Wandering bankers, Virgins, corks, Minis and Hydras

Last week I was at meeting of Prince’s Trust volunteers. We were joined by a couple of bankers from one of the Trust’s major supporters, Royal Bank of Scotland/Nat West. Chatting over lunch they explained that they were trying to get out of the office more to visit clients. We had a brief discussion about the merits of ‘wandering about’. I commented that meeting and talking to people helps us all to understand issues better and it also helps to dispel commonly held stereotypical prejudices. Yes, despite recent bad publicity, bankers are not necessarily two headed Hydras! *

MBWB (Management By Wandering About) is practised by many successful business leaders. It is how they get to find out what is happening at grass roots level without the information being sanitised as it is passed up through the corporate hierarchy. It allows them to stay in touch with the front line. My friend Trevor Gay encountered a wonderful example of this recently when travelling on a Virgin train. He was talking to the buffet car attendant and playfully suggested that maybe it was a myth that Richard Branson made a point of talking to his staff. But no, apparently Sir Richard often travels by train and stops by for a coffee and a chat and apparently is much more approachable than the middle management.

That story in itself is illuminating. It often seems to be the case that enlightenment at the top doesn’t necessarily filter down through the management layers. Maybe there needs to be a corporate instruction that all managers must walk so many miles each day, and of course, stop to talk to different people on each walk. However, even this would need care in itself lest there be a perception that management have nothing much to do other than wander round chatting to people! Who said that management was easy!

In my 1st August Ramble I talked about change and how some products become obsolete because of new ideas or technology. Recently in France I had cause to ponder this again while sitting in the sun sipping a glass of wine. In the UK, more and more wine bottles are closed off with screw caps. Gradually the misplaced view that screw caps are only for cheap wine is being overcome. However, my research in French supermarkets suggests that the screw cap is non-existent there. Fortunately at least synthetic cork is increasingly replacing the natural product.

I have seen estimates of between 1 in 12 and 1 in 7 bottles where the wine has been spoiled by taint or other problems caused by the cork. Changing to synthetic material eliminates that problem but of course, a corkscrew is still required, and indeed, plastic corks can be very resistant to removal from the bottle. The obvious answer is the screw cap which requires no special tools to remove it and seals the bottle perfectly.

Unfortunately there are vested financial interests involved. Firstly the cork industry would be dramatically hit, and secondly, investment in corking machines would be written off and significant new investment required in screw cap machinery. In recent years the major cork producers have developed processes which are claimed to eliminate or reduce the problem of the wine being damaged by its closure.

From a consumer point of view there is only one sensible solution for closing wine bottles. The screw cap. It seals perfectly and is easy to remove. I am sure that there were similar debates and vested interests when the first calculators arrived to replace the slide rule or the word processor/PC took over from the typewriter. Replacing manual typewriters with electric ones was never going to be a successful approach in the face of the new technology.

Of course, some markets are more conservative than others. I have come across exactly the same bottle of wine in the UK and in Spain. In the UK it had a screw cap, in Spain a cork. Spain like France is more conservative than the UK. Different markets see things differently.

At one point in my motor industry career my responsibilities included the Mini – the original, not the overblown BMW version. Until we repositioned it to a more upmarket position, in the UK it was seen as cheap and cheerful transport. However, in France it was the height of Parisian chic for affluent middle class ladies. In Germany it was mainly the sporty Cooper version that was sold and in Japan things were taken to a different level. Here it was history, nostalgia, call it what you will, that the buyer craved. Indeed many had their brand new Minis stripped down and repainted in 60’s colours, then rebuilt with original style lights and other components.

Fundamentally the same product but viewed entirely differently in four different countries. These variations in perception and attitude present an intriguing challenge for product and marketing people and demonstrate the need to really understand the customer in each of your markets. Wandering about talking to customers as well as employees is highly recommended!

* Hydra update! Having checked on this Greek mythological monster I find that it actually had nine heads, but if you cut one off two new ones grew!

David Wike