Monthly Archives: April 2013

April 22, 2013 · 11:38 am

How Many, Not How

Mondays are no fun.  As you might know if you’ve been on the screed on a Monday, I spend most of my weekends when the ground isn’t covered with snow playing golf.

English: Golfing in Ontario golf course, Oregon.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mondays are the days when my obsession with the game (and my lack of golfing prowess) usually shows up here.  This Monday, it’s about a thought I had while I was playing in a tournament on Saturday.  I was playing on a team with a person who had clubs that were at least 10 years old.  Golf technology changes very rapidly, and his driver was the size of my five wood (meaning it was way smaller than any modern driver).  The shaft of the club was slightly bent down by the club head and I had no clue how he could hit the ball.

Hit the ball he did – some of our team’s best drives came off that club.  In fact, he hit some amazing shots both good and bad.  My favorite was a worm-burner that rolled and rolled and rolled maybe 150 yards until it stopped rolling 10 feet from the pin.  Which reminded me of the old golf adage “it’s not how, it’s how many” which is my business thought today as well.

It seems to me we spend a lot of time thinking about and discussing the tools we use in business just as there’s an equipment obsession in golf.  Those are really about the “how.”  No matter what tools you’re using, none of them matter if you’re not being consistent and clear about what you’re trying to do with them – the “how many.” It’s easy to get caught up processes and in so doing you miss a focus on achieving the real goal.   If you haven’t clarified the things you want to accomplish over time, there’s little chance of success.  The tool or app is less important than the way you use it.  The process isn’t the business.

We’ve all had bosses who focused on when a report was delivered and then never read it to see what was inside.  Woe be to those who missed a deadline, even if the work was crap.  That’s “how”, not “how many.”  Take an extra day and achieve perfection is my preference.  Hit one long and straight with a crooked driver.  Make a par with an awful shot that winds up next to the pin.  There are no pictures on the scorecard, folks.

You with me?

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April 19, 2013 · 9:23 am

Is Hospitality A Goner?

After a tough week, it’s finally Foodie Friday.

Andrew Zimmern before taping

Andrew Zimmern before taping (Photo credit: Lester Public Library)

I’ve written a lot about service and how I think that’s one of the most important aspects of any business in a time when many goods and services are being commoditized in most consumers’ minds.  That notion came up again yesterday during an “Ask Me Anything” with food writer Andrew Zimmern on Reddit.  He was asked the following and gave this answer:

Is there a current trend in food that you wish would go away?

[–]andrewzimmern[S]  Where to begin! I think one trend that is very noticeable in restaurants is less and less emphasis on service. I think that’s a horrible trend. Even at a hot dog stand, you want to be greeted.  The saddest trend is that the word hospitality is going extinct.

Exactly.  Hot dogs, to use his example, can be found everywhere from convenience stores to food trucks to specialty restaurants, and there are few foods that are more of a commodity item.  What ultimately gets people to choose your business to provide them, and to get the customers to return, is service – the biggest part of the relationship with the customer.

Over the years I ha the pleasure of working with the folks at Anheuser-Busch.  They had a very simple goal at the core of their marketing:  make friends with the customer.  Even today, when you distill their marketing down, it’s about making the brand a friend.  Service is what does that along with delivering the inherent brand promise – this is how our product makes your life better by fulfilling a need or want.

So that’s the question with which to end the week:  when was the last time your did a service check on your business?  Maybe it’s mystery shoppers or maybe it’s a survey but how are you checking, analyzing, and improving customer service?  Another great partner – Microsoft – bases a fair piece of their reps’ compensation on annual feedback from partners.  That’s a great notion – maybe one you might consider.

Zimmern called it hospitality.  I’m using the term service today.  Call it what you will, it’s the lifeblood of any business and while he thinks it’s becoming extinct, I think it’s the businesses that lose it that will be the ones leaving the scene.  What do you think?

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April 18, 2013 · 8:25 am

Is Streaming Hurting Traditional TV?

Once in a while a piece of research shows up that’s just confusing and such was the case the other day.  GfK Research has been doing annual surveys of network TV viewing for the past six years and the seventh iteration has produced some data that I can’t quite figure out.  Maybe you can help me.

Diagram of Streaming Multicast

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Over the last seven years:

the proportion of those who say they “expect to be able to watch my favorite shows on a device of my choice” has nearly doubled, from 19% in 2006 to 34% now. But those who watch network programs via streaming options are now more likely to say that this erodes their “traditional” viewing of the same shows. One in three (33%) report that they watch less “regular” TV as a result of streaming viewing, compared to one in four (24%) who say they watch more — a net differential of -9 percentage points.

In other words, viewers expect the networks to hand them the weapon with which the viewers murder the nets’ business.  After all, if they’re watching less, there are fewer eyeballs to sell.  It’s the old “trading analog dollars for digital dimes” argument.  But let’s turn to the man (Jeff Zucker, then of NBC, now of CNN) who made that argument and gain a bit of insight into the research:

“We believe in ubiquitous distribution, we want our content to be available everywhere,” Zucker said, also noting that “We’re not afraid to try things and stop them.”

He continued: “What we’ve lost in terms of viewers and ad dollars on the traditional analog systems is not being made up for on the digital side. Until we do that, there’s a risk to all our business plans,” said Zucker.

So actually, it seems that what the research is saying is not that interest in what the networks are airing is lessening – quite the contrary.  27% of those who use streaming or downloaded video now say that they “watch a greater number” of shows because of these options — more than double the 2006 figure of 12%. And 21% report that they spend more time watching TV content thanks to digital viewing options.  The problem seems to be with “regular” TV, which I assume means the program stream as offered by the network through your TV at specific times.  Survey results show 33% say they watch less traditional TV with streaming options, while 24% say they watch more.  As recently as 2008, GfK’s research showed that streaming options provided a net benefit to regular TV viewing; that year, the differential was +5 points, with 25% saying they watched more regular TV, while 20% said they watched less.

What all of this seems to mean is overall TV viewing isn’t declining.  The question for TV nets is how to derive as much revenue from streaming as traditional viewing. GfK also found 32% are visiting network sites via a mobile device so let’s put that inventory into the mix as well.  Maybe the research is a cry for sellers to do a better job of getting premium CPM’s for these measurable engaged viewers of the streams?  What do you think?

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