How to Keep Customers Happy by Anticipating Their Needs
“There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.” - Roger Staubach, Heisman Trophy winning, MVP football player
Despite many different business models, philosophies, approaches and structures, sometimes companies forget the purpose of their main job. It’s not providing a product or a service: It’s the hope that you’ll solve a problem and make the life easier for the person at the other end of the transaction.
And they are hard to find.
The other day, I found myself in yet another conversation with people - who, like me, have a passion for performance cars and race tracks – about the challenge of finding someone to do work on one of my cars. Someone who does good work and delivers great service.
I was given the name of someone who had been recommended by someone else, who had been recommended by someone else. So, I called him out and boy, am I thrilled!
Why? Because this independent shop owner is an absolute delight to deal with. He answers all my questions, keeps me in the loop, and even sends me pictures of his progress. He may or may not be the best guy (I don’t know because he hasn’t completed the work, yet) but his level of service is amazing.
This guy has shown me that he takes full ownership of my problem, so I don’t have to think about it. And, to me, that’s incredible value. Someone else may be better or cheaper, but he makes my life easier because he’s so proactive.
And, even though I don’t have the final bill, yet, I’ve already referred others to him.
Scaling Up the Customer Experience
As a small shop, he may be able to do this more easily. But as a business gets bigger, how do you maintain that level of service?
“Unless you have 100% customer satisfaction, we must improve.” - Horst Schulze, Ritz Carlton co-founder
Organizations like the Ritz-Carlton, that generally charge a premium for what they offer, invest a lot of time and energy with continual staff training to not only be responsive to their customers, but to proactively expect what the customer might need and to offer it before they are asked.
This isn’t rocket science. In an ideal world, the customer should never have to ask.
The Challenge
- How good are you and your team at anticipating what your customers need - and being ahead of it?
- How could you, and those who interact with your customers, be one step ahead of what your customers want or need?
How Simple is Your Strategy?
“That's been one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” - Steve Jobs
Over the years, I’ve been fascinated by strategy development and execution. I used to think it was complicated – almost like a scientific formula or algorithm.
But I’ve learned from over 20-plus years of working with clients - and some of the best experts - that the best strategies are incredibly simple. In fact, if a strategy can’t be explained in 30 seconds, to someone who knows nothing about your business, you have work to do.
Many people like to talk about strategic thinking and get excited about ideas, but mastery is in thinking of simple things that give you an advantage, appeal to your customers, and focus on what makes your business highly effective and different.
In a recent discussion with a very smart executive, I was shown all these models of what they’d been working on, which they thought needed an hour to go through, with the team. I said that if they couldn’t cover it in 60 to 90 seconds, they weren’t ready, and I asked them to go back to the drawing board to boil it down – with my help, if needed.
The Right Model
Now the right model can be helpful in the strategic planning process. Here are a few we use:
- The Hedgehog and the Flywheel, developed by Jim Collins, is a great way to see where to focus and how to build the momentum to an uncontrollable, positive force. He wrote a new, very powerful monogram on this recently
- The Fourth Option by Kaihan Krippendorf offers four strategic ideas that are often overlooked but deserve time and attention to bring a strategy to life
- Blue Ocean Strategy gives you a visual strategy map in which you can clearly see how you uniquely deliver value to your customers and not get stuck being a commodity
- The Harvard Business Review article Can You Say What Your Strategy Is? shows a Venn diagram that really summarizes strategy - and I call it the most important slide you need to do and see to understand strategy
- Finally, Michael Porter’s The Five Forces you a good model to take an external view of your business and the changing, competitive forces shaping your industry.
You may already have a perfect strategy but if you can articulate it through one of these simple models, it’ll force you to be simpler and more understandable - and to stick to it.
And when it comes to execution, the One-Page Strategic Plan from the book Scaling Up (on which I was a key contributor) is a simple and powerful framework to bring any strategy to life - and quickly understand who on your team is great at execution and who may not be.
After all, if you can’t execute, there’s no point doing the strategy.
The Challenge
- Can you articulate your strategy in 30 to 60 to 90 seconds?
- Which of the models above would help you to refine then articulate your strategy?
If you want help to clarify or improve your strategy – or ensure its most effective execution - from someone on our well-versed team, let us know.
The Psychological Price of Entrepreneurship
“It’s not the heavy load that breaks you down. It’s the way you carry it.” - Lena Horne, Jazz Icon & Civil Rights Activist
I’ve had the great fortune to work with hundreds of great entrepreneurs and leaders of entrepreneurial companies - to have been a part of some amazing successes, and painful learning experiences.
I’ve been most fortunate to witness the real, behind-the-scenes stories of what it really takes to build these spectacular companies – the sacrifices of hard work, long hours, stress and strain. But it’s the mental toll that can almost or completely break people who build and lead them - which I often describe as “when things get weird” - that inspired me to write my book Your Oxygen Mask First.
Most leaders, with some frequency - every few years or decade or so - experience incredible metal strain which can turn into depression or anxiety, and/or manifest itself physically.
This is not a poplar topic of conversation – and certainly never mentioned when they give an acceptance speech for an award – even though it’s a common problem.
John Boitnott’s May 2019 article talks about a 2015 research study (Stanford, UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco) that shows that:
- Almost three-quarters of the entrepreneurial population suffers from some type of diagnosable mental health issue
- 72 percent experience mental health concerns and
- 49 percent experience chronic mental illness (including depression, bipolar disorder, and others).
The truth is that leaders face a higher risk for a mental health crisis and managing it is a must-have skill.
Warning signs
In Chapter 7 of my book - Manage Your Mental Health - I talk about the Mental Health Continuum Model (used by mental health organizations) which outlines behaviours at four different colour-coded levels: Healthy, Reacting, Injured and Ill (green, yellow, orange and red zones, respectively).
It’s a quick way to self-assess and to know when you’ve crossed from one threshold to the next.
Generally, some of the warning signs to note are:
- Regular problem sleeping
- Problems with thinking or behaviour
- Social withdrawal
- Relying on unhealthy mechanisms or addictions
- Not enjoying the highs
- Not able to bounce back from lows.
Mental health is a business issue because your performance as a leader will be affected when you are stressed, upset or lack resilience.
And there’s a simple solution:
- Pay attention
- Talk to someone – sooner than later
- Be proactive with your Resilience Rituals to keep you strong.
If you haven’t already done so, read and work through Chapter 3 Resilience Rituals to take care of your mind, body and spirit. When you stay true to them, you set yourself up to win, no matter what life throws at you.
Keeping mental issues to yourself and avoiding healthy changes can be debilitating to your wellbeing and to your business.
The Challenge
- Do a quick self-assessment using the Mental Health Continuum
- What zone are you in right now?
- What zone are you usually in?
- Where can you get help, if you need it?
Courageous Leadership
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” - Nelson Mandela
Leadership can be brutally hard. It constantly challenges you, increases your stress and often puts you in situations you may not know how to handle.
A good friend of mine said that leadership is really about courage – and I realized, talking to many successful CEOs, that they get comfortable being uncomfortable. They get used to the tough conversations, with taking risks, and with failure.
Courage is about taking risks. It’s about taking the high road when everyone else goes lower. It’s about confronting the brutal facts and doing things others don’t want to do. It’s about doing things you don’t want to do.
And courage is a mindset. It’s the lens through which you take risks, have tough conversation, stretch yourself and receive the punishment of being in a senior role. Through this lens, you can take on those challenges, and feel invigorated and proud of conquering them.
There is no ‘in-between’ with leadership - it either slowly destroys your life, or it forces you to get stronger. - Your Oxygen Mask First
In a difficult conversation I had recently, the person I was speaking with became angry and upset about a decision I made. Although I understood why they were upset and knew there would be short-term consequences, I knew it was the right decision.
Sometimes you have to have the courage to do what you know is right, even when it’s painful.
I’ve worked with leaders who don’t have courage. As a result, their business is filled with mediocrity – with their people and their customers’ experiences. And, they suffer personally with a business they hate or is eating them alive.
That’s why working with a coach, mentor or advisor is great. Sometimes you can borrow or rent courage from someone who is more comfortable or experienced than you.
It’s scary and challenging to work through big obstacles but, with courage, there’s always a way through.
The Challenge
- What issue do you, or someone on your team, have right now that you may deal with differently if you had the courage to tackle it directly?
- Where could you borrow or rent some courage, until you’ve found your own, to get the job done?
If we can help in any way, call us.
Understand The Changing Business Landscape - Stop Playing Office!
“One of the immutable patterns of history is the rise and fall of great powers. Those that survive are the ones that adapt as the world changes.” - Stephen Kinzer, Award-winning journalist/author
One of the phrases I often say to CEOs and executives is “Stop playing office”.
You may imagine a kid sitting at her dad’s desk, pretending she is running a company, but this is no game.
Time after time, I’ve seen CEOs and executives believe the same story: That you do business by being in the office - buried in meetings, analyzing spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations. That’s administering a business – not driving a business.
Get out, see your customers, talk to your employees, watch the competition in action.
I recently worked with a CEO whose business in another country was not performing well. After a series of lively debates, we agreed they would spend the next six weeks on the road, and at least half a day of most days, with their frontline people.
What they found was very different to what they thought should happen or had witnessed in a fly-by visit.
By being in the field - touching, feeling, listening and seeing - they realized a lot had changed from their original vision. There were many simple to basic to moderate things, that, once changed, made a notable impact on the performance of the business. It was clear that, and although their spreadsheets reflected their lack of expected performance, the time in the business showed them exactly why and how to fix the issues.
A Changing Business Landscape
During a recent visit to New York City with my daughter (such an amazing time!) I saw how quickly the world is changing. We visited three stores I’ve never heard of - and don’t exist in Canada - but this 14-year old knew exactly where she wanted to go.
She knew these brands intimately – through her friends in dance, and from YouTube and Instagram.
I was shocked that these stores seemed to be the busiest we visited in New York - full of teenaged girls, dragging their parents behind.
The first stop was DŌ, a place that sells raw cookie dough like others sell ice cream. (I had the original chocolate chip and it was amazing.) The girl beside us wore the identical backpack to my daughter that we had to hunt down at another store in New York. She also wore a necklace from Brandy Melville and I bet her makeup was Glossier, both of which were on our must-do list.
Glossier was packed inside, with a lineup of over 50 people on the sidewalk. They didn’t even have street-level frontage. A stairway led to a second-floor space humming with energy as young customers tried out an array of products. Orders are taken on an iPad and your bag arrives on a hanging conveyor belt system. My daughter had to stop at four different spots to get her picture taken – just like every other girl there who had seen the same photos on Instagram.
I enjoy a great retail experience and have worked with many retailers, but this was eye opening. Their business and marketing were delightful, and it was obvious why they were so successful with their young customers.
The world is changing, and if you want to be ahead of the curve – in any business - make sure you aren’t ‘playing office’ too much. Get out there to see how new entrepreneurs shape experiences their customers love. What’s happening on the front line is the best indicator.
The Challenge
- When was the last time you and you team spent more than 30 minutes on the front line of your business - and, ideally, with your customers?
- When did you and your team last spend time observing other innovative competitors?
- When did you last go on your own field trip, to any innovator’s space that appeals to your customers? To places you wouldn’t normally go that appeal to young customers who are half or a third your age?
Progress vs. Perfection: Minimum Viable Product Thinking
“The way to solve problems is to uncover them as you go and then pivot to meet them.” - Eric Reis, The Startup Way
Whether your organization is new or has been around for a couple generations, chances are you waste time driving for perfection.
It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about a physical product, a digital product or a presentation deck, people often try to make it perfect without asking for feedback while it’s still a work in progress. When you shoot for perfection first – to be a Most Valuable Player – you miss the opportunity to build it better in the first place - and to determine if there’s an audience who wants it.
It’s what I call the drive for presentation over performance.
Minimum Viable Product
It’s far better to shoot for a different kind of MVP: A Minimum Viable Product – to create a prototype of whatever you are making, specifically as a way to present your ideas. Way better than spending incredible amounts of time and money on something that may or may not see the light of day.
In The Startup Way, author Eric Ries describes a Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop – an incremental, iterative way of quickly and cost-effectively determining if an idea is viable.
This doesn’t have to be a complicated process. Here are a couple of quick examples:
- A client we work with wanted to build a new phone App. Instead of investing in building from scratch, we decided to gather and correlate the data from three existing apps to give us a new piece of information, and to test hypotheses. We quickly knew exactly what we needed to build and saved $200,000 in R&D in the process.
- My team recently needed quick turnaround on a new piece of collateral. Instead of spending hours creating what we thought could be a finished product, we quickly created an MVP using PowerPoint and a flow chart then ran it by the team leader. He provided feedback and only then did we invest time in design.
Your MVP can be as simple as a sketch on a napkin, and measuring (testing) can be as simple as asking questions - lots of them:
- “Is this what you had in mind?”
- “What do you mean by that?”
- “What works and what doesn’t?”
- “You want blue – what shade are you thinking of.”
In fact, asking the same question three different ways can help you to go deep, and then sit back while you hold the space for people to think and to speak. You’ll be amazed at the clarity you can uncover.
Of course, this may require a shift in how your organization currently works. As Reis sees it, innovation is no different from other traditional management practices. They are all rooted in a foundation of accountability, on which is added process, culture, and people.
Think of it as building a new muscle or skill set – it won’t be perfect the first time but then again, isn’t that the idea?
The Challenge
- What new product, service or important project are you working on now that could benefit from MVP thinking?
- What are the checkpoints that allow to you to iterate and recalibrate along the way – and then what is the MVP for each stage?
- What support do you need to try it?
Tim Schokking is a Coach and Strategic Planning Advisor at Lawrence & Co. Growth Advisors.