Category Archives: Consulting

January 28, 2019 · 3:11 pm

Slow Down

“Fail fast” has become one of the mantras of our age. The notion is that iterating fast failures will get us to the desired result faster than taking our time and seeking a more perfect answer. I agree that the perfect can be the enemy of the good and that at some point the cost of reducing variance and getting to the perfect far exceeds the benefits derived from actually getting there. But I’m not so sure that slowing down and taking a bit more time is a bad thing. Let me explain why.

People are deluged these days. Marketing messages overwhelm them. We don’t have 100 channels of entertainment nor even 1,000. There is an unlimited and expanding number of sources, both physical and digital, of entertainment. Walk into any supermarket and the product offerings in almost any category boggle the mind. Why is this a big deal? Because I don’t think you get a second chance. If you’re not solving a problem and creating value for the customer right out of the box, you’re dead. That means that you have to get it right the first time.

How many apps have you installed and removed from your phone because they didn’t meet your expectations the first time you opened the app? Was version 2.0 better? Who knows – they had their chance. How many new restaurants have you tried that were disappointing either in food or service and not returned? Did the menu evolve and new a manager show up to fix service? Who knows or cares – there are plenty of other options.

I’ve noticed it in a bad habit I have. My brain is often working too fast as I’m listening to people and I will often respond before I’ve listened to all the information they are trying to convey to me. I need to slow it down a bit so my first answer to them is the right answer and not something that I need to revise.

If you make things, do market research. If you write things, proofread them and put them aside to read them again in 5 minutes instead of hitting “send”. We all feel the time crunch and the need to get stuff done, but slow down a bit. Your results will be better and you’ll actually save time since you won’t need to do it all over again as more information changes your thinking. Make sense?

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Filed under Consulting, Helpful Hints, Reality checks, Thinking Aloud

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January 25, 2019 · 4:16 pm

Something To Talk About

I’m going to return to an old theme this Foodie Friday. I’ve written about how happy customers breed more happy customers but I came across a piece of food-related research that reinforced that message. Since I think it’s one of the most critical tenets in any business – food-related or not – I’m sharing it here today.

A recent survey by reservation platform SevenRooms found that more than half of American diners (54 percent) turn to friends and family for restaurant recommendations. About 30 percent consult review sites like Yelp, and 25 percent were influenced by something they saw on TV, according to the survey. About 35 percent of diners said they have eaten at a restaurant because they saw it on social media. Among those platforms, Facebook had the most influence (23 percent), with Instagram (10 percent), YouTube (9 percent) and Twitter (7 percent) far behind.

So word of mouth isn’t dead, and the way that one generates the best word of mouth is to create a memorably wonderful experience for the customer. I don’t believe that the restaurant industry is any different from any other in this regard. Let’s think for a moment about what that great experience really means. I think it means that the business provides an experience that distracts the customer from whatever else is on their minds. It provides a break and enjoyment. It gives the customer something to talk about afterward – something positive. It makes the customer feel that whatever they paid for the service or product they received they received better than fair value. Their expectations were exceeded. It’s the totality of the customer experience. It’s a combination of items offered but also the service quality in which those items are offered.

That’s the sort of stuff that people talk and write about. Have you ever left a business with the feeling that you couldn’t wait to tell someone about it? I have and those become the businesses with which I gladly spend a good deal of time and money. One small example from going out for breakfast this morning. The server greeted me and said, “coffee and a small container of milk for it, right?” She remembered that I can’t stand the little containers of non-diary creamer or half and half that many places – including hers – put out for coffee. A small thing but among the many reasons I keep going back and tell others to do the same.

What business has given you something positive to talk about? I spent a lot of this week telling you about some businesses that managed to do the opposite. It’s much more fun to write and talk about when businesses get it right don’t you think?

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January 16, 2019 · 2:40 pm

When Free Is $99

If you’ve not moved or bought a house recently, you are probably unfamiliar with the deluge of mail you receive for everything from supplemental mortgage insurance to yard services to security systems. The last time I bought a new place was in 1985 when it must have been a lot more difficult to pull together all the names and addresses of those people filing deeds or getting new mortgages. Apparently, it isn’t today.

One of the offers that showed up in the mailbox on Monday came from…well…I actually am not really sure from whom it came since there wasn’t a return address. It says it wants to welcome me to the neighborhood with a FREE OFFER! Of course, nothing in this world is free and this offer isn’t any different. The “free” security system will be installed with a $99 customer installation charge and the payment of $28 a month for monitoring. The free offer will only cost $435 the first year, and you have to sign a three-year agreement. Nice, right?  The fine print, which takes up a third of the second page, also mentions that labor charges might apply and that there are additional fees for various monitoring services beyond the basic. There are also limits on how many sensors you can get if your home isn’t prewired. Of course, it also comes with a $100 Visa gift card, so I got that working for me, which is nice.

This is yet another example of shady marketing. Sure, it’s a free offer in that the offer is free. The alarm and monitoring will run you thousands of dollars. The company behind it is called Protect Your Home and out of the 63 reviews for one location on Yelp, 59 are one-star reviews. There are complaints about being lied to by technicians, missed appointments, non-existent customer service, and even forged signatures. The BBB shows 1,630 complaints in the last three years. One can’t help but wonder why ADT, for whom they are an authorized reseller, doesn’t monitor how their brand is being marketed and serviced.

Trust is everything in marketing these days. A lot of fine print, unless it’s the sort of regulatory stuff the government makes you write as in a drug ad, is generally not a good indicator of trustworthiness. “Free” should really be free or the word should not be used. It sets an expectation which this company clearly doesn’t come close to meeting when the offer is broken down in detail. Honest marketing is one of the first steps to happy, satisfied, long-term customers. Beginning any relationship with a lie or half-truth really isn’t, is it?

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Filed under Consulting, Huh?

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