Dec 9, 2010 | Change, Social Media
Julian Assange has thrown the cat amongst the pigeons, but it was always going to happen at some time.
The transparency capability delivered by the web has forever changed most commercial operations. It is naive to think that so called “classified” documents that Governments would prefer to be held close to the chest for a variety of reasons, many spurious, would be able to withstand the tsunami of information and knowledge democratisation that has swept over us over the last decade.
The cat is out of the bag, legal action to gag Wikileaks, incarcerate Assange, and stop the leaks may succeed in the short term, but are destined to fail, as has every other effort to prevent the inevitable.
The current political blathering about prosecuting Assange, if it comes to pass, will be as effective as the music industry prosecuting their customers for downloading music, and smacks of a conspiracy to prevent something they do not like, were not ready for, and will cause them pain. The reaction is understandable, but destined to fail, and demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the behavorial changes driven by the web.
The world has changed, Governments need to change with it. Assange delivered his philosophy potently in this TED talk posted back in July, so these leaks, following those a few months ago relating to the activities of the US military effort in the Gulf should not come as a surprise.
Irrespective of your views on the rights and wrongs of Wikileaks releasing these documents, the horse has bolted, get used to it.
Dec 8, 2010 | Customers, Management, Sales
It is usually easier to find more business with existing customers that it is to find new ones, or to devote the resources to reducing customer churn. Nevertheless, most enterprises overspend their limited resources seeking new customers at the expense of their existing customers.
If you must chase new customers, there are 3 very simple questions to ask:
1. Do they have a problem you can solve?
2. Do they have the money and desire to take a risk with a new supplier?
3. Can you reach and communicate effectively with them?.
Three ticks, and you have some chance, two ticks and your time is better spent elsewhere, no ticks, wake up to yourself.
Dec 7, 2010 | Communication, Marketing, Social Media
It is amazing how many sites I visit claim least one of a few hyperbolic options:
We have a “unique” solution,
We are the “industry leader”,
We have an “innovative approach”
We offer the “best value”
These claims mean little, after all, there is only one industry leader, innovative approach is meaningless, value often just means price, and a unique solution remains unique usually only in the minds of the site owner.
Surely a better way is to be memorable by being different, be disturbing, be extremely focused, and the sales pitch needs to be about the outcomes of applying your solutions to their problems, not about how great your solutions are.
Dec 4, 2010 | Change, Demand chains, Lean
busy bar
Last Friday night I was in a small local club with a client, co-incidentally as they had the weekly member “badge-draw” which had jackpotted to $19,000. As you can imagine the joint was packed, it took 20 minutes lining up just to get a beer.
What struck me, apart from thirst, were the inefficient “production” conditions behind the bar, resembling many factories I have seen, but in this case, the problems were easily diagnosed.
- There was extra staff to handle the anticipated crowd, and they were absolutely run off their feet, but achieving little of value to customers
- All the lines to the 4 bar stations were similarly packed, there was no “quicker” line. At first glance, the “line” was running at its maximum capacity.
- Expedition was rife, people would see their mates in line, and get them to place a bigger order, annoying all who had lined up, and slowing the whole process considerably.
- The key production point, the beer dispensers, were idle perhaps 85% of the time, (I did not measure it, thirst was getting the better of me) as staff took orders, juggled the tills and change, communicated with customers about which beer was which, the total of the bill, the slow service, and Aunty Fanny’s kidney stones, and did all the other stuff that created bottlenecks in front of the key “production” point.
In short, there was no “flow” at all, it was a mess, and the sales lost were enormous, as the 19K jackpot went off at the first draw, and the crowds thinned out immediately as they went home thirsty, and angry.
How easy would it have been to have one staff member pulling beers, and moving them to an “inventory” point for delivery to a thirsty waiting customer? Increasing the estimated 15% utilisation of the dispenser, would have removed the order backlog very quickly and easily, and would have removed a major source of customer irritation, increased sales, and reduced the obvious stress levels of staff.
Whilst only one person could win the 19k, everyone else would have been much happier!
Dec 1, 2010 | Communication, Marketing
Presentations of any type are a sales pitch, not always a product, perhaps a point of view, capability of an organisation, seeking engagement with an objective or vision, or an idea.
Irrespective, the objective of selling cannot be met unless the audience is first engaged in the process, so the core question a presenter should ask is “how do I engage my audience into the process?” There are many common tools, know the audience, speak to them each “personally”, do not read, get out from behind the lectern, deliver with passion, and so on.
One that appears to be missed is the cadence, the combination of high points, the set-ups questions and desirable answer, observations about the “how it is” followed by the “how it could be” and always finished by a call to take action to move towards a visionary goal . When you think about it, all the great speeches have elements of all these cadence tools. Winston Churchill was a master, Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech is possibly the best known, JFK seemed to do it effortlessly, and there are many, many others, which the web is making available to us to learn from.
Next time you do a presentation, consider the cadence it has, as it can have a huge impact on the effectiveness of the effort.
