Got a tip today about a new weekly blog post that Marshall Goldsmith is doing over at Harvard Business Online. Ask the Coach will feature Goldsmith’s answers to reader’s questions. Looks like a good one to subscribe to!
What do you give to your customers? Ever thought about it? Oh, I know you’ve thought about it…but have you ever really thought about the intangibles that you give them? And I know this doesn’t apply as obviously to all of us. But it does apply. It’s just something that’s not obvious. Here’s what I’m talking about:
What if we decided that we were going to give our customers the joy of discovering something new? Or what if we decided that we were going to give them
I was over at the Mavericks at Work blog today. Polly LaBarre, one of the authors of Mavericks at Work had a really insightful piece about Starbucks. Here’s the paragraph that really caught my attention:
"Sure, customers love a good deal, but what they love even more is
feeling like they’ve discovered something new. Increasingly, the best
brands are waking up to the fact that the way to establish an enduring
connection with customers is not to push their own stuff, but to act as
a host to a whole universe of stuff they think will click with people
based on shared values—to introduce them to new things, make them
smarter, help them feel more connected to the front edge of culture."
Or how about this one:
"Marketing is all about leading people down a path, but the tightest,
most passionate connections are forged when people discover something
on their own."
Interesting, don’t you think? Couldn’t we give our customers an intangible like that? Isn’t that what we should be aspiring to do? There’s a lot in this paragraph. Tons. But what if we could just do that one thing? Deliver on the idea of helping our customers experience the joy of discovering something new?
By the way, I still think Mavericks at Work is one of the best books out in a number of years. If you haven’t read it you should and you can pick it up right here.
Can you change on your own? Really? Can you really change without someone else being involved? I think for most of us the answer is "no". The truth is that most of us need the help of other people if we’re going to truly change. In fact, one of the main reasons that change is so difficult has to do with the fact that we’re all reluctant to involve anyone else!
You’ve got to take the step of including someone else if you want to change. Most of us realize that. Few of us take the step. Almost all of us wonder what would the other person need to do in order to help us change?
Marshall Goldsmith, author of What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, has a great Six Question Process for helping executives become better coaches…which is right on target for what we all need to be asked. Here are the questions:
Do you already have a set of questions that you’re asking? What are they? Would Goldsmith’s set help your organization take a next step?
There are two ways your organization can become unforgettable. You can under-promise and over-deliver. Or…you can do the opposite. In fact, if you only want to work with people one time…there’s no substitute for over-promising and under-delivering. How can we avoid that? My friend Mike Wagner has the prescription:
"Work long and hard to identify the right set of promises your ‘sweet
spot customer’ will call useful and unique. Then focus every ounce of
your organization’s energy on keeping those promises." Mike Wagner
Want to go there? I think we all do.
They’ve got a great series going over at Church Marketing Sucks. Don’t be fooled by the name. We all need this information. Lessons In Not Sucking is packed with great insights and ideas on how to improve your communication and creativity. Today’s post is all about Knowing Your Audience. We’ve talked quite a bit about knowing the mindset of your customer. This is a great take with some really good action steps. My favorite?
8. Observe their behavior.
This is the opposite of immersing yourself in what they do. Instead of
doing what they do, observe how they interact with what they do. See
what makes them cry, what makes them laugh. What scares them? What
moves them to action?
I think we all probably struggle here. It is tough to really put ourselves in the shoes of our audience or our customer. But without it…we’re never really going to reach them.
Be sure and check out the whole post. Good stuff.
I’ve been talking the last few days about getting to there (my word for vision). Wrestling with the issues that surround getting clarity about where you really are as the first step in the process. In a couple very insightful comments Anjuan spelled out his organization’s prescription of a 360 degree review as a way to identify the truth about the way things are followed by the development of an action plan designed to narrow the gap. What’s missing? Accountability on the implementation of the action plan. And there’s the rub.
Here’s the thing, as my friend Eric Swanson says, "You need to have a system that operationalizes your values. Otherwise, they’re really only sentiments."
First step, determine where you really are. Second step, begin to think about where you want to go. Third step, identify the values that you must embrace to get there. Fourth step, put in the systems that will operationalize the values that will get you to there. Otherwise, what you dream of being is only a sentiment.
I’ve been thinking about the process of getting to there (my way of talking about vision or the preferred future). In the last two weeks I’ve been wrestling with the idea of where am I really; aware that without an accurate understanding of the present my journey to the preferred future will be tougher (if not impossible).
Wrestling the present includes not only untangling false assumptions but also identifying the truth. What could that be? Your strengths, assets, reputation, capabilities, personality…all the things that add up to you. This is helpful whether you’re talking about your organization or you personally. Either way, clarity on the present must precede any planning to reach the preferred future.
An important step in the process is some kind of 360 degree review, feedback from "subordinates, peers, and managers in the organizational hierarchy". Ever gotten that kind of feedback? What format have you used?
