Dave Gardner’s “Thank God It’s Monday” 31MAY10

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

This week’s focus: customer service

“I’m sorry” sounds so hollow, so ubiquitous, and so incredibly easy to say that I am growing weary of hearing it. Companies need to put some action behind their business execution challenges.

If your process breaks down and a customer has an experience that is less than what they deserve, tell the customer what you are going to do to make sure no other customer is inconvenienced in the same way. Let dissatisfied customers know that you are going to do something to create a better experience for them and all others who touch that process.

That’s what customers want and need to hear if your company is to thrive!

[Note: You may read my entire Fast Company Expert Blog post here.]

Thought for the week:

“There is one thing which gives radiance to everything. It is the idea of something around the corner.” GK Chesterton

__

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

© 2010 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.

You can sue for any reason

A woman who fell asleep on a flight ended up spending 4 hours sleeping on a plane after it had landed and the crew left.  If it were me, I’d laugh it off.

But, not this particular woman–she’s looking for a “big payday” as a result of this incident.  From MSNBC’s website comes this:

PHILADELPHIA – The woman left sleeping for four hours on a United Express jet after landing in Philadelphia is suing United Airlines, the Detroit Free Press reported Thursday.

The lawyer of Ginger McGuire, 36, of Ferndale, Mich., said the lawsuit claims false imprisonment, infliction of emotional distress and negligence, the paper said.

Are you kidding me?  Ginger, I hope you realize not one dime for your trouble.

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

Dave Gardner’s “Thank God It’s Monday” 24MAY10

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

This week’s focus: branding

Take your customers to a place that they could never achieve or realize without you and they will never forget you.

Disney, FedEx, Ritz Carlton, Singapore Airlines, Cisco Systems all create experiences for customers that make them come back again and again wanting more.

What adjustments do you need to ensure your company thrives like these great companies?

Thought for the week:

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” Charles Dickens

__

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

© 2010 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.

Motivational speaker won’t give up

Some humor on a Friday afternoon:

Perhaps a few Tylenol are in order…

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

Toyota-Tesla joint venture announced

About 3:30 pm PDT today, I heard the fantastic news that:

• Toyota and Tesla Motors have formed a joint venture to produce electric vehicles
• The production will take place in Fremont, California
• It will utilize the production facility that closed on April 1, 2010, known as the NUMMI plant, a joint venture between GM and Toyota

This is very exciting.  When the NUMMI plant closed, it displaced 4,500 workers and had a negative impact on nearly 25,000 jobs through the supply chain, shipping, logistics, etc.

The NUMMI folks fought long and hard to save their jobs and did not prevail resulting in the closure of the last automotive manufacturing facility in California.

Well, no more.  Here is an article summarizing this news story.

The news could not be more welcome here in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Thank you Toyota and Tesla Motors for reaching an agreement that will stand to benefit thousands and thousands of people right here in my back yard.

Wahoo!

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

iPhone Leak Immensely Damaging to Apple

For a number of weeks, we have observed the drama unfold over Gizmodo’s buying a prototype iPhone and sharing details about it before its public release.

My take:  Gizmodo has, at a minimum, acted unethically and may have acted illegally.

Apple goes to extraordinary lengths to protect its intellectual property.   Gizmodo knows this.

Apple, like all high-tech consumer product companies, needs to manage the transition from one generation of product to another with great care. High tech companies do not want delay current customer purchases due to confirmed features about next-generation products.  Not only does this undermine the sale of current product inventories, but, it delays revenue.

What should Gizmodo have done?

Immediately return the iPhone to Apple with no investigative work on its own.  That’s would have been the “right thing to do.”  It would have been taking the “high road,” not the “low road.”  And, it would have shown Gizmodo respects it’s role in the industry, not made Gizmodo look like tabloid paparazzi.

If you find $10,000 of cash in a paper bag in a public place, you don’t keep it–you make every effort to try to reunite the money with the rightful owner.  That’s what Gizmodo should have done.

For Gizmodo’s reprehensible actions in this matter, I hereby enter Gizmodo in Gardner & Associates Consulting’s “Business Execution Hall of Shame.”

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

Dave Gardner’s “Thank God It’s Monday” 17MAY10

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

This week’s focus: business execution

Gridlock is prevalent in our world; it dominates the news. It almost seems “normal.”

Gridlock undermines progress on critical initiatives and impedes day-to-day business operations. Organizational gridlock often requires business process changes and, in some instances, new information technology.

The biggest contributor to organizational gridlock is a company’s culture which can be as toxic as the crude oil spewing from 5,000 below the surface in the Gulf of Mexico today.

[Note: Read my thoughts about this business execution failure and what needs to be done about it in my Fast Company Expert blog post.]

Businesses that thrive do not tolerate gridlock, are constantly on the lookout for gridlock, and take quick action to quash it.

Thought for the week:

The successful man is the one who finds out what is the matter with his business before his competitors do.” – Roy L. Smith

__

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

© 2010 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.

Self-Assessments: Configurable Products and Services

I have developed self-assessment tools for product manufacturers and service providers to look at their business execution for their customized offerings.

These tools can be used by individuals or in group meetings to understand the current state of the business.  They may identify gaps and could result in rather spirited debate if discussed at an executive staff meeting.

To access the PDF version of these self-assessments, please click the appropriate link below:

Configurable Product Self-Assessment

Configurable Service Self-Assessment

I would love to hear your reactions to these tools.  Please contact me via email at info (at) gardnerandassoc.com

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting

http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2010 Gardner & Associates Consulting

Dave Gardner’s “Thank God It’s Monday” 10MAY10

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

This week’s focus: business execution

Have you looked at the customer touch points in your business through the eyes of your customer?  Do you understand how your business works from their perspective?

Here’s an example in a recent blog post where this may not have been done.

Businesses that thrive understand it’s all about the customer and do things that enhance relationships with customers, not leave customers shaking their heads.

Thought for the week:

“You can’t motivate people. Demotivation, though, is easy.”

Dr. Guido Quelle, Managing Partner, Mandat Consulting Group

__

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

© 2010 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.

AT&T network is the worst

If I owned a smartphone, it would be an iPhone.  However, I can’t tolerate the network problems that I see with AT&T.  Now, there’s some empirical data to support my position:

This data comes from the this article.  The article is an interesting read!.

Here’s what I know about the AT&T network simply working with colleagues who are on that network:

• When I try to call a colleague on the AT&T network I am almost assured of not getting through to them when I call–80-90% of calls go to voicemail.
• Several months ago, I called my best friend and got the following message from AT&T:  “I’m sorry but we don’t have enough information to process your call–please enter the phone number you wish to reach.”  Well, I’m sorry, I speed dialed the number from my Verizon cell phone to my contact list as I was driving, would have to hang up my phone to look up the number…you get the idea.  I hung up.

I stopped in Radio Shack a.k.a. “The Shack” to pick something up the other day.  The salesman asked about my phone and wanted to know if I wanted to move from Verizon to AT&T.  When I told him “no,”  that I was a devout Verizon customer he said, “Look, they all have coverage pockets.”

The San Francisco Bay Area is an AT&T coverage pocket.  I’m not going to bet my business on AT&T’s cellular network.

Verizon: bring on the iPhone!

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

How do you price your pizza?

It’s 4 pm and I’ve got a 5:30 pm meeting at the house with my wife.  The light lunch I’d had a few hours earlier is wearing thin.

I’m thinking I’ll stop by Premier Pizza in Santa Clara on my way home and grab 4 different slices of pizza to go.  My wife is a vegetarian; my mother-in-law and I are both carnivores.  So, being able to mix and match different slices is appreciated.

Premier Pizza is a tremendous value at $3.75 per slice.  Here’s what happened in the store.

Me:  I’d like to get 4 slices of pizza to go.

Cashier:  I can only sell you 3 slices.  If you want a fourth, I’ll have to charge you for a whole pizza.

Me: Huh?

Cashier:  They are really big slices.  I can only sell you 3 slices.  If you want a 4^th, I have to charge you for a whole pizza.

Me: You’re kidding, right?

Cashier: No

Me: How much is a whole pizza?

Cashier:  About $20.

Me:  So, I can buy 3 slices for less than $12 but a forth slice is an additional $8?

Cashier:  Right.  Each slice is really big.

Me:  I’ll take 3 slices.  You realize I’m going to have to write a blog piece about this.

Cashier:  Okay.

But, the slices are really big.  Sure.  And, tasty, too.

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting

http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2010 Gardner & Associates Consulting All Rights Reserved

Dave Gardner’s “Thank God It’s Monday” 03MAY10

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

This week’s focus: enterprise information systems

An enterprise information system must never be your raison d’être—your business is your raison d’être.  You implement ERP, CRM, PLM and other enterprise information systems to improve your business execution.

If you fail to clearly identify your vision and the specific business outcomes ahead of starting an enterprise information system implementation, then it should come as no great surprise when your enterprise information system implementation misses the non-existent target.

To thrive, your must capture the essential business outcomes required for any enterprise information system before diving into implementation.

Thought for the week:

“Good business leaders create vision, articulate it, passionately own it and
relentlessly drive it to completion.”
Jack Welch

__

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

© 2010 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.