Be Different or be dead

June 14, 2012

Why a ‘high definition’ moment is critically important to your business

Source: Unsplash

Why a ‘high definition’ moment is critically important to tour business.

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 spread your good word to others are born for your organization or protestors scream how crummy you are.

High definition 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 create HD moments?

It’s about building a team that can create these kinds of feelings every time their organization touches their customers:

> HAPPY
> AMAZED
> WARM
> FUZZY
> DAZZLED
> BREATHLESS
> GASPING
> SURPRISED
> IMPRESSED
> MAGICAL
> SMITTEN
> HONORED
> IMPORTANT
> 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 an automated voice response system? Never I suspect.

Consider the HD moment as the driving force in architecting customer interactions in your organization

Assign a senior person as The Chief High Definition Moments Officer to make it matter in your organization and establish a high priority for it.

Recruit people who are at ease with honouring others. Establish rules and policies that leave your fans breathless.

Engineer automated systems to surprise people.

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

• Posted 6.14.12 at 10:00 am by Roy Osing
• Permalink

May 16, 2012

Why your language must change if you want to be customer focused

Source: Unsplash

Why your language must change if you want to be customer focused.

If you are like most organizations, you have your own language.

Whether you are in the communications business, the law profession, or medicine, over time people develop a vocabulary specific to you; it is understood by all.

The problem is that your unique language is reflective of looking inward to your products, technology, systems, and operating procedures rather than outward to your customers.

If you don’t ‘customerize’ your language you can hardly say that you are addicted to serving customers in every way possible.
The words and music don’t match.

In addition behavior can’t change to be outwardly directed to the customer if the internally focused language implies the opposite.

A few examples.

‘Calls processed’

Most organizations have call center operations which typically handle sales and service responsibilities. The productivity objective of most call centers is to process as many calls with as few resources as possible. Other metrics include call speed of answer and average call handling time.

The common denominator of this operation is the word ‘call’. You process calls. You answer incoming calls as fast as you can. You try and minimize the length of each call to maximize productivity.

The problem is that the customer is missing in action. If the call is the focus with implied productivity measures, it is hardly a wonder that taking care of the customer on the call gets lost as a priority.

Employees are more interested in call productivity — because they are rated on it — than creating memorable experiences for customers.

The solution is to eliminate the call processing mentality and start talking about serving customers.

Start talking about the number of customers served; customer wait time and customer serving time.

‘Customer commitment’

At least the customer is in this expression, but it lacks the personal dimension that is so important in serving customers well.

I like the word ‘promise’. Companies make commitments; people make promises. There is much more serving power in customer promises than customer commitments.

The productivity metrics become much more meaningful and visceral under the promises notion. What % of customer promises did you keep? How many promises did you break? Who in the organization is the best at keeping customer promises?

WOW! Much more powerful and easy for employees to relate to than the company commitment paradigm.

To change your language to reflect a customer focus, follow this action plan:

▪️ Develop a dictionary of your current language;

▪️ Identify the word/expressions that you understand but which lack the punch of passionately serving customers;

▪️ Create customer words to replace the internal jargon focused ones;

▪️ Change internal success metrics to reflect your customerized language. For example measure promises kept rather than commitments met;

▪️ Communicate to employees why you are changing your language; emphasize that serving customers is a critical element of your business plan.

You can’t have it both ways: saying that customers are your most precious asset yet through your language highlighting the internal fabric of your organization.

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

• Posted 5.16.12 at 09:13 am by Roy Osing
• Permalink

May 14, 2012

How do great leaders make incredibly fantastic teams?

Source: Unsplash

How do great leaders make incredibly fantastic teams?

A critical element of leadership is creating strong teams to get the right things done

Effective teams are effective because they have a leader who has figured out that delivering the right things is the objective. It’s all about execution.

Here are 5 tips to building a strong and effective team.

Create your business plan to standout from your competition — Engage your team in the process.
Let them play an active role in shaping their collective future. Shared visions are more likely to evoke the energy and commitment necessary to execute well.

Top- down direction-setting is required, but should be carefully orchestrated and focused to those areas where leadership must be in control. Shared accountability bonds people together and gives them permission to call on each other when things go off track.

Keep it alive — Teams flourish when they are winning the battle, so the leader’s job is to ‘win a battle every day’. Let everyone know. Share the victory with the team.

Bash internal barriers — Well-oiled teams have a leader who removes obstacles preventing people from getting things done.
Priority #1 is to eliminate the grunge that fosters inertia and stands in the way of advancement. Effective teams are effective only if they execute well.

Be the Chief Barrier Basher for your team.

Translate your strategy for all employees — Paint a picture of what it means to the team and each member of it. Effectiveness comes from every team member working in harmony and having a direct line of sight to the strategy of the organization. Everyone must be moving in the same direction.

The leader’s job is to define roles that eliminate the possibility of dysfunctional activity which gets in the way of progress.

Shout out the people and achievements that show that the strategy is being successfully implemented — Reinforcing the behaviours and people that stand for the new direction will build stronger teams with better performance.

Effective Teams = enlightened leadership = shared vision = flawless execution = shared accountability

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

• Posted 5.14.12 at 10:09 am by Roy Osing
• Permalink

May 5, 2012

3 important priorities to have when you’re out of time

Source: Unsplash

3 important priorities to have when you’re out of time.

There is never enough time to do everything possible.

Successful organizations are brilliant at focusing on the critical few things they need to get done right.

They don’t get caught up chasing possibilities. There are many things you COULD do (are fun and comfortable) but there are usually only a handful of things that really matter to your success.

People can only really do three things well at the same time (ok maybe four but NOT ten).

Here are three things that I have found really matter if you are challenged with limited resources and time:

Rule #1 - BE mindlessly focused on your loyal customers

Know who they are. What they desire. Ask them to get involved in your business. Ask them for advice. Treat them special. Help connect them with each other and with you. NEVER offer a special promotion or deal to try and entice new customers; offer the best deals to your loyal customers first.

Your success is a function of how well you treat people who are loyal to you. Take care of them and they will return the favor.

Rule #2 - BE the ONLY ones who do what you do

If your business doesn’t have an ONLY Statement, you don’t have a competitive position. And you will be indistinguishable from the herd. And you will be invisible. And you won’t attract business. And you will most likely fail and die.

It’s a tough job, but spend whatever time it takes to build your ONLY: “We are the ONLY ones that….”. Pure uniqueness in the market gets rewarded. A member of the faceless herd does not.

Rule #3 - Create VALUE for your fans and be more than a product play

Flogging products is what the herd does. Competing on product features is what they do. Offering discounted prices. Copying best of breed (the best cow is still a cow, right?).

Change the rules of engagement. Break out of the herd. Create stuff that delights people. Leaves them breathless. Excites them. Surprises them. Makes them happy. Honours them.

When you illicit these feelings you have created value for them. Package stuff together with a single value proposition: you’re not in the moving business; you “move lives” and you could bring together many services under that umbrella.

Look for the impact your product has on people. Don’t simply push the technology or narrow features.

Fans, uniqueness and value. All you need when you know time is running out

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

• Posted 5.5.12 at 09:40 am by Roy Osing
• Permalink