Customers Shape Your Success

In a Wall Street Journal blog post, What Your CEO Is Reading: Pepsi Embraces Design Thinking, Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi offers:

“In the past, user experience wasn’t part of our lexicon. Focusing on crunch, taste, and everything else now pushes up to rethink shape, packaging, form, and function,” she says. “We’re forcing the design thinking way back into the supply chain.”

Why isn’t every company–regardless of size–actively seeking feedback about customer experience?

Photo Credit: Efexio

Thought for the week:

 “You are not a team because you work together. You are a team because you trust, respect and care for each other.” @ValaAfshar on Twitter

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What do you think? I welcome your comments!

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

© 2015 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

Note:  This posting is based on my weekly “Thank God It’s Monday” that helps you and your company thrive! 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.

Criticality of Innovation

People diagnosed with certain serious medical maladies today are lucky that they didn’t weren’t diagnosed 5, 10 pr 20 years ago. Why? Innovation.

Constant innovation in medicine promotes better patient outcomes than were possible 5, 10 or 20 years ago.

Constant innovation means

• Not settling for treatments that have a certain efficacy today.
• Reducing the cost and healing time associated with treatments.

It’s also important to consider that some patient outcomes can be positively influenced by treatments outside what is often referred to as “Western medicine.” These treatments are commonly referred to as “alternative medicine.” Every course of treatment is really an alternative if you think about it that way.

Is your company driving innovation to improve customer outcomes? Or, are you focused on preserving the status quo while a more agile competitor catches you flat-footed and takes your market share?

Thought for the week:

“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” – Stephen Covey

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What do you think? I welcome your comments!

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

© 2015 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

Note:  This posting is based on my weekly “Thank God It’s Monday” that helps you and your company thrive! 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.

Attracting New Customers

 

I recently spoke with Dan Howard, a long-time friend and owner of DJ’s SCUBA Locker in the greater Chicago area. We met during a dive trip to Honduras back in the 1990’s. Dan’s business is thriving to the point he’s been able to leave the corporate world and focus on growing his SCUBA diving business.

While many SCUBA shops have failed in recent years as disposable income has dropped, Dan has focused not only on consumers but municipal entities that need support. He’s now the “go-to” guy in the Chicago area and is expanding his reach geographically. It’s what happens naturally when you are the “go-to” guy.

His competitors are continually grousing that “Dan took away my customers.” Really? Perhaps they gave them away.

Why don’t his competitors look at this appropriately: they couldn’t offer the service and value Dan’s customers wanted. They didn’t listen enough and take action to ensure they were the “go-to” SCUBA service center.

Word of mouth is powerful–I’m certain many are now Dan’s customers because of the strong endorsements he gets.

If you provide great service and a great customer experience, you, too, can be the “go-to” business like Dan and his wife, Cindy.

A Recent Blog Post You Might Enjoy

How To Take Stress Out Of Your Air Travel

Thought for the week:

“Nothing is more tiring than the task that is never started.” – Gretchen Rubin (@gretchenrubin)

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What do you think? I welcome your comments!

___

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

© 2015 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

Note:  This posting is based on my weekly “Thank God It’s Monday” that helps you and your company thrive! 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.

Kim Chambers Amazing Marathon Swim

The accomplishment of Kim Chambers is extraordinary. Here are some excerpts from a story in SFGate.com:

But in the world of extreme marathon swimming, the 30 miles of shark-infested waters between the Farallon Islands and San Francisco is the most difficult stretch to cross. Until today, only four people, all of them men, have accomplished this swim.

Kim Chambers made history this afternoon as the first woman to swim from the Farallones to San Francisco, reaching the Golden Gate Bridge in 17 hours and 12 minutes.

The 38-year-old San Francisco resident took a boat to the Farallones on Friday night and dove into the Pacific Ocean at 11:30 p.m., wearing only a swimsuit.

The sharks mentioned are Great White sharks. I don’t know how she was able to stave off hypothermia or overcome the concern about these great ocean predators. This is an incredible accomplishment.

Kim’s accomplishment is certainly a testament to the power of intention and training. And for that reason, I enter Kim in my Business Execution Hall of Fame.

Thought for the week:

“I’ve found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often.” – Brian Tracy

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What do you think? I welcome your comments!

___

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

© 2015 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

Note:  This posting is based on my weekly “Thank God It’s Monday” that helps you and your company thrive! 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.