October 2008

This month’s Ramble is totally Random.

• Signs From Above
• A Buffoon At Work
• Quality Behind The Bin
• Big Is Beautiful
• Fanatical Eagles
• Talking Bollocks
• Close The Sales Department!
• Belief And Determination
• Circulation Details
• And finally

Signs From Above

In last month’s Ramble we discovered that experiments have shown that removing the clutter of road signs from our streets, and allowing drivers to take responsibility for their own decision-making, results in reduced speed and fewer accidents.

It is good news then that the Government has taken this on board (who passed Random Ramblings on to Gordon?) and has ordered a countrywide review that may see many signs disappear from our streets. Now, if they could just follow the same approach with businesses, schools and hospitals and remove an unnecessary clutter of legislation, targets and tests …


A Buffoon At Work

I was having a light-hearted email exchange with Emma Jones of Enterprise Nation, which apparently amused her. So I offered my services as Court Jester to her organisation. A few days later I came across an item by Mike Southon of Beermat Entrepreneur fame. It explained how in times past the jester’s role was to make fun of the ruler, to bring them down to earth with buffoonery and simple wisdom.

Southon goes on to suggest that the jester was the forerunner of the management consultant. He says that successful, long-term entrepreneurs always have highly valued cornerstones and mentors who not only have important skills and experience, but also the personal leverage to make fun of the entrepreneur when necessary, to keep them grounded.

Anyone need a buffoon to help them? Not sure I’d want the job of Alan Sugar’s jester though!


Quality Behind The Bin

Recently I ordered a case of wine from Laithwaites. When it was delivered I was in the garden and didn’t hear the doorbell. The fallback instruction was to leave it at the side of the house out of sight. This was duly done, and the delivery person had taken the trouble to move the wheelie bin to provide additional visual security. It suggests that Laithwaites have taken care to outsource their deliveries to a quality organisation. Or perhaps the individual delivery person just cared about doing the job well. Either way, this small act enhanced the quality of the transaction for me.

Back in the eighties we had TQI – Total Quality Initiative. The aim was to get everyone to recognise that their role, whatever it might be, was vital to the success of the company. Total quality means exactly that, it has to go right through an organisation and its intermediaries, so every employee must be ‘up for it’. They will only do that if they are totally engaged in what the business is trying to achieve.

Peter Drucker, Austrian writer, management consultant and university professor said, “Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it.”

Would you and all of your team take the trouble that the delivery person did to ensure that the customer perceives that he or she is getting a total quality service?


Big Is Beautiful (not)

If you are an HBOS customer you may think that joining up with Lloyds TSB is a good thing. And in terms of bringing a bit of stability to financial markets, who would disagree. But do you really think that you will receive better customer service than previously? In fact, can you think of any large organisation that really offers exemplary customer service?

Having spent most of my working life in a big organisation I can understand why. However committed you are, it is difficult to feel that your individual contribution makes a REAL difference.

If you haven’t read it yet, Maverick by Brazilian businessman Ricardo Semler is a MUST read book. It explains how he instigated a system of workplace democracy that made all employees responsible for their own part of his company, Semco. It also tells how he has constantly sub-divided the organisation as it grew, so that no one element of the business grew so large as to be impersonal.

He admits that Semco does not pay the highest wages and yet it is recognised as a highly desirable place to work, with a waiting list of people seeking jobs.

Back in the July Ramble we looked at Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Right at the top of Maslow’s categories comes the so-called self-actualisation needs: realising personal potential, self-fulfilment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

Perhaps the opportunities given by Semco to achieve self-actualisation is one reason why salary levels are not seen as that important by its employees … and why the company has been phenomenally successful despite Brazil’s crazy economy.


Fanatical Eagles

If you should receive an email from Andrew Clarke of Eagle Web Solutions, you will note that the footer states: ‘FANATICAL SUPPORT’. Gosh, that ups the ante! With so many large organisations failing to offer good support and customer service, we now have small organisations that have moved from good, through excellent to fanatical!

I was reading an article by US sales expert Jeffrey Gitomer. He was talking about people of influence and said that they are ‘performers’; they are reliable and relentless until the job is done.

Fanatical and relentless are two good words to describe what it takes to succeed.


Talking Bollocks

I can’t wait to read Sir Richard Branson’s new book, Business Stripped Bare. It was from his earlier autobiography that I discovered that the origin of the word bollocks was not quite as I had believed. Apparently it was 18th century slang for a priest – don’t ask me why. It appears that parishioners were often not that impressed with the thoughts coming from the pulpit, hence the term talking bollocks. And on that subject, a couple of weeks back I was looking at the spec for a contract in the public sector. I was reminded of one of Victor Meldrew’s irascible outburst. "I'm sorry, what language are you talking in now? It appears to be bollocks." In this particular case it certainly wasn’t the straightforward English that I was taught at school.

Perhaps, my fellow Ramblers, we could all agree that we will converge to make a transformational change going forward with our communications, or as we might put it from now on, write and speak in simple English.

Dilwyn Scott, National Training Officer for the Association of Speakers Clubs (www.the-asc.org.uk) defines communication as, “The transfer of an idea from one mind to another.” When you are writing or speaking, are your words chosen carefully (and simply) to aid the transfer of your ideas to others, or are they just corporate bollocks?


Close The Sales Department!

Last month I mentioned the perils of the hard sell as opposed to developing a relationship with the customer/potential customer. Since then it seems that every article and business newsletter that has come my way is emphasising the point. The successful salesman is now more like a consultant who is working with the client to find ways to help them to develop and grow their business.

But there is another aspect. There is increasing emphasis on values. John Agate, a leading sales trainer says, “If our sales behaviour does not match the customers' values, then we will not get the sale.” The sales person is the main point of contact with the customer and is the key person through which a company can demonstrate its values to customers.

So perhaps it is time to close the sales department and open a customer development consultancy department.


Belief And Determination

“Whether you think you can or think you can't - you are right.” So said Henry Ford, the American bloke who made cars.

Why does Tottenham Hotspur keep losing? Because they expect to. Why did Hull manage to beat Arsenal at the Emirates and then win again against Spurs at White Hart Lane? Because it hadn’t crossed their minds that they couldn’t. Why does Liverpool keep winning despite not playing that well? Because they don’t give up – they believe that they will win.

The Serbian tennis player, Novan Djokovic, ranked third in the world, said that there is little difference in the ability of the top hundred men. What makes the difference is determination to succeed.

With every news bulletin being a litany of doom and gloom, how many business leaders believe that their businesses can win. How many have the determination to make it happen? Perhaps we should remind ourselves of an extract from a speech that Winston Churchill gave at Harrow School: “Never give in - never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in ...”

When the going gets tough it is the leaders job to inspire the team into believing that it can still win. If you don’t know how, just watch Steven Gerrard at Liverpool.


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And Finally

The fourth item in an Irish top three:
No.4 – You can’t have a fourth of three any more than you can have a Top Ten Priorities. Ten priorities = No priorities.

With acknowledgement to John Niland (www.success121.com).


Enjoy the month,

David