April 1, 2016 · 9:40 am

Menu Madness

This Foodie Friday I want to talk about labels. It might sound as if we’re creeping dangerously close to politics in this post but my intent is to maintain a business perspective so please don’t get confused.

I started my business career working for a TV trade group, the Television Bureau of Advertising (TvB). I know that one of the great functions any trade group has is to help the membership with best practices as well as with advocacy. That’s why I’m a little confused about something that took place over the last couple of months. While there aren’t any overt fingerprints from a trade group on it, I’d be shocked if one or more of them wasn’t working behind the scenes.

You can read about this in detail here, but there is a provision in the Affordable Care Act that requires chain restaurants to:

  • Disclose, on menus and menu boards, the number of calories in an item as it is usually prepared and offered for sale;
  • Provide written nutrition information and nutrition claim information to consumers upon request;
  • Provide a “prominent, clear, and conspicuous statement” on menus and menu boards about the availability of the written nutrition information; and
  • Provide, on a sign adjacent to each food item, the number of calories in the item or per serving for self-service items and food on display.

Pretty consumer friendly in my opinion. After all, how can transparency and giving customers information about what they’re considering eating be a bad thing? Nevertheless, Congress passed a law as part of a spending bill to prohibit the FDA from using any funds to implement, administer, or enforce the final rule. Do any of you think your favorite Congress-critter woke up one morning and decided to do this on their own? Probably not. I’d guess one or more restaurant trade groups lobbied for this (and probably made a few donations along the way).

Yes, I get that it makes the restaurant chains involved incur expense. But it’s meant to improve consumer health and not to make the business’ lives easier. It reminds me of the papers pushed by the ANA with respect to ad blocking. Those were more about how to preserve ad opportunities and revenues than about fixing the problem that causes ad blocking in the first place.  Putting profits ahead of people – both those that buy from you and those that work for you – rarely is a good idea, at least in my book.  Yours?

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March 31, 2016 · 10:31 am

Eye Wanna Scream

I had an appointment with the eye doctor this morning.  It was a familiar experience, one that I wrote about 2.5 years ago in a post called Eye Yi Yi. Not a thing has changed – not the timing, not the staff ignoring patients and chatting over coffee, nothing.  I reread what I wrote then and it still applies.  I wish the doctor himself wasn’t one of the best eye docs in the state.  While the exam went longer this time, the principles haven’t. Great docs obviously don’t make great business experiences.  We can learn from this, however, no matter what our business might be!

Nothing like a bad customer experience with a medical professional to begin one’s day on a happy note!  OK, so I don’t wear sarcasm well, but it’s either snark or anger (it’s a fine line!) so I’m going with the former.  Let’s get your take.

English: A human eye after the pupil was dilat...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I generally schedule my medical appointments early.  In fact, I try to be the first appointment of the day if possible.  In theory (and today proves it’s JUST a theory), I should be able to get in and out quickly so the entire day isn’t disrupted.  As it turned out this morning, not so much.  However, it is a nice lesson on how not to treat your customers.

The doc opens up at 8 which is the time of my appointment.  I present myself on time, walk to the reception desk, and am greeted with…nothing.  Oh, the receptionist is there, but she’s arranging papers, printing out forms (and not the day’s calendar of appointments – that’s sitting in front of her), and generally doing her best to ignore me.  After a minute or so, there’s a mumbled “I’ll be right with you”.  Three minutes later (I only know because it was 5 after 8 when she spoke to me) I get a “yes?”  OK, so I get it’s a little weird that I’m noticing how long I’m waiting, but remember the premise:  first in, no waiting, out quickly.

I tell her “I’m Keith.”  “Last name?”  My immediate response:  “the schedule is right in front of you. How many people named Keith are scheduled to be here at 8?” stayed inside my brain while I told her.  “Have a seat.”  8:06

I know who is going to examine me and she’s right there in the office.  Chatting and drinking coffee.  For the next 10 minutes.  8:16 is when I was called into the exam room.  I don’t generally bill by the quarter-hour, but if I did, these folks would now owe me more than I’ll owe them for the appointment.  It was a 5-minute eye exam, and when I asked about some results she informed me she didn’t have my chart because the doctor had it at his house.  Oh.  But he’d be right in. OK.

5 minutes later, in walks the doctor, chartless.  Looks at the results of the exam, takes a quick look at my eyes, and says he’ll call me but if he doesn’t I should call him to discuss the results.  Visit over.

Here are my takeaways that I think apply to any business:

  • An appointment is something that’s binding on both you and your customer.  You expect them to be there on time, you need to be as well.  I totally get that people might be delayed due to traffic or other issues.  Which leads to the second point.
  • When you break the above agreement, a little apology is called for.  I got none.
  • The person greeting customers (and patients are customers!) needs to be personable and customer-focused.  Grumpy, even first thing in the morning, is never acceptable.
  • When you are not prepared, don’t put the onus on your customer to fix your mistake.  Not having the chart is your problem – don’t make it mine by asking me to call you.
  • Finally, no customer should ever leave your business angry.  Not ever.

Maybe I’m overreacting, but compare it to yesterday’s experience.  I walked in at the required time and within 5 minutes I was out of the waiting room (in the middle of the day in a busy office) and into an exam.  Well-run businesses are easy to spot!

That’s my take – what’s yours?

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March 29, 2016 · 11:06 am

Distracted

I read a lot of articles every day.  OK, the truth be told, I skim a lot of articles every day (usually over 1,000).  I read far fewer.  A few things struck  me as I rolled through my RSS reader this morning (I use Feedly).  The first is the repetitive nature of reporting.  Once something is said on one site it seems to show up within a few minutes on another.  The repetition isn’t limited to cross-site activity either.  Many sites will publish the same material again an hour after they first do so.  I’m not sure if they’re A/B testing headlines or what but to me, it’s just clutter and noise.

Another thing that struck me is the sensationalist nature of many of the headlines.  I totally understand the need to stand out in the cluttered media worlds through which my feed orbits, but there is a huge problem with it: distraction.  The headline might be screaming “fire” but as you dig into the article you inevitably find that it discusses the possibly of a fire if several unlikely scenarios occur.  The real issue for many of us is less about the time we waste reading the article than it is the repercussions that ensue from people who don’t.

Think about how often a higher up in your company or a client reads the headline (or worse yet, hears about it from someone else) and pings you for information.  Maybe it’s a chain of emails (each of which takes time to craft) or maybe it’s a phone call or two.  It’s a fire drill that takes time away from the things on which we should be focused.  They’re neither urgent nor important. They’re a distraction.

I don’t love the screaming headlines.  They lead to fire drills which lead to distracted, nervous businesspeople.  It’s a truism that we can’t chase everything nor solve every perceived or potential problem.  I try to scrape off the hype, find the facts, measure them against my current goals, strategies, and tactics.  At that point, I can either toss it (which is usually what happens) or update my thinking.  I don’t get distracted.  You?

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