The ‘That’s OK’ Economy

January 8, 2019 By Leave a Comment

 

I recently wrote about how companies can provide small, unexpected surprises, based on their normal business practices, to create ‘WOW!’ moments for their clients. Of course, the opposite is true at the other end of the client’s experience spectrum, when you ignore the impact of your daily interactions you can plunge your customers into head-shaking reactions.

 

 

Example

I was at a bakery to buy a loaf of sourdough bread (really good sourdough bread). I waited in a long line for about 15 minutes, an eternity in the right-now-reality of today. Part of the reason, of the three registers, only one was being manned despite the obvious backup of customers (the line was 12 deep). But, the bread was worth it. Even though I had to listen to the customers around me complain about the ridiculous wait, it was worth it. As my turn approached I asked for a loaf of sourdough, thickly sliced. She gave me a legitimate blank stare. I waited and then politely repeated my order. She turned to the racks of bread loaves and asked, “Which one is sourdough?”

Uh Oh! The one with the little beautifully calligraphic sign that said, you guessed it, sourdough. “Can I get it THICKLY sliced?” “Sure.” As she put the properly identified loaf into one of two slicers, I recognized that she put it in the thin slice machine. I said, “No, no, the thick slice machine.” She corrected me, “This IS the thick slice machine.” Though I don’t work for this purveyor of carbohydrates, I could tell by the width of the cutting template which machine was which, but too late to correct. The deed was done and I had a thinly sliced loaf of bread. Oh, by the way, it was the last loaf of sourdough. She apologized and I said, “That’s alright,” and went on my way.

 

 

Example

At the movies, I ordered a medium Diet Coke. That will be $4.11. I gave her a fiver and she counted out the change. She thanked me and said’ “I hope you enjoy the movie.” I stood there and she asked, “Would you like something else?” “No, but I would like my Diet Coke.” What? I gave you the money and you didn’t give me my Diet Coke, thus the transaction is incomplete. She looked at me blankly. We all, unfortunately, are getting used to that look. I politely waited for a reaction and receiving none, I repeated the order of events until she finally perceived that she had yet to complete the transaction. She passed over the drink and as I had a sip on the way to the theater discovered it was a regular coke. “That’s alright,” I figured.

 

 

 

What’s the Problem

We immediately retreat from our expectations into the realm of ‘that’s alright.’ Neither of these incidents was world-changing, but both were evidence of a lack of face to face attention. This spells a lack of training and it is the core reason for our commonplace low expectations. The basics are a big deal and the basics should be the basics. If it is client facing, it’s NOT basic, it’s fundamentally critical to your desired outcome. Front facing is the empirical identity of your brand.

Check out how you’re greeted by the front facing folks at Chick-Fil-A or the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award winning teams at Rudy’s BBQ (when you’re in Texas). They make you feel like family and they know their stuff because they are well trained.

We expect things to go wrong, for the service to breakdown, for the ‘that’s alright’ experience.

So, if you are looking for WOW moments, look no farther than how your phone is answered, how your receptionist greets someone entering your office, how well those that are your front line warriors represent YOU.  You know what’s important and you can stop the dipped shoulders of a customer saying, “THAT”S ALRIGHT!”

Filed Under: Blog, Consulting, Education Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Start with the Purpose and the Rest Will Follow.

December 13, 2018 By Leave a Comment

 

Let thy speech be better than silence.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus

 

He was a retired NBA superstar and took the stage to a huge round of applause.  It was exciting and I was jazzed. I love studying other speakers with the evil intent of stealing as much as possible.  I had my sketch pad ready and we were off to the races, or so I thought. In my notes, I wrote, what is he talking about?  What is the message? I had ten different ideas on what the purpose of the talk was, but even as he ended, I had no idea. It was a classic scatter-shooting, shotgun approach to content.  He had the public speaking chops, but the heart of the message was hidden in fluff. There was no real purpose to the presentation.

In 1974 we sent the first radio wave message into space.  It was called The Arecibo Interstellar Message. Its design and message were INTENTIONAL, PURPOSEFUL and SIMPLE – “we are here.”  Just in case anyone is looking, “we are here.” In a simple visual form it looked like this:

 

 

On November 4th of this year, a bunch of smart guys at MIT had a better idea.  If the core of the message is just “we are here” you should use lasers.  “If extraterrestrial life exists (see the Fermi Paradox – https://www.space.com/25325-fermi-paradox.html ) somewhere in our galaxy, we should use laser technology.  We can create a celestial front porch light.”

 

 

They knew what the purpose of the communication was.  They created their projects with a purpose at the core of their design.  The purpose of a message is at the heart of a great presentation.  What is the core message? Define it and embrace the message in a story and you have the fundamental beginnings of a well- crafted presentation.

Stage presentations, like stories, have a definable beginning, middle, and end, but without knowing the real and true message, the actual purpose of your actions, you may as well fire a shotgun and see where the pellets land.

Filed Under: Blog, Consulting, Leadership, Presentation, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

Committing to a Model of Innovation

September 22, 2016 By Leave a Comment

innovation

Last week, in an effort to feed the Netflix monkey on my back and having already exhausted so many of Netflix’s great original series, my wife and I stumbled upon a true gem. As a foodie, I’m fascinated by the creative process that takes place in the kitchen and was blown away by Noma: My Perfect nomaStorm. The documentary offers a unique peek into the internationally recognized Danish restaurant, Noma, its head chef Rene Redzepi, and the inner workings of a restaurant that has been voted #1 in the world for 4 years since 2010. It wasn’t that the movie was great (it was), or that the food looked amazing (it did), or that watching this film with my wife has cost me a future unknown fortune as she was insistent on a promise to take her there one day (the downside of Netflix and chill) that caught my interest. What was interesting was how Rene had developed and implemented a systemic approach to a culture of constant innovation and accountability.

At Noma, on Saturday nights, after 80-hour workweeks, and into the wee hours of the night  (after 2am), the hustle and bustle in their kitchen doesn’t seem to die down. You don’t see chefs and kitchen staff wandering out into the night looking for a drink to calm the nerves of a high-intensity night. Instead, eager and weary chefs gather for what has become a sacred saturday-night-projectsceremony, Saturday Night Projects.  At Saturday Night Projects one chef from each station in the kitchen is responsible for creating something new, a snack, a dish, an ingredient, or an idea, it really doesn’t matter as long as it is new, true to the chef, and pushes the limits of their current reality.  (oh and that it uses regionally specific Nordic ingredients which can be a problem as his chefs come from all over the world).

This process has opened the door for new and exciting food that consistently places Noma at the top of the restaurant charts year in and year out.  Creating a process that fosters creativity isn’t easy. If you look at the Saturday Night Projects now vs. what it was at its inception you wouldn’t recognize it because it’s changed quite a bit. So, what is the secret to Noma’s success? Well, in traditional Creative Ventures format I’ll break it down for you in three parts:

nextsteps

  1. Budget time for creativity: You have to intentionally etch out time in your schedule for innovation. Noma isn’t the only great example of creating a specific time for innovation, Google does a pretty good job too. They allow their employees to have one day a week dedicated to idea development, which has led to the success they have had with Google Maps, Gmail, and Froogle. Or look at 3M, arguably the most consistent innovator in business. They mandate that 15% of all engineers and scientists time is spent on a project that interests them, effectively giving them permission to be creative and harness their passions. It doesn’t matter whose model you follow, just that you create an environment that fosters innovation.
  2. Find the right fit for you: When Saturday Night Projects started each chef in the kitchen had to present something. Rene figured out rather quickly that having that many people create and present at the same time wasn’t an effective use of his time. What did he do? Quit? No, he adapted. He tweaked the model until it fit his restaurant and his staff. The lesson here is that if it doesn’t work at first it doesn’t mean that you should abandon the idea. Work on it until it not only meshes with your business and culture but also has some success.
  3. Repeat

What’s great about all of this is how Noma handles prototyping. We have preached in previous blogs and newsletters the importance of the prototype. We at Creative Ventures have experimented with our own models of innovation until we finally found the right fit for us. If you decide to make a prototype-review-refinecommitment to a culture of innovation you have to be prepared for the outcome, new ideas! Having a new idea is great but how do you share, test, and ultimately have success with launching something new? Over the years we’ve stolen some great ideas from companies who do this very well (yes its ok to steal good ideas, just ask Austin Kleon or read his book Steal Like an Artist) and have created a system we teach and share with our clients across the country.

Step One: Be Quick to Prototype – Take advantage of the energy that exists around a new project. Push your team to get something to the table. The prototype is just that, a prototype. Don’t waste time trying to perfect your idea, product, or process in this phase. Just create something. Refining it comes later.

Step Two: Prototype to Market – This can be the most tricky aspect of this whole process. How do you test your prototype? Do you test it internally? Do you test it on existing clients? There are a multitude of options for you to explore and find out what works best for your business but if you’re looking for great Printexample check out Nikes Innovation Kitchen. At their innovation facilities in they have the great benefit of mitigating the risk that comes along with new products by testing their gear on their sponsored athletes. Why is this great beyond having experts critique every aspect their product? It insulates them from the risk associated with consumer testing. Whatever model works best for your business make sure to capture all of the feedback.

Step Three: Final Product Launch – Take all of that feedback, analyze it, and implement changes. Make all the final adjustments needed, create a marketing and sales strategy, and execute.

Your business might be running smoothly today. Hell, it may continue to run smoothly for the next twelve months. But, a strategy that omits a commitment to growth and innovation leads to business stagnation. Whether you find inspiration from Noma, Nike, 3M, or some other innovator, what’s important is embracing and implementing your own innovation model. Commit to a process and hold your team accountable to its application. If you find yourself struggling in this endeavor, give us a call. We’d be happy to help.

Filed Under: Consulting, Education, Ideas

The Art of Expectation

July 7, 2015 By 1 Comment

Handshake 2

 What you say and do not mean, follows you close behind –  Ben Harper

“We can have someone come by your house between 1:00 PM and 4:00PM, does that work for you?”  There it is, an expectation contract.  It’s simple and agreed upon.  In fact, the service provider set the terms of this micro agreement.  You simply accepted.  A level of hope is now in place.

At 3:45 PM you are notified that your 4:00 PM outside time is not going to happen.  In fact, they now can’t be there until 6:00PM.  Does that work for you?  NO.  Since you have shattered my expectation contract can you tell me the new time I might expect someone?  Tomorrow, between 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM.  Welcome despair.  Why should I hold out any hope you might show up then?  I don’t trust you.

There you have it, a crushed engagement and a freefalling reputation.  All done in the blink of a non-caring eye.  There is nothing harder to reconstruct than broken trust.

 

Accountable 1

It happens all the time.  The meeting is scheduled for a 10:00 AM start time, but doesn’t get rolling until 10:15.  A conference call is scheduled that gets cancelled at the last minute.  A deadline is set and then moved back and back until its validity is about the same as a sasquatch sighting.  It’s  so often our experience that it has become the norm.  Did I really expect someone to show up between  1:00 and 4:00 PM?  Of course not.  I have been in this sinking expectation boat too many times to hold my breath for a timely knock on my door.  Sad but true and you know it.

A customer, team member, manager or leader should recognize the intense power that lies in setting, fulfilling or better yet (get ready) exceeding expectations.  Just think of the minimum.  You say something and then do it, just as you described.  Wahoo!!!!  I love that and that is just a smallest thing you SHOULD do.

 

Hand firing off confetti. Focus is on the cone. Confetti is blurry due to motion

If you can build the least amount of fulfilled expectation you have a reputation that can grow.  Clients are shocked.  You mean my car repair is done?  My 9:00 AM appointment is ready to roll?  I received my package on time?  You know the simple joy Amazon or Zappos creates when your order gets their AHEAD of schedule.  Heck, you are singing and dancing before the UPS guy gets back to his truck.  EXPECTATIONS.  Do the minimum to build to the next level.  Miss the minimum in your expectation agreement and guess what?  You are in constant recovery mode and you will be apologizing for the foreseeable future.  A business built on I’m sorry doesn’t stand a competitive chance at survival.

Before you commit to something, think of it as a contract between you and the other party.  You are the designer and implementer of this agreement.  Don’t make it lightly.  THINK.  Can you actually do what you just promised, because this agreement, this expectation contract, no matter its size, is a PROMISE.  It tests your word.

 

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One of the laws of Creative Ventures is that “speed should never outweigh thought.”  Speed is often the villain in this drama.  You think it is the master of expectations.  The faster the better.  You make promises based on your love affair with speed, but speed is the enemy of expectation.  We are horrible estimators.  We think we can do things we can’t and we promise those “cant’s” as expectations.  We build  our own traps and unfortunately our word and integrity  is the thing that gets caught.

Try this, slow down and think.  It sounds simple, but when speed is pushing your brain, slowing down seems impossible.  At Creative Ventures, after an initial project call, we often tell our clients that we need to think about the issue and provide a timeframe in which we will develop our initial ideas.  This allows us to really think and actually forces us to slow down.  We ask if this works for the client and then our integrity clock starts.  We have provided time for us to think and produce based on an agreed upon schedule.  It’s not about NOW, but instead about an agreed upon when, a when that allows us time to make it happen.

 

money

Accomplishing our commitment to our client is our gold and it should be yours too!

 

Filed Under: Consulting, Education, Ideas

What Do You Mean, You Won’t Take My Bag of Money?

June 25, 2015 By Leave a Comment

money

 

We live in the most competitive business environment the world has ever seen.  Capitalism has invaded cultures that had fought wars based on its evils.  From free trade coffee to banking, the consumer sits on the throne of choice.  With all of this common knowledge, why in the heck do companies continue to make it so damn hard to do business with them.

You know exactly what I’m talking about, phone trees where the discovery of an actual human is like the Goonies finding One Eyed Willies treasure, self serve registers at the store where the scanner recently thought my Honeycrisp apple (the Ribeye steak of the apple kingdom) was a box of Honeycrisp cereal, which then required a checker to fix the issue defeating the entire purpose of this business convenience .  There are doctor office visits where you have to fill out the same form EVERY TIME you visit, even though you haven’t changed your insurance carrier.  No, I still don’t have Restless Leg Syndrome.

 

Many of my blog posts are inspired by recent “real life” experiences and this is no exception.

Our Austin home, like a vast sea of others, was damaged during the recent floods and hail storms.  Our FANTASTIC insurance carrier sent out a wonderful adjustor who spent over 3 hours going over our home, noting damage that has missed our scrutiny and created a comprehensive insurance claim.  He even printed a check for the first half of the damage right there in his car.  Simple, powerful and elegant service.

The check was issued from the 3rd largest insurance company in the US and drawn on the largest bank  in the world.  When we went to our bank to deposit the check, they refused to take it as it was over the amount they accept when a check is issued for an insurance issue.  HUH?  WHAT?  I want to give you a bag of money and you don’t want it?  Aren’t you in the business of taking peoples money?  Look, if you’re worried, hold on to it and don’t honor it until it clears.  No worry on our part as the roofers won’t start for three weeks. You can play the float and send our money overseas to invest in short term rice futures.  They said; sorry, but it’s our policy.  We do all of our banking, personal and business at this bank and I would venture to say we’re great customers.  Still, no.  I asked our banking officer if I could talk to the manager.  He confirmed the policy to the point of turning his computer monitor around for me to read three pages of corporate speak.  I said, unless there is a car chase or a gun fight in that text, I have no interest in entering the apparently nonsense kingdom of your company.  I told them, that despite their wonderful attempt to explain their policy I would find it hard to continue doing business with them, when there are dozens of banks that would gladly take my bag of money.  I asked if I was the first person to suffer this baffling  policy and they said, no, with the size of the storms and the extent of the damage we have had a lot of similar encounters (you mean problems).  Yet, here I sit with no way out.  We will be establishing a new banking relationship.

 

 

I recently bought a car and wanted to pay cash.  Simple transaction.  There is the car, we agree on the price, here is the money and I should be saying “goodbye”, driving off in a new vehicle.  But, no, I had to wait for a series of forms to be completed and the finance guy toMoney 2 come out and visit with me.  HUH?  WHAT?  I don’t need the finance guy. I have a bag of money I want to give you for a car and you are in the business of taking money and giving people cars.   Yes, we know but he has a few additional forms.  30 minutes later, I was still sitting there, making small talk with the salesperson.  I took out my iPhone and set it for a 5 minute countdown and explained to the earnest salesperson, when this alarm goes off, I am walking out the door, because you see, I know the difference between want and need.  Miraculously, I was sitting in my car with 90 seconds to spare.

 

communication bad

It’s time for a change of perspective.  Instead of making it hard to do business with you, you should be making it hard for your clients to STOP doing business with you.  They should WANT to talk to you.  They should be a choir of praise.  Ask most clients why they LIKE doing business with you and your company and somewhere in their narrative they will say, “Mary makes it so easy.”   Look at your business processes and discover the LIKE formula, why do people really LIKE to do business with you?  Once defined, look for the advantage the LIKE’s give you and create strategic leverage.  People like our initial approach to projects.  After our first call, we create a storyboard that gives an overview of our ideas.  The client then can decide if our ideas fit their problem or opportunity.  Where are your LIKES?

I’ll bet it’s NEVER about how hard it is to give you my bag of money!

Filed Under: Consulting, Ideas

An Intentful Mind

October 24, 2014 By Leave a Comment

In our leadership program, The DNA of Success we have identified 11 key behavioral traits that connect directly to leadership success. We call these leadership DNA markers. Our Journal Entry for this edition is a focus on INTENT.

 

TO HAVE IN MIND A PURPOSE

 

Great leaders have a strong sense of INTENT in their approach to their responsibilities and future direction. Intent is about a direct mindset of aim and plan. It centers on discipline. Discipline in a world full of distractions.

 

There are over 4 billion business email accounts in the world, sending out almost 1.9 billion emails a day, making this electronic form of communication the most pervasive form of information exchange in history. How’s that for a distraction? The universe is filled with distractions that draw us away from INTENT. Our daily lives create collisions with commotions, disturbances, interferences and disruptions. , each fighting for our intention, each appearing to be in need of our attention. Throw just a few of these amidst, conference calls, meetings and our regular work and it doesn’t take long to see how critical INTENT is our leadership skill package. Strong leaders focus on the intent of outcome and make things happen.

 

THE PIXAR MINDSET OF INTENT

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Randy Nelson is the dean of Pixar University and an expert on INTENT. Here is just one example – The hiring process. It is easy to get carried away with the excitement of hiring new team members, but the right match of talent to position is the INTENT and at Pixar they don’t shy away from intent. They follow this formula – EVERY TIME (discipline):

 

  • They look for those who have failed and recovered. They believe this is the # 1 element in innovation.
  • They want someone who has mastered something, anything. If you can master one thing, your ability to master something else increases.
  • They want BIG knowledge as defined by a broad breath of experience and understanding.
  • We want great communicators who can translate the various ideas leading to intended outcome.

 

That’s it. , a simple, intentful and disciplined approach of a company that looks for leadership as an everyday skill set.

 

THE TRUE AIM

 

Have you ever watched an improvisational act? It appears that chaos is reigning supreme as the group bounces around from idea to idea. But improve is a process, not a thing. It has intent at its core. Though improvisation relies on a sense of creative freedom (think jazz) it follows rules that are designed for the INTENDED outcome. Here are the two core rules of story improve:

  1. Say “yes”. Motion is critical to success and accepting every offer moves an idea forward. No, stops an idea dead in its tracks.
  2. Make your partner look good. The idea is that even in conflict YOU do everything you can to make your partner successful

 

Improvement is about INTENT.

 

Even the uniquely American form of music, jazz, which is full of improvisational riffs, follows the idea of intent with a few rules (though jazz musicians would say they were “guidelines”).

 

  • When all else fails, play your improvisation to the melody.
  • 1 idea per chorus is enough.
  • Get underneath the soloist in the mix when playing a supporting role.

 

Here is a great example of Rule # 1 played to The Girl From Ipanema. The soloist becomes a momentary leader with intent.

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Click Image

 

Even jazz is about INTENT.

 

WANT SOME INTENT IDEAS?

  • Email – Try this one to two days a week – Don’t open any email until 12 noon. That’s right, no email until noon.   I know, your Pavlovian response to the ping of your computer calling will drive you crazy, but one to two days a week you can focus on the intent of your work and lead from a simple behavior that will provide you aim to your target.
  • Plan – Don’t be completely arbitrary in your pursuit of daily activities. Understand the desired outcome of your actions. If you have trouble defining your intent, perhaps you don’t need to be involved in that activity.
  • Wildly Important – Try this, take a look at all of your “to do” list and create just ONE category – Wildly Important. Don’t cheat. Not everything is wildly important. Place no more than three items in the new wildly important column and don’t take a call, don’t open email, don’t get a donut, don’t do anything until the 1 -3 wildly important items are done. That’s INTENT.
Filed Under: Consulting, Uncategorized

It’s That Time . . . . Again!

September 30, 2014 By Leave a Comment

Autumn background

The temperature’s are getting cooler and the days are showing the tell tale signs of getting shorter.  The leaves are changing color (even here in Texas) and it’s that time of year again  –  PLANNING TIME.  Yep, the time companies across the country start the strategic process of developing plans that won’t work.  You may not know this, but corporate America is horrible at plan execution.  Oh, their not bad at the thinking process of planning, but they are HORRIBLE at the leadership element of executing those brilliantly thought out plans.  Don’t believe me?  Forbes Magazine recently quoted studies that showed only 3%, YES, 3% of executives say they are successful at executing their strategic plans and 1/3 say their plans never make it into any operational impact.  Despite this, we will once again, with the changing seasons, embark upon following processes that have traditionally failed.  If you are interested in breaking this seasonal cycle of futility, here are a few suggestions:

  • MORE IS NOT BETTER:  It may be good to super size your Dr. Pepper at the movies, but creating large and complex strategic plans are almost guaranteed to fail.  Follow this rule; more is not better and better is not BEST.  Simplify both your planning process and its outcome to create impact.  Three (yes 3!) accomplished goals are way better than 5 incomplete strategies.  Look for your best plans and do those that will create impact.

 

  • VACUUMS ARE ONLY FUN IN PHYSICS:  Create a planning process of inclusion.  When I am involved in an idea I am enrolled.  When the idea is dumped on me, the best you will get in buy-in.  If I am accountable for execution, I want a piece of the planning process.

 

  • HOW AM I DOING?:  Plans suffer slow deaths when communication dies.  Design communication plans as part of your strategic planning process.  Create open and regular channels of contact and interaction that keeps the goals top of mind.  Most people leave strategic planning meetings and go straight to working their jobs, they don’t start implementing.  Help them by keep them in a regular loop of talking.  We use a HUDDLE strategy that involves 5 minute Skype meetings Monday through Thursday.  The plan is worked EVERYDAY.

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Heck, this is just a blog and I know it is crazy to think this short little opinion will crack the pattern of bad execution, but our work on our Elegant Simplicity planning process has helped lots of our clients.  So, start small with something new, don’t return to the desolate land of poor execution!

Filed Under: Consulting, Ideas

Control Your Client Experience!

June 12, 2014 By Leave a Comment

When you talk about an extraordinary client experience, you probably wouldn’t think of Texas BBQ. But, right there, in the Lone Star states number one form of cuisine you will find two time winner of the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for customer service, Rudy’s! The idea that a BBQ joint could join winners such as The Ritz Carlton and Xerox seems absurd, but an almost manic commitment to the idea that friendly people and a fantastic product can create a dynamic and unique client experience has positioned Rudy’s as a must visit eatery.

Rudys

Ken Schiller and Brian Nolen opened the first Rudy’s in 1994 and went from a small gas station BBQ place to having over 400 employees and from $2 million to over $60 million in annual sales. As they grew they knew the incredible commitment it would take to maintain that small friendly atmosphere from the original restaurant. They follow a simple and powerful formula. 

How did a BBQ joint join the likes of the Ritz Carlton?

  • Keep Employees Happy – Happy employees translates to happy customers.
  • Train to a Desired Outcome – Yeah, it costs money to continually train, but the outcome is worth it EVERY TIME. EVERYONE gets 40 hours of training around their client experience and new managers receive 10 weeks of specific education around their responsibilities. 
  • You Are Accountable For Our Product and Our Service – PERIOD. Teams are graded weekly and fast feedback leads to effective coaching. 

The idea of a commitment to a great client experience is not reserved for the big corporate players, but is instead the playground of quality for EVERY business on the planet. 

It’s time to take control of YOUR client experience and create something that will separate and differentiate you from your competition. 

There are thousands of BBQ places in Texas, but there is only ONE Rudy’s.

Filed Under: Consulting Tagged With: ,

The Power of “Front of Store”

August 7, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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The ability to focus on the small, but important things seems to be slipping away from companies and organizations.  Let me give you a quick example – Front of Store.  This phrase refers to the first contact between a provider and a client. What impact does your initial engagement have?   It can be architectural.  This deals with your “curb appeal.”  During a recent walk through of a clients office I had them enter the building and stop to look around.  There were old announcements taped to the entry doors.  The front desk was cluttered with marketing material to the point that you could barely see the receptionist.  Bad “front of store“.  It can be how you answer your phone – “Good morning, Johnson and Son’s, where service is our first priority.  This is Terri.  How may I direct your call?”  By now I’ve forgotten why I have called.  Do you realize the number of clients and POTENTIAL clients that make their very first contact via the phone?  According to USA Today it’s over 72%!  It can be face to face.  I recently rented a car in Salt Lake City and the counter person NEVER ONCE made eye contact with me.  It was like I was invisible.  Laura and I were in Colorado and ate at the same restaurant three times.  Sure the food was good but EVERYONE that helped us was so friendly they literally drew us back time and time again.  Front of Store can be EVERYTHING that touches your clients.  When one piece falls out of whack, the potential for first impression disasters is magnified.

You all love doing business with certain companies, because they make you feel welcomed.  Guess what, GREAT FRONT OF STORE!

Bottom line – provide strategic focus on the critical nature of “Front of Store.”  Spend resources and concentrated attention on every aspect and potential aspect of client contact.  Review everything.  Invite someone unfamiliar with your business to make first contact.  Have them call, stop by and email the company.  See what they think.  Do a critical walk-thru of your offices.

Hey, I promise, it’s time and money well spent!

Filed Under: Consulting