Be Different or be dead

February 3, 2015

3 simple steps that will improve your understanding of people

Source: Pexels

3 simple steps that will improve your understanding of people.

A continuous process of learning about customers is a core competency that remarkable organizations have; the periodic study process of market research is simply not good enough.

These 3 steps will deepen the understanding you have of your customers and will move you ahead of the pack.

1. Deep segmentation

Define as many different customer segments as you can. Obviously the more segments the more you will know about each individual in the segment.
The objective is to learn about the unique fingerprint of each individual person as opposed to studying the ‘average’customer in a mass market group.

There is no such thing as an average customer. If you think there is, you haven’t segmented deep enough. Keep segmenting until you get as close to a segment of 1 as is practically possible.

2. Ask the customer

On a regular basis (actually every time you contact a customer) ask questions that will give you a better insight into the individual.
Every time your organization ‘touches’ a customer you have a strategic opportunity to learn something about them that you can put to good use: top-line revenue generation or loyalty-building.

Actively listen to what they say. Pay your managers on their ability to contribute toward the organization’s repertoire of customer knowledge - revise your compensation plan to reward this behavior.

3. Understand customer behaviour

Track and study how your customers use your products and services. Actual usage will help you understand the value they receive.
Product and services that tend to be bought together and in specific combinations will also be evident. Use this information to develop predictive purchase models to aid your marketing efforts.

Work on all three fronts and take your marketing efforts to remarkable levels.

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

• Posted 2.3.15 at 01:00 pm by Roy Osing
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October 5, 2014

28 reasons customers are sometimes enormous trouble

Source: Pexels

28 reasons customers are sometimes enormous trouble.

Customers are a pain; here are 28 reasons why customers are too bothersome to deal with.

1. They come late and expect us to stay open.
2. They come early and expect us to be opened.
3. They don’t appreciate some of our staff; they have unrealistic expectations.

4. They always change their mind.
5. They are too sensitive about getting their needs met.
6. They tell their friends how bad we are when we make a mistake or don’t meet their customer service expectations.

7. They feel entitled to get a deal; they never want to pay the regular price.
8. They are inflexible; they won’t accept a substitute when we don’t have exactly what they want.
9. They demand we check the back of the store if the item they are looking for isn’t on the shelf; this takes time.

10. They are quick to criticize but rarely praise us when we do a good job.
11. They complain about our prices being too high.
12. They hate standing in line or in a call center queue to pay for their merchandise.
13. They hate being told to go to another cash register when we take our break.

14. They expect us to be able to answer any question on any of our products; they don’t appreciate that it is impossible for us to know everything about each product we offer.
15. They don’t like our merchandise cluttering the aisles because of our limited space for inventory.
16. They expect to be served by friendly staff even if we are having a bad day.
17. They expect staff to be available to help them; they get very angry if they have to hunt for a store clerk.

18. They never seem to be satisfied; give them a little and they want more.
19. They ask for a manager if we can’t satisfy them.
20. They think they are the only ones we have to serve; they don’t care if we have other customers in the store.
21. They stress-out our staff by being so demanding.

22. They shop around for better deals; we can’t count on their loyalty.
23. They don’t understand our policies; they keep asking for things that our rules don’t permit.
24. They don’t get that if we break the rules and do something special for them, we would have to do the same for others.

25. If your delivery is late, they don’t understand that it was a problem with our courier service not with us.
26. They hate voice recording systems and would rather talk to a real person. They don’t understand we are trying to increase our productivity.
27. They are impatient and don’t like waiting 10 minutes on the phone for the next available representative.
28. They like to re-invent our menu. They always fight with us to add food items that they like.

Some days you think another line of work would be preferable.

The problem is you can’t avoid customers and their complications.

Gotta figure out how to live with these unpredictable and demanding folks since we can’t live without ‘em.

What’s your gotta live with ‘em strategy?

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

• Posted 10.5.14 at 02:38 am by Roy Osing
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August 25, 2014

Why being different is urgent for survival and success

Source: Unsplash

Why being different is urgent for survival and success.

Never has it been more important to carve out a distinctive and unique place for your organization in the market than it is today

The economy is unpredictable.

Competition is intense as new competitors are entering the market at a blistering rate.

New technology disrupts organizations relentlessly.

Markets are cluttered with sameness; products and services are undifferentiated and competitive claims are lost in the crowd.

Customers are more empowered than ever before, establishing relationships with suppliers that deliver distinctive solutions and ignoring those that don’t.

Which organizations are successful and survive this challenging business environment, and what separates them from the others that struggle, hang on and eventually fail?

Those that are able to win this battle are different from their competitors. They survive the scrutiny of the discriminating customer by providing relevant, compelling and unmatched value.

Those that have no distinctive identity simply don’t make it.

They die.

How can organizations stand-out from the herd and distance themselves from it?

Business plan — It starts with reinventing how strategy is developed. The emphasis is shifted from strategic direction to execution. Many plans look good on paper but can’t be executed. They are theoretically pristine but worthless as they fall short of delivering results.

The strategic game plan — business plan —  in common lexicon, is designed for execution and is created by answering 3 questions:

1. HOW BIG do you want to be? - growth goals;
2. WHO do you want to SERVE - target customers to achieve growth;
3. HOW do you intend to compete and WIN - the value proposition that gives the WHO reasons to buy ONLY from you. Being the best of the best is ignored; being the ONLY ones that do what you do is coveted.

Marketing — Marketing is focused on creating experiences rather than flogging products. Investing in current loyal fans is given priority over providing special promotions and deals to acquire new customers.

Mass markets are ignored in favour of concentrating on the individual and discovering their secrets that will unlock economic value. The world of ME gains momentum.

Customers are looked at holistically; experiential packages are designed for each of them to satisfy their broad life desires. Creating happiness is the marketer’s end game.

Customer Service — Customer service the way it has been traditionally practiced is out; SERVING customers is in with the end game to dazzle the customer and take their breath away. Internal rules and policies are re-vectored to make customer engagement a friendly process.

The customer is brought in to the organization to get their fingerprints on how they want to be treated.

Leadership —  Leadership is practised by serving around is the new culture. “How can I help you?” are the words leaving leaders’ lips not “Do this.”

To Stand-out from the Herd you need to provide VALUE that people CARE about and that is UNIQUE. Failure to deliver and you’ll be IgNORED, InVISIBLE, CoMMON and DeAD (sooner or later).

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

• Posted 8.25.14 at 02:36 am by Roy Osing
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August 18, 2014

Why is technology something people in business want to dabble in?

Source: Unsplash

Why is technology something people in business want to dabble in? Technology seems to be the ‘sexy’ part that people love to play with.

Sure, the technology of business has changed.

Virtually every business function is inundated with new ways to enhance the PROCESS of conducting business.

This is a good thing.

But the ‘noise’ of the new tool set at times seems to drown out their real purpose.

Efficiency seems to be the trump card; effectiveness is the deuce.

Businesses chase new AI technologies to serve their customers. They really want to manage (reduce) costs but they claim the personalized service actually improves. Chatbots start to pervade the customer engagement space.

But hey, technology is sexy and people love to dabble with it.

It’s cool.

But what about the basics of business?

What about the end game?

It hasn’t changed at all.

Offer uniqueness to people. Be special. Stand-out in a crowd. Get noticed. Attract attention.

Provide value that people care about. Experiences they cherish.

Strum a note that resonates with people; makes them regress to their child state and be happy. Even if it is out of tune.

‘Sexy’ attracts too much attention these days.

The basics are often forgotten.

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

• Posted 8.18.14 at 02:32 am by Roy Osing
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