, receive a no frills level of service and no special treatment.

Every organization has limitations on the resources they have available for their customers.

You can’t afford to be all things to all people even if they are your customers. It’s just not a responsible thing to do.

No two customers are alike; no two customers create the same economic value for you.

Determine the ones who make your life worthwhile.

Focus on THEM; leave the “bad ones” for someone else to chase.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 12.12.16 at 04:28 am by Roy Osing
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