Tag Archives: Strategic management

February 14, 2020 · 3:43 pm

Eating At The Bar

It’s Foodie Friday! As on most Friday nights, I’ll probably go out to dinner this evening, and since it’s Valentine’s Day, I’ll go early to make sure I get seated before the love birds on their twice a year dinner out clutter up one of my favorite restaurants.

I usually sit at the bar to eat at this place. Actually, I generally do that at most places since I find the service to be better. It’s also a lot more social and I’ve met some interesting characters who’ve become friends of a sort. At this place, I know the bartenders quite well and they make sure my glass is filled and the food is right. Truth be told, other than the burger, which is terrific, the food in this place is really nothing special. It’s all good but there are rarely specials and it’s sometimes a challenge to find something appealing on a very familiar menu. So why am I there so often? As it turns out, there’s a business point.

It comes down to the discussion between great customer experience vs. great product. I think CX, which you can interpret as service, wins much of the time. When I was in the corporate world, we worked with, among others, two very large tech companies. One provided superior products but their account people were dreadful. The other’s technology was good but not as good. Their account people, on the other hand, were the best. They anticipated our needs and addressed every issue we raised immediately. Do you want to guess which company was our favorite?

We found out that the first company paid their people bonuses based on sales while the second company paid based largely on customer satisfaction. This alignment of customer interests with company interests is exactly where any business needs to be. There is a famous Bain study that says 80% of companies think they provide superior customer experience, yet only 8% of those same companies’ customers think they get a great experience. Getting everyone’s interests aligned can help mitigate that.

I think we’re at the point where price and product mean way less than service and experience. Obviously, I wouldn’t let my love for the bartenders make up for inedible food or prices that were too expensive for the product delivered but the food is as good as any nearby competitor’s food, a meal costs about the same, and that’s good enough for me. Where do you come out on this?

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January 31, 2020 · 1:38 pm

It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Wing

Foodie Friday and one of America’s great food fests comes up on Sunday. Whether you’re watching The Super Bowl at home, at a party, or in a bar, there is probably an abundant amount of food around. One staple of football watching is the Buffalo Wing and they’re our topic today.

There is hardly a bar that doesn’t serve wings. That makes sense since they got their start in either a bar or restaurant (depending on which version of history you believe) in Buffalo, NY. The basic wing is deep-fried and tossed in a peppery sauce, but does anyone just eat basic wings? My buddy Barry owns a joint that sells 7 varieties of wings. Buffalo Wild Wings offers 25. Heck, even my favorite local tavern offers 10 varieties. But what those facts scream to me is that buffalo wings aren’t about wings at all: they’re about the sauce.

Think about it. Most places deep-fry the wings. When I make them at home, I dry-brine and bake them. I suppose you can broil them too. But does anyone really pay that much attention to the wing? Not really, unless it’s undercooked inside or has sat around so that the skin is chewy. Everyplace is after the same crisp product.

Where one wing shines over another is the sauce. The choice, and intensity, of the brand of hot sauce makes a difference. Dry rubs vs. sauce at all is a choice. We often get garlic and parmesan wings that feature nice chunks of garlic and grated cheese. Whatever your choice, there is a business point to be made.

What distinguishes most businesses is the sauce. Customers have expectations that the fundamental stuff such as basic customer service and a product that does what you claim it will are foundational – they’re the wing. It’s how you “sauce” the basics that makes all the difference. Just as with wings, the more ways you can do that the great the likelihood that you’ll allow the customer to find something that they love.

It really doesn’t mean a thing if you ain’t got that wing. The basics of business have to be sound before you worry about the sauce. That said, one thing I always ask consulting clients is what their special sauce is. It’s a question you should ask yourself about your business (and about yourself if you’re going to be job-hunting!). It’s the sauce that matters, after all.

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January 10, 2020 · 2:13 pm

Tasks And Experiences

Happy Foodie Friday! This article came into my news feed this morning. It’s about Walmart’s store of the future, where robots can fill grocery orders up to 10 times faster than humans. Pretty spiffy and it’s an interesting read, but it also got me thinking about a pretty important distinction about which I think you may want to ruminate.

When I go to the grocery store (every Thursday!), I have a list of things I want to buy. Most of the things on that list are there because I’ve planned out meals for the week and I need things to make those meals possible. It’s a pretty straightforward task. Other things are on the list because I use them in general and they’re on sale. Maybe I have a coupon that for them that is expiring. Maybe they’re on sale AND I have a coupon (can you feel the excitement?). Again, it’s pretty cut and dry – here’s the thing on the list, buy it and bring it home.

That’s really only half the trip, however. Inevitably, I find things to buy that aren’t on the list. I’ve found them as part of the shopping experience. Maybe it’s an unadvertised sale, maybe some local produce came in and looks spectacular. This is experience-oriented shopping versus the aforementioned task-oriented shopping.

Back to the article. It’s lovely that Walmart (and Amazon and others) are extremely efficient in servicing these orders, but they’re only serving the task-oriented shoppers. In-store discovery is impossible when there is no in-store experience. That’s why you always see “people who bought (the thing you’re buying) also bought (another thing).’ I think it’s also why Amazon is moving into physical stores, both through Whole Foods and their own “register-less” stores. Obviously, serving the task-oriented shopper is only half the battle.

I think it’s the same in other businesses.  Almost every business interacts with customers, partners, vendors, and employees in a task-oriented framework. When you stop and think about it, good businesses make sure there is an experience-oriented aspect to the relationship as well. What I mean is an experience that the participants can enjoy for its own sake and not as a means for accomplishing a task or achieving an extrinsic goal. Maybe it’s just drinks after work with no agenda. Maybe it’s a round of golf. All of my best business relationships had both task-oriented and experience-oriented aspects.

Think about how you interact with your customers. Is everything a task where items get ticked off a list or is there an experience that’s part of the relationship? How can you bring that balance?

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