ValuExecBlog

Compelling Reasons

I was reminded the other day as to the importance of the notion of 'compelling reasons.' I was cold calling a prospect and thought that I knew the compelling reason as to why the prospect would buy the particular service that we were offering. It wasn't the two questions of "why should I buy your service?" and "what's in it for me?" that had me a little nervous because, quite frankly, I was prepared for them; rather it was the numerous "So what!'" comments that seemed to follow my every response that had me squirming over the phone and really tested my understanding of what our 'compelling reason' really was. It was only after my response to the tenth 'So what!' that I finally struck gold and had the compelling reason that satisfied my prospect and which lead to the sale. I was lucky that I had a prospect who was willing to keep on asking the questions. On another day, I could have so easily have lost the prospect after the first question.

It's funny how the mind works, because two days after having had that rather insightful discussion with the prospect (now our client), I found myself standing in a queue at a Starbucks and I began to ask myself, not as a provider of services this time, but as a customer - what was the compelling reason as to why I was prepared to stand there and waste time; waiting to be served by someone who although friendly, had not acknowledged that there were people waiting and getting impatient? You see, I had progressed beyond Maslow's basic need of survival and had ascertained that I needed a coffee (for whatever reason) - but my choice as to where I bought my caffeine fix rested on my interpretation of the 'compelling reason'. In the end, the wonderful friendly environment and large choice of products and cup sizes were not compelling enough to overcome the poor service and so I left sans coffee and purchased my coffee elsewhere.   

And the Winner is....

Normally, I would gloss over the attached article but this one is filled with so many gems on execution excellence that if you were to implement just one of them, I have no doubt your company's performance would improve. Three members of the Premier Healthcare Alliance recently gave a presentation at a conference that had everyone in the room spell bound for 3 whole hours. No mean feat but not surprising when you review their content. The article relates what each person did at their respective location to improve performance. This was my take out of the key 'execution' elements from each of the presenters:

• Presenter One: The 5 Step model:
       > Design
       > Educate
       > Validate Competency
       > Measure Conformance
       > Intervention / appropriate action
• Presenter Two: Getting Involvement
       > Standardization
       > Education on metrics
       > Rapid feedback
       > Reward success
       > Improvement tools (newsletter, visible scorecards, publication)
  Summed up by making tools - real, timely and personal
• Presenter Three: Gaining Acceptance
       > Leadership
       > Alignment
       > Accountability
       > Ongoing awareness

Each of the elements above are fundamental to execution excellence, and I hate to think what would happen if all the elements were combined into one 'execution' package.

And the winner is... The Premier Healthcare Alliance.

ian

What is it with these Chefs!

What is it about these chefs that makes them such damn good teachers? First is was Charlie Trotter and now it is Gordon Ramsay. If you have not yet seen an episode of 'Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares', try and get to see one. But I must warn you - it is not for the feint of heart or the squeamish. If you hate swearing - then you will certainly not like the program; but it does contain wonderful lessons on execution and business management.

In a nutshell - world-renown chef Gordon Ramsay takes a week to transform a 'nightmare kitchen' that is on the brink of ruin into a successful business. But it does take a transformation and that is where the beauty of the program lies because nothing - and I mean nothing - is sacred to Gordon. He is single-mindedly focused on one thing and one thing only - how to make the business successful. He does not play politics, even going so far as to tell chefs/owners that 'they are the problem' (swear words deleted) and he is certainly not afraid to change the core offering if it isn't working regardless of the ego attached to it.

There are 3 things that I like about the show:

1. He simplifies the offering. One chef/owner felt that his pizza with its 22 different combinations was what made his restaurant different when in fact, it simply confused his customers.
2. He continuously looks for the compelling reason as to why people should eat at the restaurant - their point of difference and then, having determined what it is he promotes it passionately within the local community by getting people to sample the offering.
3. Finally, once a particular strategy is agreed, he executes it swiftly. There is no tip-toeing around people, owners or chefs. It's all action, action, action.

There are many other lessons on 'execution excellence' and the 'fundamentals of business management' that one can take out of each and every episode. So if you just happen to be sitting next to a television set and 'Ramsay's Nightmare Kitchens' comes on - get your pen and paper out and jot down the lessons that you will get from it - it will be worth it. And Oh, do turn down the volume.

ian

Bringing the Customer inside the Organization

Too often in organizations, the voice of the customer is heard only by a select few. This is unfortunate because there is much that can be learned and therefore gained from what is communicated between customer and employees at all levels within the organization. The voice of the customer needs to be brought inside the organization.

When was the last time you asked any of these questions of your customers:

1. What do they really care about the most?
   And I  mean really care about in terms of your products or services and the way you provide them. This applies to your internal as well as external customers. In fact, I would hazard a guess that most people seldom ask the question. It is also important to ask your customers to rank what they care about because then you will be able to get your team to work on the highest ranking ones first.
2. What opportunities do we have to delight them (our customers)?
   There are 3 aspects that you need to consider here. The first concerns what you do before you deliver your products or services; the second aspect concerns what you do during delivery and the third aspect is what you do after delivery. It is my belief that a lot of future sales are lost because of the poor 'after' delivery service.
3. How well are we satisfying our customers right now in terms of what they care about?
   Never make the mistake of asking this question once a year. This is a continuous process that relies on regular feedback.
    
4. What are the best companies doing to delight their customers?
   If you are indeed close to your customer and have brought them inside the organization, they will tell you what other companies are doing. Listen to them.
5. How does the way we operate now make us 'difficult to do business with?'
   Simply ask the customer if your current way of doing business gets in the way of delighting them.

Finally, for all your internal customers ask the following:

1. What do you need from me?
2. What do you do with what I give you?
3. Are there gaps between what you need and what you get?

It is not enough to say that customers are a sales or marketing issue - everyone has and is a customer within an organization, and everyone has a responsibility to customers no matter what department they hail from. So, go ahead ask the questions and bring the customer inside the organization.

ian