Practice The Art Of Managing Customer Involvement.

I watched a CEO and his retail manager discuss the idea to print out a simple suggestion request for customers to fill out.  They decided to keep the request simple.  They wanted to place the request on some tables where a few of their regular customers come into the retail store and have coffee.  Later, I picked up the note and read the request.  The request was a simple one.  It read, "What kinds of products would you like to see our retail store offer?"  Below that question were a few blank lines for the customers to use to fill in their answers.  Very simple.

I asked the manager a few days later, did you get any answers from the 'survey' you guys placed on the coffee tables?  He said, "No."

I was not surprised.  Customer involvement is not a practical process.  Success is simple.  It is the mind that is difficult.

To approach a customer in such a pragmatic, direct and impersonal fashion, such as this, is simply a part of projecting how insensitive we can become with our thinking process.  The survey request note had absolutely no indication how the customer was able to win by offering its expertise to the owners search for valuable information.  It was so simple it appeared as if it was a one-way road.  It appeared as if the request might easily have said, "Just give me some really good suggestions of some products I can sell to you and off I go."  Maybe it might have been nicer to say, "You are here so give me some suggestions...fill them out."

When my business model reaches the part of its production that requires me to write a note of request, given to my regular customers instead of sitting down and chatting honestly with them, I reveal to them how I have not been on the correct path of observation in the first place.  It shows.  Customers will immediately 'clam up' when they sense we are insensitive with our relationships.  Customers can make very keen observations when this is true.  Laying a request for suggestions on 'their' table in 'their' territory for 'them' to fill out is a rather insensitive move.  Missing this perspective is wrong on so many levels I am surprised a few short remarks were not made about the effort.  Managing customer involvement is an art, not a science.  To practice the art of customer involvement is to learn how to quietly know what they are looking for without putting them on the spot.  Customers want the spot light of their involvement to glow rather than being put immediately on the spot in the light.  There is a huge difference.

The request that was left on the table where the customers have their daily coffee was destined to fail.  It set a tone for failure.  I may have been the only one who was happy to hear that the request failed.  I was able to quietly confirm my suspicion for results and thereby be accurate with my expectation.  I was able to feed my ego and continue to increase my knowledge.  I could get all puffed up about being correct when no answers came in.  My last post on this blog cautioned us about practicing the art of allowing our ego's to get out of control.  Truly, nobody won this one.  There was no win, win situations developed with this kind of product survey.  Everybody lost.

Let me provide an example why this marketing request note failed with the regulars at the coffee table.  While this small 'product request' note was resting on the tables where the small group of coffee crowd congregates, I heard a little lady at the sales register tell one of the clerks, while she was paying for her purchase, that she wished this store would carry some organic garden seeds.  The clerk responded exactly as quoted, "We brought this seed line in last year and they nearly sold out.  They seem to be better than the line we carried before.  I planted some of their seeds last year and I think all of them came up!"  I stood quietly behind this exhibit of insensitivity and wondered, what?  Market insensitive responses set a tone of 'no support' from your customer base.  A better answer for the clerk to offer might be, "What brand of organic seeds have you seen that you like?"  Once the question is asked; shut up...take notes...and listen to the answer.  Tell that customer you would look into the possibility to examine that line of organic seeds.  Take her phone number down and call her when they come in.  Find out what particular plants she was interested in and if you do not secure the line for resales in your store, at the very least make sure you purchase those seeds where they are offered at another retailer and call her to tell her you at least found her seeds that she wanted.  You will not make any money when you practice this move.  However, you will win the heart of that customer who will increase their trade activities with your store.  Practice the art of managing customer involvement.  When you acquire the hearts of your customers in this way, you can ask them a simple question on a simple note like the one that failed on the coffee crowds table.  Your results will be different this time.  Your customers will get involved this time because you have proven you are involved in caring about how they are treated.  It was not the method that failed.  It was the art of projecting how much you cared that failed.  Do you see this difference?

A while later I had a chance to refer to the organic seed conversation with the register clerk.  I described a seed company that was very famous for producing organic seeds.  I shared how customers have become very active in trying to do more things in life that represent some form of organic living.  I also shared with this clerk how this same organic seed company was one of the only remaining producers of seed that do not genetically alter its seeds.  I shared with the clerk how I think customers would like that information more than the fact that the seeds are organic.  I shared how the seeds on display in 'our' store are good ones, unfortunately, they cannot satisfy the needs organic customers want to buy.  We should be the place where they can get organic seeds, also.  One one hand, this retail outfit placed a marketing request note on the table of the regular coffee crowd area, looking for new products to add to the store inventory.  Yet on the other hand, did not listen to a customer product request that came unsolicited at the sales counter.  The clerk missed this golden opportunity.  On the platter of 'free marketing advice' was a customer who was completely willing to share what they were willing to purchase in this store if the store was interested in selling something new to them.

To practice of the art of customer involvement is a philosophy, not a job task.  A business cannot produce a list of things it must follow and check off each day in order to become consumer driven.  A business cannot successfully pull off success in this fashion.  It will not work.  If you are trying to perform this type of consumer involvement approach, quit it.  It is not helping you very much.  In fact, I believe it is killing you more than you recognize.  Poor techniques are measured more seriously by the consumer than no technique at all.  Pay close attention to that statement.  It is a truism that can make or break your growth efforts.  Consumers do not notice 'no technique.'  They notice 'poor techniques'.  That concept should raise your eyebrows.  If you decide to practice a new concept for marketing, make sure you exhibit a good technique.  Otherwise, forget it.  You will be better off doing nothing as opposed to doing something very wrong and insensitive.

Are You Protecting Your Profits Or Your Ego?

The subconscious mind is a very powerful force.  It can dominate our thoughts without us discovering how it dominates us with ease.  We often times cannot hear what we are saying.  We often times cannot see how we are reacting.  The subconscious mind moves around in our lives even when we try to ignore it.  We can use our conscious mind to help control it and fail without noticing we failed.

The other day I was standing near our sales counter as two young men came to purchase a couple of small items each.  They were not traveling together.  The first young man in line was mentally challenged.  He is a regular customer.  He has a heart of gold.  The young man behind him was someone new, I have never seen him before.  As they were waiting to step up in line to check out, both were looking out of the glass double doors of our retail facility.  The first young man was chatting with the sales clerk as he moved slowly to the counter.  These two young men were the only two customers present at this time.

Outside the two glass entryway doors were two young ladies coming in.  We know them.  One was the mother of the young high school aged girl.  They are also regular customers to our store.  Just about the time the two guys at the sales counter were looking outside a heavy gust of wind blew a small windshield wiper mobile display rack over.  It blew over onto the mother of the two ladies just before they came into the store. One of the arms of the wiper blade display rack became caught up inside the medium low cut top of the mother when she walked by the rack.  It did not hurt her but did get tangled up momentarily in the top of her bra and sleeveless summer shirt.  She was also a well-built woman.  The two ladies had a good giggle outside as they both unhooked the arm of the wiper blade rack from the interesting landing on the woman outside.  The two guys inside the store noticed the 'quick-happening' event caused by the large gust of wind.  I witnessed the surprise, also.  Before the two ladies could enter the store, the first guy at the counter said, "Wow, did you see the wind blow that lady over onto the "rack" of that woman?"  Keep in mind, the first guy is truly mentally challenged and the second guy behind him in line did not know the first guy.  The first guys comment caught my attention, as well as the attention of the second guy in line.  The second guy in line began to giggle at the comment but tried hard to conceal his giggle.  It was obvious to me that he did not want to embarrass the mentally challenged young man.

Suddenly, the first guy turned to see why the guy behind him was laughing at the lady who got hit by the falling rack.  He almost gave the second guy a scowling look.  For a brief moment, the second guy noticed how the challenged first guy truly did not notice what he had just said.  The moment was priceless and completely innocent.  As if by magic, the challenged young man put two and two together and said to the second guy in line who was trying not to laugh, he said, "Wow, did I say it hit her rack?"  The mentally challenged young man was obviously embarrassed but began to laugh at himself out of control...and I mean out of control.  The whole experience was very funny.  It was one of those moments that did not need much more to happen in order for the laughter to explode.  The second guy in line began to laugh harder at how innocent the mentally challenged guy was and how much he was making fun of himself for noticing his slip of the tongue comment.  It was a priceless moment.  As I walked around the counter to go move the wiper blade display inside and see if the lady was fine, the two guys began laughing out of control.  They were both laughing in tears and both became embarrassed about the elevation of the event.  Both young men stepped away from the counter as the lady and her daughter started to come inside the store.

How Is Your Business Audit Trail Coming Along?

The I.R.S.

We have so much fear for them.  The minute they contact us we get nervous.  It is automatic.  We hate the idea of having to do an audit.  We hate audits.  We do not even do our own audits.  That is how much we hate them.

An audition is an evaluation.  Singers and dancers do it all of the time.  It is a way for us to examine the ability our business has and how much improvement we can employ in our business model.  An audit is not a negative process.  An audit is a form of audition.  It is an effort to improve the likelihood that our business model will bring more profits home to our own pockets.  That is not a bad thing to fear.  It is a good thing to promote.  I cannot see how that kind of thing can become so much of a thing to fear.  Yet it does.  We have become confused.  Confusion has set in so deeply we cannot see how audits can become something we perform on a regular basis, enthusiastically.  We cannot compute that kind of thinking.  We will rely on taking whatever profits 'happen' and refuse to audit our way into finding more to take home.  We get confused.

Yesterday one of our employees, a really good one, asked me how she can quit taking things so personal.  She wanted to know how some people can move about their daily business and never allow certain things to become so personal.  She said she has a tendency to take things so personal that it sometimes interferes with how she tries to relate well with her supervisors.  I paused for a moment.  First of all, why did she ask me this question?  Second of all, who might she be referring to?  Be careful when someone asks you a question.  Remember this...you are not always required to answer it.  It is not immoral, illegal nor unethical to avoid the answer.  You do not need to give an answer to every question you have been asked.  Learn to pause.  Discipline your self to pause when a question surfaces your way.  It is good leadership.  This time, I paused.

While I was pausing and when it was momentarily silent, as my eyes were looking around as if the answer was somewhere in the air above us, she continued on.  She described more about what was bothering her.  It was a good thing I did not quickly offer the answer that immediately came to my mind.  As she shared more, my first impression would have been way off target.  She was not talking about a supervisor.  She was talking about her mother!  Now I am puzzled.  How did I get into this loop of information flow?  How does whatever her mother did dominate how she should worry about her supervisor?  I am now convinced that I do not need to answer any of these questions.

Leaders become part of some circles of trust and do not even notice when it happens.  I did decide to give her a series of answers.  My first answer was a bit like you might expect from me, it was business-like.  I told her the reason why she takes things so personal is because she is living to close to her dreams.  She is operating each day side-by-side with her short term dreams.  The moment someone says anything that bumps up against those short term desires, it interferes with her daily goals.  When that happens, you have a tendency to take that kind of interference personal.  I told her that she needed a bigger dream.  She looked at me with the 'deer-in-the-headlight' look.  Her face said, "What?"

I raised my arm up and put my hand out as I pointed out into space.  Holding my hand out I said, "If you were to be able to look out into the future about 15 years from now, this moment we are having here right now would not be something you would even come close to being able to remember.  It will have become totally forgotten, fifteen years from now.  It would not matter worth a hick of beans.  You will not remember this conversation."  I kept pointing out into space.  I paused again.  She was still mystified.  Her head was tilted to one side and her eyebrows were frowned, her lip was raised up on one side.  She did not get it.  I tried again.  I pointed back up into space and said, "Fifteen years from now none of this stuff today will have any effect on your daily plans...none of it.  It will be totally irrelevant to the things you will need to be doing on that day, fifteen years forward.  None of this will matter."  I continued, "The reason that is true is because your current dreams are not big enough to take you fifteen years out there so you can prevent these little hiccups from becoming such a big shadow over the little goals you are trying to achieve."  I kept pointing out into space.  Her eyes got as big as baseballs.  Her mouth shifted into the shape of an "oh" sound.  She leaned back and said, "Wow."  I immediately said, "Your dreams are too tiny."  I continued again, "Someone says smack in a fit of conversation and we get turned upside down because they killed our immediate daily dreams.  Your immediate daily dreams do not link together enough to form a series of larger ones that can lead you toward bigger and better things in your life.  So you get overwhelmed with the small miniatures of life."  As I walked away I said, "Get a bigger dream!  Get out of the business of trying to hit your dreams today or tomorrow!"

As I walked away I heard her say, "Wow, I never looked at it that way?"

We get confused.

Don't Get Fooled, Customers Are Fickle.

We love trends.  Trends make us feel good.  We want to belong so bad that we will do some of the craziest things in our life to make sure we are accepted.  We will check out magazines to see what is happening with cooking, bathroom designs, fingernail polish, hair styles, Hollywood, new and up-coming colors for spring and even raw fish restaurant choices.  Trends are part of our quiet patterns for how we tend to move about in society.  It is a human foible that provides the marketing world with fodder for employment security.

What's more, each of us denies that we are moved by the most recent trends.  We believe we are truly drinking the most recent energy drink because it tastes good and offers us a short term boost of energy that we need.  We are convinced it has nothing to do with being part of a popular trend.  Although all trends eventually pass beyond their life expectancy like Air Jordan's used to be the best basketball shoe money could buy.  We may truly find ourselves smack dab in the middle of the fullness of a trend.  We may want to deny our involvement and do not want to believe we are capable of contributing certain parts of what makes that trend popular.  We want to believe we are the exception.  We want to be seen as individuals, not just like everybody else.  The truth remains, we are like everyone else.

I am writing a blog for business.  Millions are doing it.  It does not set me free nor provide my life with one of the great requirements for success and happiness.  It is a trend.  It is a trend that provides my inner self with some sense for being included in a society that wanders about finding all types of emotional glue that eventually holds our vast interests together in an acceptable pattern of understanding.  It is a trend.  I am a contributor to that trend.  All trends are fickle.  Don't get fooled.  I will not be writing a blog for business until I am 99.  This trend will change and I will change as well.  Trends are fickle.

Business owners who want to be successful for a very long time must get this truth down very well.  They must not fall in love with the Hula Hoop.  If you entered your business model making cinnamon rolls for gatherings and small business offices, you know what I mean.  Eventually, you need to add some chocolate and maple bars in order to survive the fickle move away from cinnamon rolls for awhile.  Trends can become a difficult moving target.  Not only are trends tough to identify for your business they are different from region to region.  I once attended a furniture market in Dallas, Texas and one evening we 'hit' the social strip checking out some of the more popular night clubs.  I was amazed to discover some of the clubs had a lot of their patrons wearing a single leather glove on their drink holding hand with the glove finger tops cut off.  You know the type of glove I am describing.  It was the tight leather motorcycle glove that has little breathing holes in its design with the finger tops missing so your fingers can feel and touch what they are holding.  I have never seen this trend happen anywhere else in my life.  I am also sure it is no longer happening there anymore.  Trends can be seasonal, regional, sectional, fashionable, driven by gender, by age, by industry and even political; but all of them are fickle.  They come and they go.

Zip Ties, Twisty Ties, Plastic Clips, Or Duct Tape, They All Work.

I was wrapping up a business project in Eastern Washington several years ago.  I had completed writing a business plan for a group of owners that had an idea to work together on a joint project.  One of those business owners was a very close business associate I met while I was managing another business model at another time.  He called out of the blue one day and shared some ideas with me about a joint venture he and some other business owners were interested in approaching.  Before they went any further with their joint business idea they wanted to get a road map made on how to pursue this project effectively.  They wanted to hire someone to write their plan of attack.  I was called and performed the work.

It was a long piece of travel for me and took me away from home for short periods of time.  Eventually, the project was completed in a written business plan.  They liked it and paid me.  I consider those two minimums a very good plus when I do work for anyone.  When the customer verbally expresses their satisfaction and then writes the check to cover the bill, these are two very good signs.  No business owner should be ashamed of producing these two minimums.  I have met many business owners who struggle with compliments as well as determining what they are worth by producing a fair but appropriate bill for services rendered.  Be fair in your business affairs, but be clear about what you are worth.  You cannot donate intelligence and experience every time you turn around and waste valuable time producing Pro-Bono work, especially while you are not able to meet your own personal debt obligations.  Lift your family and personal obligations up a little higher on the scale of responsibilities.  If you have a customer who wants you to provide expertise and valuable work for nothing, you do not have a customer...you have a friend.  Do not get confused.  Some customers will want to become your temporary friend in order to get 'free' professional advice.  That line is a very long line.  Do not spend all of your business time in that line.

What's more, they offered to take me out on a guided fishing trip down a famous trout and salmon pristine river run.  We met the guide, loaded the boat and they brought some well-prepared food and drinks.  It was a great day.  The weather was just fine.  It could have rained and I would not have noticed my dripping wet outfit.  Fortunately, it was perfect weather.  What a great day for fun.  These business owners knew how to work hard and play well.  I recommend it.

While we were in the drift boat resting, fishing, eating and drinking we had a lot of time to tell great stories.  Some of the funniest stories come alive on trips like this.  When the fun reaches its peak, one story has a great tendency to lead the way to the next story.  Each one better than the last.  After some deep laughter, the sounds seem to quiet down.  Peace arrives.  True enjoyment begins to surface.  After gliding about on the still waters for a little while, someone quietly says, "It don't get any better than this."  The beauty of nature begins to truly sink in.  Not a soul cares about catching any fish right now.  Five guys could easily fall asleep right now and never miss the world around them.  Heavenly.

If you work your business life hard and have discovered that you rarely find time to take in some of these great moments of joy, you are missing the whole purpose of doing what you do.  It ain't wrong to add a little ice cream to your cake of life.  Learn how to unwind once in awhile.  It is critical for your leadership development to find time to unhook and restore your soul with a little rest and relaxation.  It is one of the components to success.  Make sure it is on your list of 'to do' items.

As we almost fell asleep one of the business owners said, "All we need now is for one of these fish to bite our line."  Then a powerful series of comments came alive.  One owner asked all of the others to hold their lower lip in a particular way.  They all mocked the idea but some of them made the facial move.  After a series of facial moves, one of the other business owners said, "Why are we holding our lips this way?"  The original business owner who made the suggestion about moving the lip in a particular way said, "That is how my lip was when the last fish bit my line."  This led one of the other owners to suggest another unique trick to use.  Then another one had an idea.  Before long, everyone was doing some crazy moves to try to encourage the fish to bite.  The comedy was good.

Let's Move It

Every once in awhile something good happens to your daily plan.  Things just seem to fall in order and everything happens all at once.  There are days when a problem you have been working on just cannot seem to get off the ground and then all of the sudden, poof, it fixed itself.  There are not many days like this, but when they come along it is nice to have them show up.  I like them.  I want more of them to happen.  I like it when things are clicking.  I like crossing things off my 'to do' list.  It feels good.  It makes me feel excited about doing a lot more. I get that "let's move it" attitude going.  It is kind of like the old saying, "shoot when the ducks are flying."

Let's move it.

Cross 'em off!

Busy people like getting things done.  They become very agitated when they are not doing some productive stuff.  They like to do two things at once.  They can water the lawn, trim the garden, chat with the kids on the cell phone clearing up some plans for an up-coming family event and be performing some computer upgrades online...all at the same time.  Multi-tasking to get it all done!  They are in the groove with the attitude, "Let's move it!"

Productivity is the key focus when someone is in that kind of mood.  Let's move it!  Check 'em off!  Get 'er done!

Some days are just like that.  Tons of things are in the way and tons of things are getting moved about.  The energy level is high when someone gets into their day like this.  People next to them who have a low energy day tend to avoid sticking around.  The low energy people say things like, "obsessive-compulsive today, aren't you?"  "Wow, I have got to get out of here, you are driving me crazy."  Let's move it has an attitude.  It sings a busy tune.  It wants to get a lot of things done in a short period of time.  It is not interested in wasting time on anything.  It becomes a trail of destruction if you are on the list to be moved.  You will be moved.  You could be a messy desk, you will be cleaned.  You could be a dirty warehouse, you will be re-arranged.  You could be a slow computer, you will be upgraded.  You can be a casual employee wasting time, you will receive a list of new duties to complete.  "Let's move it" takes over.

I like to hire people who have the 'let's move it' attitude already built in.  They get more things done in each day.  They are more comfortable doing a lot of things in a short time period.  They are usually very busy people.  You will not usually get them to slow down and visit for a very long time.  The may stop for a short while, but it is apparent that they need to move on.  They have some things on their mind and they want to go get some things done.  The more you delay them, the more they get nervous about not getting done what they want to go get done.  I like to hire people like this.  When I meet people like this I pay closer attention to what they are doing for a living.  I try to watch what they do for work employment.  I want to see if they are happy doing what they are doing in their work environment.  I won't ask them, they will just lie to me.  I prefer to watch how they work and see if they are truly happy doing the work they are doing.

I might be subconsciously watching two or three of these kind of people at any one given time.  I do not usually go out of my way to check them out but I pay attention to the chance crossings that happen to reveal what they do with their employment.  Someday I might need to replace an employee.  I like to have a library of busy people in mind to make that replacement happen.  I like the 'let's move it' people.  I usually know who they are, where they work and how happy they are doing what they are doing.  I keep my subconscious mind moving in this type of direction.  I may need to hire someone soon so I want to make sure I have a list of busy people in mind to fill that position.

Do you know some people like this?  Do you know where they work?  Do you have a simple relationship established with them?  Have you become acquainted enough with them to be able to call them by their first name, and it does not appear strange?  "Hey, Kevin, what's happening?"  "Not much, what about you?"  Have you established a comfortable level of recognition with them?  If not, start building a library of people in your mind that can fit this type of profile.  Get to know who they are and where they work.  They usually will be employed, by the way.  That is a major tip.  Work on developing a list of acquaintances that fit this type of profile.  They become very productive workers.  They like to get a lot of things done.  They are the most happy when they have days that sound like, 'let's move it.'