It’s Too Expensive Not to Understand Your Customers

If you’re in business, every time customers or potential customers interact with you, they make an assessment of the quality of the service or product you provide. This is true regardless of whether you compete with others or are in an industry with seemingly no competition.

During an economic slump or crisis, customer research is often one of the first items on the chopping block. This, though, is short-sighted. One small element of actionable information can have significant financial implications and can critically impact the success or failure of a business. It’s just too expensive not to know what your customers think.

Customers have an internal set of criteria for judging an enterprise. This criteria may include how quickly a service is rendered, how much a product or service costs, what happens when something unexpected happens (the car accelerates dangerously all by itself, the flight is canceled, the merchandise is “out of stock.”) Research sets a solid foundation for performance benchmarking, allowing companies, like yours, to track trends in customer satisfaction.

One of the best ways to avoid costly mistakes is to develop a philosophy of “asking your customers.” What do they need? How satisfied are they with the services you provide? What can you do to improve? How quickly do you provide service? Is this fast enough? How do your customers evaluate your company in terms of safety and reliability? How much do they trust your explanation and solution when a problem occurs? How does what you offer measure up to competitive offerings?

Obtaining benchmark customer information is an essential first step. Knowing what customers think and want provides the foundation for developing and prioritizing operational improvement plans. Which items need major retooling? Which just require minor adjustments? What strengths do we have that we can leverage to achieve other desired outcomes?

This data should also become the foundation of your strategic communication plan targeted to reach your key constituencies: customers, community leaders, employees, regulators and the media. What did you learn about the needs and wants of your customers that can be translated into enhanced satisfaction levels. Collecting information is only the first stop on the road to success; putting the information to use and developing loyal customers is the destination.

www.thecapstonegrp.com

Learning from the Planet’s Teachers

Consider Velcro, passive cooling and Speedo’s Fastskin FSII swimsuits. What do these items have in common? Give up? All were inspired by the natural world. In fact, so many recent inventions have occurred from observing how nature operates that a new term has been coined. Biomimicry is literally the science and art of emulating nature’s best biological aspects to solve human problems.

For example, George de Mestral noted how burrs stuck tenaciously to his dog’s fur. Using a microscope, he observed that the tiny hooks on the end of the burr’s spines caught anything with a loop – such as clothing, hair or animal fur. The result was his two-part Velcro fastener system.

And, African tower-building termites helped teach us about passive cooling. These insects construct their mounds to maintain a constant temperature by continuously opening and closing vents, allowing cooler air to be drawn in from open lower sections while hot air escapes through chimneys. An example of this stack ventilation system is employed by a wastewater treatment facility in Carlsbad, CA.

How to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels is another lesson we can learn from nature. As the Biomimicry Institute notes (http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/), “One of the best ways to reduce reliance on fossil fuels is to achieve more efficient use of the energy we do consume. Inspired by the evolved ability of shark’s skin to reduce drag by manipulating the boundary layer flow as the fish swims, researchers are developing coatings for ship’s hulls, submarines, aircraft fuselage, and even swimwear for humans. Based on the varying shape and texture of shark’s skin over its body, Speedo’s Fastskin FSII swimsuits made their appearance at the Beijing Olympics and may have helped US swimmer Michael Phelps to his record eight gold medals in that competition, and the rest of the team as well.”

And, perhaps, green plants can ultimately teach us about how to make clean fuel using sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, much like they use chlorophyll to convert sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and oxygen. If we could master this process, we could make hydrogen fuel cells an efficient way to create and store energy applicable in home and industrial systems.

Everyday, scientists and inventors are exploring new ways to improve our world through biomimicry. Non-toxic adhesives inspired by geckos, resistance-free antibiotics inspired by red seaweed and improved wind turbine blades mimicking the flippers of humpback whales are just a few examples. If you pay attention, you can see biomimetically inspired products in nearly every corner of the marketplace, from medicine to transportation.

According to the advocates and practitioners studied by the Biomimicry Institute, the greatest potential impacts for this emerging field, however, is in changing the way we think about our man-made environment—not only in designing individual building products, but in conceiving of entire communities as biomimetic systems, not to mention businesses, government bodies and other “systems.” Now that’s something to anticipate!

photo courtesy of jonrawlinson, used under this Creative Commons license

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A Potpourri of Links to Educate, Amuse or Fatten Your Wallet

I’m of a certain age and, perhaps, like you, remember days before the Internet – when, if I wanted to know something, I’d look it up in some type of bound volume, make a call or perhaps ask a friend.

Art by Sarah Sammis

No more. Now, I “google” everything.  And, I mean everything! I haven’t phoned anyone to request information or opened a dictionary in years.

My behavior got me to wondering how many websites there are and naturally, I googled to find out. According to www.answer.com, there are more than 109.5 million sites, consisting of at least 25 billion pages. Wow!

I thought it might be fun to highlight a few of the sites I use regularly, as well as some that have been recommended to me. (Particular thanks to John Cox of SourceSolution for his suggestions.) I’m not going to mention common online retailer or auction houses like Amazon and eBay or obvious choices like Craigslist, Wikipedia, Expedia or WebMD. Here’s my list, in alphabetical order, for lack of some more clever way of organizing this material:

http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_current – Those of us living in California understand the danger we face from wildfires. This site is updated frequently and links to more detailed information about any current fire. It’s one of those sites we hope we never have to refer to, but know we will

www.etsy.com – Etsy is a community of buyers and sellers of handmade items from more than 150 countries. If you’re looking for a unique gift or an outlet for your handcrafts, this site is for you.

www.familysearch.org – Are you working on your family tree or trying to find out more about a particular ancestor? FamilySearch is a service provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is the largest genealogy organization in the world.

http://flightaware.com – Wondering whether it’s time to leave for the airport to pick up someone? This is my favorite site for tracking where any plane is at any point in time. FlightAware provides live flight data, airport information, weather maps, flight planning, and navigation charts for U.S. flights. In the 24 hours prior to this post, FlightAware tracked 43,521 arrivals.

www.hubspot.com – Go here for cool SEO. HubSpot® is an inbound marketing system to help your small or medium sized business get found on the Internet by the right prospects and convert more of them into leads and customers for maximum marketing ROI.

www.infoworld.com – If you write about or are interested in IT topics, this blog and news site is very useful. Recent articles that caught my eye included a review of Windows 7, the future of mainframes in data centers, and how private clouds are gaining traction.

http://www.kayak.com – For travel and monitoring trends in pricing, nothing beats this site. KAYAK lets you compare options, and when you find something that fits your budget and tastes, you book it where you want: at the airline site, from the hotel, or from a travel agent. It’s completely free and different from most travel sites because they don’t actually sell plane tickets, hotel rooms, or anything else.

www.marketingsherpa.com – This organization researches what works in marketing via exclusive case studies, surveys, results data analysis and lab tests. Then they publish what they learn so their community of marketers and weekly readers can improve their results and train their teams. One recent “how to” covered reformatting, reusing and recycling strategies to stretch marketing content.

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/pandacam – Ok, I admit it. From the birth of Hua Mei, the first baby panda born in the U.S., I have been addicted to pandacam. With a new baby in the den, and about to get a name, I’m as hooked as ever.

http://tinyurl.com – I began to see tiny URLs and wondered how they were created. Googling, of course, led me to this site. By entering in a URL in the text field provided, a tiny (short) version is created that will not break in email postings and never expires.

www.travelzoo.com – Another travel site that publishes offers from more than 600 advertisers and highlights the best deals anywhere!

http://www.youngestround.blogspot.com – Want to follow a real-life adventure story? Jessica Watson left her home in Australia last week and is attempting to become the youngest person to sail solo, nonstop and unassisted around the world.

www.zazzle.com – Like Etsy, Zazzle makes quality custom products, designed by “you.” Through its innovative on-demand retail and technology platform, users can instantly create, customize to fit their personal style, purchase and sell a near infinite array of products online. As an example, check out more of Sarah’s art: http://www.zazzle.com/pussreboots.

Do you have a favorite site that educates, amuses, or fattens your wallet? Post a comment and tell us about it.

www.thecapstonegrp.com

Those Annoying Words and Phrases

Are there certain expressions that are beginning to drive you crazy? Ones that are being used to death by everyone and his brother? Ones that you wish would just drop out of the lexicon? Well, you’re not alone.

A telephone survey conducted in August by Marist College of Poughkeepsie, NY and reported on by Michael Hill of the AP, (http://tinyurl.com/ycy66rr) asked 938 U.S. adults to indicate which, among five popular words or phrases, was most annoying. The results released last Wednesday revealed that “whatever” (pronounced “WHAT’-ehv-errr” when exasperated) won the dubious distinction of being most aggravating. As Hill notes, it can be an all-purpose argument-ender or a signal of apathy and is consistently disliked by Americans regardless of their race, gender, age, income or where they live.

Personally, I find a number of phrases to be particularly noxious. For example, “No problem.”  When did everyone stop saying “You’re welcome” or “My pleasure” in response to my “Thank you?” Were they anticipating that serving me WOULD be a problem in some way and mercifully it wasn’t?

Or, “out of the box.” Once upon a time, I really liked this phrase. It created a vivid mental picture. Now, it’s so overused that I vote we just throw the box away so that we don’t have to worry whether we’re in or out.

“In harm’s way” is another phrase jarring to my ears. This set of words, which comes from John Paul Jones, Revolutionary War naval hero (‘I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail FAST; for I intend to go in harm’s way”) is so overused by the media and such a watered down expression that we gloss over the fact that people really are in a dangerous place or situation and facing an imminent threat of death or maiming.

While I could go on and on about words that should be banned, I’d much rather share what some of you have said. Last week on Facebook, I asked friends and colleagues for their list of phrases that should be struck from our vocabulary. Here’s what they had to say in their own words:

Kelly – “It is, what it is” – My boss always says that and it bugs the heck out me.

Amanda – “It must have been meant to be.” As if we have no responsibility over our lives.

Sarah – I hate “pro-active” with a fiery passion.

David P. - “KUDOS!” I hate that word and it is over-used. I know someone who uses “It is what it is” to death. “I need to process this” is another annoying one. Oh, and “irregardless.” It’s used all the time and the word doesn’t exist.

Letel  - “Wrap our arms around it” eeeeee-gads!!!!

Bob – “Bring your dancing shoes” – Does every event advertising music, have to say this?

Tony – “Very unique” or “God never gives you more than you can handle” except for the people who died in the Holocaust or any other tragedy…

David K. – Very few things are truly “revolutionary,” “cutting edge,” or “state-of-the-art.” And yet they pop up in advertising constantly. Also annoying, a little, is the abbreviation, “LOL” which is used to death. ROTFL and LMAO at least have better imagery.

Scott – “That’s an excellent question.” It’s said in every interview.

Diane – “Been there, done that” really bugs me…. Especially when it is said in a snotty tone and an erratic movement of the person’s head!!!!!  Oh!! I forgot this one….”Believe You Me!!” What the hell does that mean anyway!!!

Want to weigh in with your “favorites?” Post a comment and let me know what drives YOU crazy.

www.thecapstonegrp.com

Scared Speechless?

The mind is a wonderful thing. It starts working the minute you’re born and never stops until you get up to speak in public. – Roscoe Drummond

At some point in your life, you’re going to have to give a speech. It may be in a work or public setting or something as “simple” as offering a toast at a wedding or anniversary celebration. If you’ve been on your feet in front of an audience dozens or hundreds of times, this post is not for you. But, if you know you might have to address a group of colleagues or strangers sometime in the future, and are scared speechless, read on.

A few months ago while sorting books at the library, I saw a title that intrigued me – On Speaking Well by Peggy Noonan (http://tinyurl.com/ntdpzj). For regular readers of this blog, you’ll know that Ms. Noonan is a favorite of mine and so I quickly snatched the book. And I was not disappointed. As another reviewer notes, “[she] is so good with words that I would read that book if I had no concern with speechmaking.” I agree completely.

Beginning with the Drummond quote, and ending with the notion of seeking inspiration through the excellence of others, this book is filled with advice and anecdotes about the writing and giving of speeches. It is witty and conversational, and you’ll feel like you’re getting counsel from a trusted friend. Parenthetically, if you happen to be a Reagan fan, there are also examples and case studies of this natural orator.

After a chapter about overcoming anxiety (hers and yours), Ms. Noonan provides three tips:

• Never speak for more than 20 minutes. As she notes, “The Gettysburg address went three minutes or so, the Sermon on the Mount hardly more.”
• Write out the text. No, you don’t have to read it, but it’s a terrific prop if you step onto stage and your mind suddenly goes blank.
• Start with humor, but make it appropriate. The most serious people in the world have used humor to put an audience at ease or drive home a point. (Have you heard the one about the old Irish priest who was walking by a boy who was trying to sell a bunch of kittens? “Catholic kittens,” the boy said. Smiling the priest went on his way. The next day, as he was walking by the same spot, the priest heard the boy shouting, “Protestant kittens.” Confused, the priest inquired, “Why were they Catholic yesterday and Protestant today?”  “Their eyes opened,” responded the lad.) Ok, I digress.

Sandwiched into 208 easy-to-read pages are numerous other examples and tips from how to develop your own authentic voice (or that of another if you’re writing for someone else), how to winnow your thoughts down to the essentials, and how to ace the all-important first paragraph.

Having covered nearly everything you’d want to know about how to write and deliver a speech, Ms. Noonan offers a few final suggestions:

• Always do Q&A
• Meet and greet your audience before (don’t skip the welcoming reception)
• Check out the mike and other props ahead of time
• Don’t worry about being slick and smooth – just be yourself

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Hacking My Way Through the Bog

I have loved to write, ever since I was able to pick up a pencil. I was that kid who thought, but knew better than to admit (since I did want to have friends), “Oh, boy! Three terms papers this semester!” There was something about the research, the discovery, the putting pen to paper. Now, of course, it’s fingers to keyboard, but the thrill’s the same.

Loving to do something, though, doesn’t mean it’s always easy.  Ask any great athlete or scientist or artist. Sometimes it’s just plain difficult. Like today. I made a commitment to post weekly and here it is Wednesday and I don’t have a clue what to write about.

So, I thought about how I’ve written in the past. I’ve been lucky. Most of the time, someone else has given me the subject. Interview this person or that and write a 500-word piece.. or find out about this new technology and prepare an article that our employees can understand.

For me, having a subject is always half the battle. I start by finding out everything I can about the topic. The Internet is certainly a vast improvement over the old card catalogue system. Any interesting and relevant tidbits I see are copied and pasted into a plain Word document. With re-writing and proper annotation, this gives me the body of my piece.

For example, there are probably thousands – maybe millions – of posts about writer’s block. Take Merlin Mann, who wrote, “I recently had occasion to do some…errr…research on writer’s block. Yeah, research. That’s what I was doing. Like a scientist. I found lots of great ideas to get unstuck and wrote the best ones on index cards.”

Mann explains one of his tips as follows: “Try freewriting – Sit down and write anything for an arbitrary period of time—say, 10 minutes to start. Don’t stop, no matter what. Cover the monitor with a manila folder if you have to. Keep writing, even if you know what you’re typing is gibberish, full of misspellings, and grammatically psychopathic. Get your hand moving and your brain will think it’s writing. Which it is. See?”

So, now that I’ve managed to write the middle of this piece, it’s simply a matter of the beginning and the end. Both are important. The beginning must grab the reader; while the end should make him (or her) happy to have persevered to the conclusion.

For beginnings and ends, I like to take a walk.. or a shower. Something about the fresh air or the rhythmic pounding of the water inspire me with stories or analogies. Working on the title is occasionally helpful. How can I describe what I’ll be writing about in just a few words?

As I sit here with wet hair, it struck me that sometimes writing is like a finely hewed knife slicing butter. Other times, it’s just hacking through an overgrown bog. Like today.

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A Recipe for Teamwork or Just Alphabet Soup?

Are you a member of a team? Unless you’re a hermit living in a cave, you’re undoubtedly part of a number of different groups – work, social, religious, family. Does everyone always see eye-to-eye? Probably not. That’s because each of us views the world a little differently.

Using the research of Carl Jung, Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers, a mother-daughter combo, developed an instrument to measure16 personality preferences, which they designated with letters, such as ISTP, INFJ, ESFP, ENFJ, and so forth. The initial questionnaire, designed during World War II, grew into the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), first published in 1962.

The duo described two ways a person can react on a set of four dimensions.

• Extraversion vs. Introversion (E or I) — how you interact with the world; where you prefer to focus your attention
• Sensation vs. iNtuition (S or N) — how you gather information; what you pay attention to
• Thinking vs. Feeling (T or F) — how you prefer to make decisions and reach conclusions
• Judging vs. Perceiving (J or P) — how you structure your thoughts and attitudes

For example, suppose you are an ESFP. The “E” means you like to talk out loud in meetings to build on your ideas, while the “S” suggests you prefer evidence to be presented first, before discussing broad issues. The “F” part of your personality makes you want to be personable and in agreement with others and the “P” implies you’ll postpone decisions while searching for all available options. Your team mate who is an INTP will be entirely different in his/her thinking and potentially a thorn in your side. And visa versa.

Knowing the personality traits of fellow team members can be a real enabler of teamwork. I have experienced this firsthand. A client of mine regularly employed Myers-Briggs to help strengthen its group dynamics. Before its strategic planning sessions each year, anyone new to the team would fill out the MBTI and have his/her results posted in one of the 16 squares.

With this updated team profile, members were better able to interact with each other. And, the process allowed for a “team profile” to be created. In the case of my client’s team, we were collectively an ESTJ, meaning we liked to share ideas, preferred a continuation of “what is” with just some fine tuning, used logical analysis to reach conclusions and concentrated on task completion.

If you’re reading this post and were a member of the team I am describing, you know how accurate this assessment was! You also know how much we accomplished because understanding each other promoted and fostered acceptance, laughter and occasionally, good-natured teasing.

To learn more, Myers-Briggs (http://www.myersbriggs.org/) has a comprehensive site. If you’re interested in taking the assessment yourself, there are a number of options. FaceBook has an application. I’d also suggest checking out Team Technology, online publishers of quality resources and articles, whose aim is to improve business performance through better teamwork. A free test for individuals and excellent examples of how to work and play well together are at http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/mmdi-re/mmdi-re.htm.

By way of full disclosure, I am a ENFJ…

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Hire the Write Stuff

Last week, Curt MacRae, of Human Transitions who offers GET TO WORKshops for unemployed, underemployed, and at-risk employees wrote an open letter to American business.  In his piece, published by www.examiner.com, he suggests that if companies want to change their culture and enhance their image, they should hire a journalist. 

As MacRae explains, “As newspapers, and broadcast journalism continue to cut jobs, like the rest of our world today, many journalists are searching for new careers…These professionals did not quit their jobs; their jobs quit on them.  Like many in the workplace, these writers, and their families, are shell-shocked, wondering if potential employers will place any value on the things they do best. Don’t underestimate that value.”

How can a journalist help? Here are just a few ways that MacRae suggests:

• Journalists will improve the writing, and the design of materials used in your organization. Everything begins to take on a more professional and polished look. 
• Writers have to be versed in a variety of subjects, and they have to take advantage of every tool available to complete their job and to impart knowledge of the subjects they write about.  Instead of “jack of all trades, master of none,” the journalist is often “jack of all trades, and master of many of them.” 
• Journalists are forced to learn quickly because each day they have new assignments, in areas where they may have very limited knowledge.  They also verify accuracy, because that’s what they are trained to do. 
• Most journalists also speak well; if you need good presentations, the journalist can not only develop and build the presentation, but give it as well.

I would also add that, in my experience, many writers are consummate strategic thinkers. Having spent years pulling stories together from multiple sources into a cohesive and logical “whole” requires the ability to ponder, reflect, deliberate and weigh – all traits that are necessary to imagine, and then develop, alternate future scenarios. A writer can be a valued member of your strategic planning team – not only write your plan, but be an important contributor of ideas and perspective.

Curt ends his open letter to business by saying, “P.S.  By the way, as coincidental as this may sound…I have written for years, mostly in a business environment…I have enhanced other companies’ images with my writing, and most coincidental of all, I’m looking for an interesting and challenging career change.”

Ditto for this writer.

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All ATwitter?

What good are 140 characters? Well, yesterday, they were enough to tell me that a new little member had joined our family. Welcome to the world Kayley Robin! Who would have imagined just a year or two ago that this microblogging service would change (again) how we interact as friends, family, colleagues, and perfect strangers?

Like all new forms of communication, this one has its early and enthusiastic adopters, while others scratch their heads and wonder what the heck a “tweet” is – or ponder just how (and how much) to get on board.

Social networking is the new buzz phrase on any marketing job posting. Recently, according to Bloomberg News, Best Buy Co., the world’s largest electronics retailer launched a customer-service team that will use Twitter Inc. to answer questions about products to help increase sales. Those seeking to join the team are required to have a Twitter account with 250 followers. Amazing!

And, yet, more than two-of three adults (69%) surveyed by a LinkedIn Research Network/Harris Poll and reported in the LA Times said they didn’t know enough about Twitter to comment on it. The minority of consumers who actually knew about Twitter were split on its effectiveness. Some said the short-messaging service would grow, and an equal number of respondents said it was just for kids. The remaining 8% are apparently too cool for the tweets, saying that Twitter is old news and that it’s time to find the next big thing.

Where do you stand on Twitter? Are you like a former colleague and now cyberpal of mine who writes on his Facebook page that “Notwithstanding the scattered stories I keep reading about businesses building their brands through Twitter — I’m still on the fence about its long term usefulness amid so many competing social networking applications all vying for my attention. Twitter in particular is turning into a real information overload pest. I feel I’m already at a saturation point and I’m a newbie. How much can a single brain take? It makes me long for the days of smoke signals and Western Union telegrams. One of the greatest improvements of recent times may have been the conversion from land-line to all wireless communications — but in no way did I believe this “change-over” would become an anchor weighing me down. On some days I want to replicate what you see in that Corona beer commercial — that is, to chuck my vibrating wireless into the ocean — spinning it with finesse like a rock skipping over water…”

Do you find yourself in a similar state of confusion? Or are you tweeting Twitter’s praises. Let me know.

www.thecapstonegrp.com

Power of the Pen

I’ve been reading Letters from Africa 1914-1931 by Isak Dinesen, which became the basis of the movie Out of Africa. This collection of thousands of letters between Baroness Karen Blixen and her family got me to thinking about the power of written correspondence. Most notably, these letters were saved – and saved long before anyone knew that Blixen, writing under her Dinesen pen name, would become an international success. They were kept and treasured for what they were – the chronicle of a life.

It seems that with today’s instant communication – email, IMs, Twitter, Facebook, cell phones – we have lost the richness of personal interaction. We are actually growing further apart, not closer. No waiting eagerly for days (or in Blixen’s case, months) for a response. No holding the sheet of paper in one’s hands that the author once held. No way to carefully place these missives in a box or bind together with a ribbon for a second, third, or fourth reading later.

While I’m speaking primarily of personal communication, many, including Lydia Ramsey, a business etiquette expert, are now writing and blogging about the handwritten note as a powerful business tool. As Ms. Ramsey remarks, “Handwritten notes have become almost extinct in the business world. So if you are looking for ways to stand out from the crowd, to be noticed by your colleagues and clients, try putting pen to paper whenever you have the slightest excuse.”

As the recipient of a note, one has the chance to save and savor the message. Positive comments from a phone conversation just don’t carry the same weight or recall. 

Ramsey suggests numerous occasions to get noticed with a note.

• You have received a gift
• You were a guest in someone’s home
• You were treated to a meal
• You received a business favor
• You are replying to an invitation
• You are sending condolences
• You want to offer congratulations
• You need to apologize

I would add, “after a job interview, to praise an employee’s extra efforts, after meeting someone new at a networking event…” The list is endless.

When’s the last time you put pen to paper?

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