Dave Gardner’s “Thank God It’s Monday” 30JAN12

“Thank God It’s Monday” is to help companies thrive!

This week’s focus: value

A good friend heard her services are “expensive” by way of third-parties who have never worked with her. Her clients sing her high praises while the folks who could benefit from her services flounder.

If a product or service delivers exceptional value far beyond the investment required to acquire the product or service, is it expensive? Certainly not.

Value comes from the outcomes that flow from money invested. If the resulting value is small, then the price might indeed be “expensive.”

If the value is substantially greater than the investment required to gain the benefits of the product or service, is it expensive? No.

The people and companies that thrive base investment decisions on outputs or outcomes produced for money invested in products or services.

Thought for the week:

“Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.” - Edward de Bono

What do you think? I welcome your blog comments!

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Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting

http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2012 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

Note:  To receive an email version of “Thank God It’s Monday” to start your week, please subscribe here.  I would very much appreciate your suggesting to others that they subscribe.

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Dave Gardner’s “Thank God It’s Monday” 023JAN12

“Thank God It’s Monday” is to help companies thrive!

This week’s focus: customer experience

A colleague reports that, after hosting a session about the customer experience, some employees reported being “uncomfortable” with what they heard. My, oh my.

It can be eye-opening to look at things from a customer’s perspective. I recall Dell senior managers being a bit aghast at stories they heard from real customers when they hosted their first customer advisory panel meeting a few years ago. It hurt, but, they took action. And, Dell is a better company for having started the dialog and following through to close the gaps.

It’s okay for employees to be uncomfortable if it brings the perspective needed to help them interact more effectively with customers. It’s not okay to ignore what you’re hearing.

It’s what you do with the insights or perspectives you gain about your customer’s experiences that can help your company thrive.

Thought for the week:

“A true customer experience is holistic, placing the customer at the center of the corporate universe. It demands the integration of business processes, in which customer service, the call center, marketing, branding, product or service development, technology, manufacturing, and the other functions all work together to serve customers. The customer experience must be orchestrated across channels and touch points throughout the customer life cycle.”  The Customer Experience Edge by Reza Soudagar, Vinay Iyer, and Dr. Volker G. Hildebrand

What do you think? I welcome your blog comments!

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Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting

http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2012 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

Note:  To receive an email version of “Thank God It’s Monday” to start your week, please subscribe here.  I would very much appreciate your suggesting to others that they subscribe.

Privacy Statement:  Our subscriber lists are never rented, sold, or loaned to any other parties for any reason.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 Florida One Under Construction

This is an amazing video.  I’ve seen these plane fuselages traveling by train though Montana on their way to the state of Washington for final assembly.  Enjoy!

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

Dave Gardner’s “Thank God It’s Monday” 16JAN12

“Thank God It’s Monday” is to help companies thrive!

This week’s focus: business execution

The Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia disaster reminds us that, too often, we become cavalier about critically important things. Problems seldom materialize so we become complacent. “It won’t happen to us. This is just another routine flight or cruise or trip to the grocery store–it’s been done uneventfully thousands of times.”

After the cruise ship struck a reef this weekend, survivors report that there was utter chaos on the ship. News reports state:

• The passengers had not been briefed on what to do–the passenger safety briefing was scheduled for the second day at sea.
• The crew was ill-prepared to assist the passengers during this disaster and did not provide leadership at a time when it was needed most.
• It was reported a crew member did not know how to operate the life boat once it was in the water; a passenger took control of the vessel to get it to land.

We see business execution failures that should have prevented an accident in the first place being compounded by delayed disaster drills in the event of a need to evacuate the ship. Failure in these preventative measures created breakdowns in the contingent action: ship evacuation after the incident.

Had the crew ever done more than a chalk talk about what to do? Had they ever done full dress rehearsal? It doesn’t appear so. And, the result is that even though there are few casualties and deaths, this lack of preparation undermined the experience for all concerned.

A couple of years ago, I was on a Southwest Airlines flight headed to Las Vegas. The people in the front of the plane ingored the safety briefing. The festivities had already begun for them. As the flight attendant concluded, she said, “For those of you seated in the front of the aircraft who chose to ignore the safety briefing, good luck!”

Luck is not a preventative or contingent measure. Luck may occasionally work well in gambling, but, it won’t consistently help you thrive. And, it certainly won’t improve business execution.

Thought for the week:

“If you want to do something big in your life, you must remember that shyness is only in the mind,” she said. “If you think shy, you act shy. If you think confident, you act confident. Therefore never let shyness conquer your mind.” - Arfa Karim Randhawa, the Pakistani computer programming prodigy who became the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional at 9 years old. She passed away at the age of 16 this week.

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What do you think? I welcome your blog comments!

___

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting

http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2012 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

Note:  To receive an email version of “Thank God It’s Monday” to start your week, please subscribe here.  I would very much appreciate your suggesting to others that they subscribe.

Privacy Statement:  Our subscriber lists are never rented, sold, or loaned to any other parties for any reason.

Dave Gardner’s “Thank God It’s Monday” 09JAN12

“Thank God It’s Monday” is to help companies thrive!

This week’s focus: configurable products and services

Is it all about your company–the product or service provider–or all about your customer?

If it’s all about your company, watch out! Someone will come along who is better focused on the customer and take market share from you.

How can you tell if it’s all about you?

There’s friction in the marketplace between what your company offers and what your customers really want and expect from your company.

Friction will keep your company from thriving.

Thought for the week:

“Brands exist as a means of communicating what to expect from a product or service–or to highlight the family likeness between different products and services. An established brand on a new product is a guarantee that what you’re getting will be, in its own way, like something you’ve enjoyed before. “ - Sir Richard Branson, Business Stripped Bare

What do you think? I welcome your blog comments!

___

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting

http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2012 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

Note:  To receive an email version of “Thank God It’s Monday” to start your week, please subscribe here.  I would very much appreciate your suggesting to others that they subscribe.

Privacy Statement:  Our subscriber lists are never rented, sold, or loaned to any other parties for any reason.

Dave Gardner’s “Thank God It’s Monday” 02JAN12

“Thank God It’s Monday” is to help companies thrive!

This week’s focus: the social enterprise

How big are your company’s ears? Is your company listening to what’s being said in the world of social media? Can your company afford not to?

Verizon Wireless announced last week that it was going to charge a $2 per transaction “convenience fee” for paying a monthly bill via your phone, on Verizon’s website or via credit card/debit card not set up on a automatic payment basis. They would waive the fee for paying in Verizon store or via check. And, who was this deemed “convenient for?” I tweeted:

I love Verizon Wireless but $2 to pay my bill online or via my phone? This is insane. Do you think you’re BofA?

I wasn’t alone. Verizon heard loud and clear via thousands of social media messages that this “convenience fee” was dead on arrival with its customers. Charging a customer to pay their bill? Come on. Verizon–it appears you can hear us now and you wisely reversed course 24 hours later.

But, you don’t have to be a Verizon-size corporation to leverage social media. All companies that thrive have big ears.

[Note: Read my entire Forbes.com guest blog post here.]

Thought for the week:

“Success in business …isn’t about the resources you have. Its about the resourcefulness you possess! Resourcefulness is about figuring out how to make things work. It is the complete antithesis of simple resources. Resources are things that work for you. Resourcefulness, is about YOU making things happen.” - Rich Schefren

What do you think? I welcome your blog comments!

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Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting

http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2012 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

Note:  To receive an email version of “Thank God It’s Monday” to start your week, please subscribe here.  I would very much appreciate your suggesting to others that they subscribe.

Privacy Statement:  Our subscriber lists are never rented, sold, or loaned to any other parties for any reason.