November 2009

This month we ponder on the challenges of dealing with foreigners, sheep … and the boss.

• Authentic?
• Lost In Translation
• Twitterings
• Packaging
• Location, Location, Location
• Get Out Of The Box
• We Like Sheep
• Subscribe
• And Finally

Authentic?

What does authentic mean? I was listening to an ‘original’ recording of Maria Callas. Original in that modern technology hasn’t been applied to ‘clean up’. The result is a sound that has so much snap, crackle and pop that it is unimaginable to the I-Pod generation. But is it authentic when I’m listening to it on CD? For all I know they may even have added a bit more crackling to make it sound ‘original’.

A few years back I was talking to a French musician who had heard Callas making her final performance in Paris. She was way past her best and yet she still had an extraordinary charisma according to Michel. Maybe authentic is when the appeal is still there even when the world has moved on. Another word often used is ‘iconic’.


Lost In Translation

Now that we are all good Europeans one would have thought that any company selling in a foreign market would take the trouble to seek out a native speaker to do their translations. Apparently not so. I’ve succumbed to my penchant for white Burgundy and bought a case of the stuff (it’s a bit pricey so don’t tell the management). Much to my surprise the label is in English … well, almost.

It explains that high quality (well, actually it says ligh quality) wines are lightly filtered so may have some sediment. Then there is a stark warning: “If it were eliminated there would be a risk of killing.” ! I rather assume they mean that the wine would be spoiled but there is a lingering doubt that this might be the punishment for any vineyard worker who might have the temerity to do a bit of additional filtering.


Twitterings

Regular readers will know that I have been Tweeting for some months now. After an initial surge of enthusiasm my activities became more sporadic, mainly because it can become an addictive time-waster and there’s a lot of garbage on there. But my faith has been restored (to some extent). Stourbridge Speakers Club was given a small grant to host a Speaking In Public Taster Evening as part of the Department of Business, Innovation & Skills’ inspired October Festival of Learning. Club president Sue Davies Tweeted on the subject and this was picked up by a presenter on the local radio station. From there he visited the club’s website and that resulted in a phone call to me as the club’s communications officer. As a result we were able to obtain publicity for the event on the radio.

I have also been able to build relationships with a number of people through Twitter and so have become quite sure that it can be a valuable business tool. Although I accept that I still have a lot to learn to enable me to get the best from it.


Packaging

Is packaging important? What is packaging? Arguably packaging is everything except the product itself. Sometimes it’s there for protective reasons but often it is more about the way the product is presented. A study of a perfume counter will demonstrate what I mean. In many cases I suspect that the perfume bottle and the box in which it is packed cost more to produce than the perfume itself.

But I believe that packaging goes beyond a box or fancy bottle. It is about everything related to how we deliver the product to the customer. That could be our website, our shop, even our advertising. For a while I bought wine and shirts from apparently premium online suppliers. In reality their products were not much different from anyone else. But what caused me to kick both into touch was being bombarded constantly by advertising material of both paper and electronic variety. Their advertising strategy was at complete odds with their supposed up-market position. And lost them both a customer.


Location, Location, Location

I’m sure that all Ramblers are familiar with estate agents’ top three criteria when buying a property. However, the style of property is equally important for many people. If logic prevailed we’d all live in modern square or rectangular houses. But many choose to live in old properties, often anything but a regular shape, and requiring a great deal of upkeep. So, many of us are not logical, we buy on emotion.

Several times recently I have been torn between whether to attend one event or another, or indeed whether to attend at all. There are various considerations: the ‘product’, the location (ease or otherwise of getting there) and the building itself. Yes, I know what some of you are thinking, but for me at least, the building in which the event is held has a not insignificant influence on whether I will attend.

The product is important. Very important. But making it easy for the customer to want to buy it is equally important. In other words, removing obstacles, even emotional ones and creating compelling reasons for the purchase.


Get Out Of The Box

Think outside the box – draw outside the lines – write on the walls – forget MS Project - switch off the PC - use a pencil and roll of wallpaper (plain) to plan projects. Technology is good for recording, not for creating.

Gosh, I feel better for that outburst!


We Like Sheep

Several weeks back this Rambler made a brief appearance in the Sunday Times Business Supplement. The article related to the challenges of working alone. The article headlined Heather Bestel of A Little Bit Of Me Time (http://www.alittlebitofmetime.com/) and had a picture of Heather standing astride two boulders on a hill near her Scottish home.

Apparently the ST photographer had been keen to include some sheep in the picture because that’s what people associate with the country. The full story of this mountainside escapade can be read on Heather’s blog (http://www.heatherbestel.com/page/2/ 19th October), but it set my mind off in a different direction …

Recently I was at Birmingham’s magnificently restored Town Hall for a performance of the Messiah. As I’m sure you know, this wonderful work was written by George Frideric Handel, a German who came to live in England. There are suggestions that his less than perfect English accounted for the line: ‘All we like sheep have gone astray …’

That might seem perfectly reasonable for 18th Century English. The problem is that it is sung as:
All we like sheep.
All we like sheep …
have gone astray.

Now was this because of Handel’s imperfect grasp of English or his ignorance of quaint English country customs?! Either way, again it emphasises the need to employ local knowledge when venturing into foreign fields.


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And Finally

Does the boss know what he is doing? This is the question posed by this item lifted from John Niland’s http://www.success121.com/ newsletter:

A young engineer was leaving the office when he found the Acting CEO standing in front of a shredder with a piece of paper in his hand.

"Listen," said the Acting CEO, "this is a very sensitive and important document, and my secretary is not here. Can you make this thing work?"

"Certainly," said the young engineer. He turned the machine on, inserted the paper, and pressed the start button.

"Excellent, excellent!" said the Acting CEO as his paper disappeared inside the machine, "I just need one copy."

Lesson: Never, ever assume that your boss knows what he's doing!


I trust that you will avoid the shredder until we meet again,

David

October 2009

This month we are socially enterprising whilst eating quite a lot …

• Corporate Lunacy
• Special People
• More Than Rules
• Smoke & Mirrors
• Fashion Police
• Welcome To My Place
• The Film
• Today v. Tomorrow
• Boom & Bust
• Circulation Details
• And Finally

Corporate Lunacy

I was in Exeter a couple of weeks back. The first night we eat in the hotel restaurant. My meal was served on a small wooden plank – they called it a platter. The food kept falling off the edge. I discussed this the next day with the catering manager. Apparently planks are corporate policy; they have to use them for certain dishes.

My follow up letter to the general manager suggested that this was corporate lunacy. Leaving aside the stupidity of serving food on something inappropriate for the task, it makes no sense whatsoever to take away local decision making. Sure there are certain things that need to be ‘corporate’ to ensure a consistent image is projected, but these should be kept to the bare minimum. Once you remove the ability for staff to take on some responsibility and creativity, you remove the incentive for them to push themselves to greater achievement; then complacency sets in, shortly followed by not caring. Maybe this was why the food quality fell way below expectations for a hotel in this category.


Special People

Having abandoned the hotel’s restaurant we tried various others – Exeter is well endowed with them. Located on Cathedral Close is Ask. It is splendidly situated and atmospheric. They have proper plates and the chefs can cook. And they have a special person. Young and slightly built, nevertheless she was in control. Orders were taken, and food was served – oh, and she knew how to serve wine correctly. The footpad came off the leg of an adjacent table, there she was on hands and knees fixing it; a chef slipped into the garden for a quick cigarette during a busy time – he was spotted and discretely chastised. When serving, although paying full attention, her eyes were flicking over other tables to check that all was in order.

Just occasionally we come across people who stand out, people who we would back to do any job well. They are worth their weight in gold, they make things tick, run smoothly and they head off problems with minimum drama. Ask in Exeter has one such special person. And their team delivered what were three of the best courses I’ve eaten at any price.


More Than Rules

The Chairman of HSBC, Stephen Green, talking about the responsibilities of the banking community said, "It also owes the real world a commitment to learn the lessons. Some of them are about governance and ethics and culture within the industry. You can't do all this simply by rules and regulations."

Mr. Green is spot on. How often do we find that rules or regulations brought in to address a particular issue create unforeseen problems? The most visible of these in recent times has been MPs allowances. At one time Honourable Members were considered to be just that and trusted to submit reasonable expense claims. Presumably somewhere along the line one or two acted less than honourably. So rules were brought in that set limits. At that point the limit becomes the norm. For those of you who are law abiding (all of you I’m sure), how many of you drive along the motorway at 65mph? Precisely. The limit is 70, so that’s what you drive at … or a little bit above.


Smoke & Mirrors

What is a ‘designer name’? Isn’t everything that is manufactured designed? In many cases the so-called designer may have little input … in fact they may be dead! For example, Coco Chanel died in 1971 but her name lives on in the brand. So is Chanel a designer label?

And then there are ‘celebrity’ chefs. Whilst in Exeter we had lunch in Michael Caines’ Café Bar. His Gidleigh Park restaurant is one of only fifteen in the whole of the UK to boast two Michelin Stars. So was he cooking in his Café Bar in Exeter or at any of his other restaurants? I rather doubt it.

What about exotic cars? Ferrari and Porsche both bear the name of the company founder, but so do Fords. Dragons’ Den entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne uses his name for his health clubs and hotels because he believes that it shows that you are proud of what you do if you are prepared to put your name on it.

So what does our business name or brand say about us?


Fashion Police

Birmingham Metropolitan College has been accused of acting like the fashion police after it imposed a dress code for lecturers. Apparently the code requires staff to have tidy hair, business suits and skirts, no visible tattoos, no slogans on T-shirts or ostentatious earrings. The college says that it is important for staff to present a professional image.

Again, presumably this is a case of a few pushing the boundaries too far, hence causing rules to be brought in. Does the way you dress affect your ability to do the job? No. Does the way you dress affect people’s opinions of you? Yes, almost certainly. Does scruffy look professional? No. Do you need to look professional to be a good teacher or lecturer? Possibly not but it can’t do any harm.
Inevitably first impressions are based on the way we look. Second, and probably more important, more lasting impressions, are based on the way we behave. If we are trying to sell ourselves, our credibility, our products and services, then we don’t want to lose the ‘war’ in the first ‘battle’. So, rightly or wrongly, the way we are turned out is important.


Welcome To My Place

Last Wednesday evening I attended a film premiere. There was no red carpet, sparkling jewellery, posh frocks or paparazzi photographers. The film was Midwest Rural Enterprise’s ‘Social Enterprise – How It Works’. The venue was The Fold at Bransford near Worcester.

The Fold is a refurbished barn and other farm buildings. It describes itself as: ‘An inspirational space to encourage sustainable living through Designer Makers, Complementary Therapies, Real Food EcoCafé, Plants, Events, Festivals, Courses and Workshops.’ The huge slice of chocolate cake that I consumed was real enough and rather fine!

The real benefit for places such as The Fold hosting events is that it brings in people who wouldn’t otherwise cross the threshold. People like me who might now just pop in for another slice of cake and while I’m there take a look round at the other things going on. Could you host an event, however small, that might bring you new customers?


The Film

Well, DVD actually. The DVD, made by Midwest Rural Enterprise is fronted by Dick Strawbridge and features various businesses that are run as social enterprises. Social enterprises are businesses trading for social and environmental purposes. They can be very small or huge such as The John Lewis Partnership.

The film aims to show the various legal structures that can be used for social enterprises and to inform and encourage this way of doing business. The event was attended by the CIC Regulator, Sara Burgess. Possibly CIC (Community Interest Company) is a legal entity with which Ramblers may not be familiar. To quote from the Regulator’s website (http://www.cicregulator.gov.uk/):

“Community Interest Companies are limited companies, with special additional features, created for the use of people who want to conduct a business or other activity for community benefit, and not purely for private advantage. This is achieved by a "community interest test" and "asset lock", which ensure that the CIC is established for community purposes and the assets and profits are dedicated to these purposes. Registration of a company as a CIC has to be approved by the Regulator who also has a continuing monitoring and enforcement role.”

I think it inevitable that we will hear more about social enterprise – the government is keen to promote it – and CICs. If anyone would like a copy of this excellent DVD, contact me and I’ll forward your request.


Today v. Tomorrow

Going back rather a long time I recall someone in the office saying something along the lines of, “It’s easy for him, he’s never had to deliver anything”. The complainer was part of a project delivery team, and the ‘non-deliverer’ was involved with developing strategy. I have been involved with both aspects, sometimes at the same time. A recent conversation started me thinking about the challenges. Strategists need to be Philippe Starck’s ‘professional dreamers’. They need time to gaze into space and let their minds wander; they need to be able to have loose unstructured conversations with people who might add to the creative process.

If you are responsible for today’s production or this week’s sales performance, you will have little time for daydreaming. Even if your role requires you to look after today and tomorrow, today will always take precedence. Of course, if our organization consists of one person and next door’s cat, we will have no choice but to do it all. But if we have a reasonable size of organization, then maybe it’s possible to split the roles, at least in terms of lead responsibility.

But to avoid the ‘Not Invented Here’ syndrome, I suggest frequent role rotation so that everyone gets a go at strategy as well as delivery. In fact role changes are good for personal development in whatever form they take … but if it’s the brain surgeon and the hospital manager doing it, perhaps shadowing is a better option than an actual job swap!


Boom & Bust

I was reading a report about organic farming in Spain. Whilst large-scale organic producers have suffered in the recession, it appears that small-scale operators have seen little difference. They did not experience major growth during the economic boom and, maybe because of that, have not suffered as a result of the recent sharp downturn. One small grower commented that small farms have a variety of outlets through specialised shops and farmers’ markets whereas the big operators are much more reliant on the big supermarkets.

I am sure that this applies equally in the UK and it does demonstrate the benefits of remaining small and having a diverse customer base. Of course, the downside is that it is hard work to maintain contact with many different customers … or even to have real contact with them in the first place. First you need permission to be in contact with them, then you need to keep them informed about what you are doing without boring them. Maybe this is an area where a well-run social enterprise can score by making its customers feel part of the ‘movement’ in whatever sphere it operates. In essence by building a ‘community’ – people like to belong, to feel part of something; it is a sound marketing strategy that many businesses fail to exploit.

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And Finally

US General Norman Swarzkopf had a view on the importance of strategy in a leadership role: “Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.” Hmm, interesting.

There is much to be said for having a very clear aim. Carmen Boyle the 1996 Olympic Luge Gold Medal winner sums this up quite nicely:
“Luge strategy? Lie flat and try not to die.”

I hope that this month’s weather will not require luges, toboggans or similar forms of transport.

David

September 2009

During September's Ramble we dream about food.

• What’s In A Name?
• Managing Expectations
• More On Expectations and Names
• The Too Hard To Do File
• Food For Thought
• What Shall I Do When I Grow Up?
• Why? and So What?
• Dream On
• Circulation Details
• And Finally

What’s In A Name?

Several weeks ago it was reported that the sales of perry had increased by around 14 times over the last couple of years. The reason for this startling increase is simple. Several of the major producers had re-branded it as pear cider. Now the consumer understands what is on offer i.e. a sparkling alcoholic drink made from pears rather than apples.

This demonstrates an interesting marketing choice. Do you spend hundreds of thousands, even millions to educate the potential customer as to what you are selling? Or do you call the product by a name that they already understand? More generally, it confirms that product names are vitally important and that the customer won’t buy what they don’t understand.


Managing Expectations

Maybe this is why Ryanair are successful. If you make it very clear to customers that they will be treated slightly less well than cattle, they will not be too disappointed. On the other hand, if you tell them that they are special, they may just believe you and expect to be treated as such. I imagine that most of us have tried to get through to organisations on the phone and been subjected to, “Your call is important to us, we will answer it as soon as possible”. Liars! If I’m that important, answer the bloody phone!

The concept of ‘under-promise and over-deliver’ is very sound from a business perspective. Give someone just a little bit more than they were expecting and they will love you forever. Well, actually they won’t. Just one unsatisfactory encounter will undo all of your good work.

And whatever you do, don’t forget what you have promised or change your mind. Think through the implications and deliverability of your promises before you make them. You may not remember that you have promised something but it is certain that the customer will.

Note: I make no promises as to when Random Ramblings will be circulated. I aim for the first couple of weeks of each month but give no guarantees as I don’t want you to be disappointed.


More On Expectations and Names

According to a BBC article, many school teachers make assumptions about likely pupil behaviour based on their names. Interestingly, the naughtier children tend to be more popular than their better behaved peers. More popular with their fellow pupils rather than with teachers one assumes!

The item also reported that teachers find that the naughtiest pupils are often the brightest and the more sensitive. Perhaps CVs should list detentions and exclusions alongside academic qualifications!


The Too Hard To Do File

It is so easy to get bogged down. To start the downwards spiral. To lose motivation. To lose belief. In short, to stop caring. This can happen at an individual level, a departmental level or across a complete organisation.

The in-tray is full but it’s easier to pile new stuff on top than to do any filing (oh dear, I’ve just looked at mine!). The office is getting shabby but decorating takes money and effort. You’ve been doing the job day in, day out for years and it no longer stimulates you. The company is losing sales and profits are falling.

There’s only one answer. Spend the day emptying that in-tray. Paint the walls; preferably a bright colour. Put up some (new) pictures, turn your desk round (different view), swap jobs.

I knew a very good marketing man who came from manufacturing. He brought a fresh pair of eyes, an open mind and new enthusiasm. I have also known very good finance controller who came from engineering – ditto.

Many years ago I inherited a ‘Too hard to do file’ (her words) from an otherwise very competent manager. I suspect that most of us have a similar file, even if it is metaphorical. Often the hardest part is summoning up the enthusiasm to make a start.

Sometimes you just have to take the brave pill and change things. Change something! Change anything! Status quo is more than a rock group, it is a dangerous state of lethargy and inaction.


Food For Thought

Last week we visited the Ludlow Food Festival. The 2009 festival was the 15th year for what claims to be Britain’s best such event. Over 130 local producers exhibited in addition to the regular market stalls in the street outside. Ludlow has gained a reputation as a ‘foodie town’, not harmed at all by having two Michelin starred restaurants.

So why has a small town in the middle of nowhere gained such prominence? Probably for the same reason that Hay-on-Wye has gained a world reputation as a book town. Conventional wisdom is that you try to avoid competitors when setting up a business. But what has happened in Ludlow and Hay is that the whole is considerably greater than the sum of its parts. You may have three competitors and so only have 25% of the market, but if that market is five times larger than it would have been otherwise, you will still win.

So, go out looking for competitors and similar businesses and try linking up with them to create your own Ludlow or Hay. You don’t even need to be in the same town, you can do it virtually.


What Shall I Do When I Grow Up?

Life is so much easier if you are a plumber. You know what you have to do to become one. Potential customers understand what you do. Critically, they also know when they need your services.

Once you decide not to be a plumber or similar specialised tradesman, life gets tougher. The potential customer may not fully understand what you do or may not recognise that they need what you have to offer.

In his book 'Let’s Connect', networking expert Jan Vermeiran lists what must be hundreds of characteristics – he calls them values. He suggests going through and crossing out the least important, and then repeating the process until you are left with a maximum of six. These are your core values. Admittedly, his list tends to be personal more than business values, but the same principle applies.

Not a bad process to use if you are struggling to bring some focus to your business and to communicate your real expertise.


Why? and So What?

Useful questions. It is very easy to get carried away by what we are doing and fail to notice that other people, potential customers, may not understand or see the relevance to them.

Back to Ludlow. Lots going on, but the core of the ‘offer’ is identified in the centre of the festival’s website home page:
“… this year's Festival will feature more than 130 top quality small independent food and drink producers from the Marches, the England-Wales border country.”

Clear message. The opportunity to visit 130 small, specialist food ‘shops’ in one place is compelling. Listening to enthusiastic and knowledgeable owners and their teams is compelling. Is your message compelling?


Dream On

BBC2’s new reality programme, Design For Life, features a group of young designers hoping to win a place at Philippe Starck’s design school. Legendary designer Starck denied that he is in fact a designer. He describes himself as a professional dreamer. I like that: professional dreamer! To be truly creative, surely that is what you must be. If you are anchored in reality, in today, you are unlikely to come up with anything startlingly innovative.

But why restrict dreaming to designers? I imagine that many entrepreneurs are dreamers. And why not marketing folk? Could you create a team of dreamers to include sales, finance, engineering, manufacturing? But always test the dreams with Why? and So What?


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And Finally

If you’ve ever had to endure a really poor presentation delivered via PowerPoint (that’s probably most of them!), you will enjoy this comment from the BBC News Magazine: “The first speaker at a conference I attended told the audience that he would not be using a PowerPoint presentation because "they had neither Power nor Point". The poor folks waiting to follow him with PowerPoint presentations were doomed!”


My apologies if you are doing a PP presentation tomorrow!

David

August 2009

This month we Ramble around marketing and other matters:

• £££?
• A Little Less
• Short Term Gain or …?
• Words Do Not Equate To A Plan
• Does The Glass Matter?
• More On Wet Paint
• A New Look At Sponsorship
• Three Odd Ads
• Circulation Details
• And Finally

£££?

What is the value of Random Ramblings? Despite my temporary delusions when people say nice things about it, the answer is nothing. About as much as the price of the paper on which it’s not printed. Zero. Zippo. Zilch. Or whatever terminology you may care to use.

Now open your wallet. If you are lucky you may find a rectangular piece of paper – probably a bit crumpled - with coloured squiggles on it, a picture of an old lady wearing a funny sort of metallic hat and a number in large print preceded by an odd character: £.

What’s that worth? Sorry to disappoint you but the answer is pretty much the same as for Random Ramblings. After all, you can’t even use it to jot down phone messages. But bizarrely, if you take that crumpled rectangular piece of paper into Tesco (or any other shop), you can exchange it for lots of cans of beans, or whatever takes your fancy.

Unfortunately the same can’t be said for Random Ramblings. However, it may just be possible that an item you read one day may stimulate you to change something about the way you do business. If that happens and it works out well, you may just have added value to your business. If what you read here or in other newsletters or business books never causes you to consider what you are doing, then I would suggest that there may be better uses for your time.


A Little Less

Never one for original thinking, the above was stimulated by reading ‘A Little Less’ by Tom Asacker. Tom is a US marketing and branding expert who was introduced to me by my friend Trevor Gay. Clearly Trevor thinks that I’m smarter than reality (or he’s not read the book) because I am finding it hard going. It is too intellectual for my inbuilt computing power. I am struggling to stay with it and yet … And yet there are some pearls of wisdom that I have taken in. I have this feeling that anyone in marketing should read it, as it challenges many widely held views and perceptions.

In contrast, Dee Blick’s ‘Powerful Marketing On A Shoestring Budget’ is easy to read and understand. It is filled with much common sense and obvious marketing actions. Obvious maybe, but I wonder how many marketing departments are carrying through all of the proposed actions. This really is a marketing textbook that all SMEs would do well to study. PS – I’m not on commission!


Short Term Gain or …?

“There are lots of things you can do to make the sale. They often are precisely the opposite of what you should do to generate word of mouth. I know, you can't have word of mouth unless you have a sale, but a sale that leads to pain is hardly worth it.

My rule of thumb is this: every person you turn away because your product or service isn't right for them turns into three great customers down the road. Every bad sale costs you five.”

Seth Godin


Words Do Not Equate To A Plan

In a recent edition of the Telegraph there was a very well argued case for why the Nato approach to Afghanistan is wrong and doomed to failure. Leaving aside the merits of the case, it was pointed out that the words from Barack Obama and Gordon Brown expressing lofty ideals do not equate to a coherent plan of action.

How often does an organisation have a wonderful mission statement? Wonderful that is in its use of words to describe some vague fantasy world in which the organisation would like to inhabit. But do they have a detailed plan for getting there? And if they do, are they following the plan?

Wishing does not get you to your destination.


Does The Glass Matter?

Have you every drunk champagne from a plastic ‘glass’? Oh dear, never mind, put it down to a learning opportunity. Or a bottle of decent wine from a thick rimmed, ugly glass? What a shame. I was considering all of this while sitting in the sun drinking beer from a nice glass. I believe that the enjoyment depends on the vessel from which the fluid is consumed. There are two reasons for this. Technical. And emotional. Together they create the experience.

There are technical reasons why the taste will be affected by the vessel from which it is consumed. Reidel sell very expensive glasses that are matched precisely to the wine type for which they are intended. For a technical explanation as to why these things matter, take a look at the Reidel website: www.riedel.co.uk/information/shape_and_pleasure.

Now, in my view there are more important factors that will affect taste – the temperature at which the wine is served being one. However, what we are talking about here is the emotion generated by drinking wine from a beautiful glass. In total, the experience. From a cheap and nasty glass – the sort used in most restaurants - the liquid is the same but the experience is different, blunted, short-changed.

Of course, the same applies to the products and services that we buy.


More On Wet Paint

Last month we reflected on a strange quirk in the wiring of the brain: the way it fails to register the negative, so a command such as ‘don’t do that’ is subconsciously registered, as ‘do that’.

John Batchelor of http://www.ur1stcar.co.uk/ commented, “Regarding 'Wet Paint' - it's the same with cycling & driving (and I guess skiing, horse riding), you look where you want to go, not at what's right in front of you. If you do the latter you are much more likely to hit it!”

Another angle on this is fear of failure. Looking over your shoulder – sometimes literally. This was demonstrated to me when I used to sail a dinghy. I remember leading one race by some distance, and then on the final leg I started watching the guy in second place. The more I focussed on what he was doing, the faster he caught up. I’m sure he wasn’t going any more quickly. Quite simply we were going slower because we were no longer concentrating fully on sailing our own race. In the end we won by a couple of boat lengths only. Given another hundred yards and we would have lost.

There are parallels between sport and business. Of course you need to be aware of the competition. But watching and worrying about them too much may prevent you from ‘sailing your own race’; being different, special, successful.


A New Look At Sponsorship

Don’t panic, I’m not about to run a marathon and ask you for money! One of the most interesting aspects of Jackie Stewart’s autobiography is his account of how he obtained sponsors for the Stewart Grand Prix team. Even for a three-times Formula One world champion this wasn’t easy. But what made the proposition attractive for a number of companies wasn’t just having their sticker on the cars, it was the opportunity to network with the other sponsors. For a number of them this opened up the possibility to become suppliers to some big spenders. It opened channels that had been closed previously. In that way Stewart acted as the network hub, a subject that we’ve discussed in recent Ramblings.

If you’ve been trying without success to gain an ‘in’ to a particular organisation, it might be worth taking a look at whether they are sponsoring anyone that you could support also. Of course, to make this work it does require the sponsoree (is there such a word?) to do more than take your money and stick your name on their car, programme or whatever it might be. They need to be as slick and professional as J.Y. Stewart in ‘oiling the wheels’.


Three Odd Ads

The email was entitled: ‘New Zealand Pinot Noir - Online Exclusive Parcel from Majestic’. Now, I’m quite partial to a decent drop of Pinot Noir so I opened the email. As you may imagine, I was more than a little surprised to be confronted with the information: ‘Sorry, Sold Out! This offer has sold out since we sent this email.’ Er, excuse me, how does that work? Are they expecting me to ring up in a rage so that they can then soothe me by finding a few bottles put aside for ‘special’ customers? Well, I didn’t.

Then I received a glossy postcard with a picture of a very attractive – OK, stunning – young lady called Heather. It was written in what I can only describe as a seductive style and promised to make up for whatever might have gone wrong between us in the past. Before you get too excited about what might happen next, perhaps I should point out that the card came from Printer Inks and was a £10 voucher for cartridges for my printer. To the best of my knowledge, nothing had gone wrong previously between Heather and this Rambler but presumably she was disappointed that I haven’t taken them up on their frequent offers. Well, there is only so much printer ink that you can use.

The third of my odd ads is Gillette’s for their Fusion razor. We are used to seeing product comparisons showing how a company’s product is so much better than the competition’s. But rubbishing your own product … ? Yes, Gillette have done a pretty good job in telling me that the Mach3 that I use currently is no good.

The Majestic email still puzzles me. And with Printer Inks I’m wondering whether they send pictures of attractive young men to their female customers. With Gillette I can only conclude that they want to phase out the Mach3. The problem is that they might just phase out some of their sales as well.

All three seem rather unusual approaches but have succeeded in starting a conversation, which might be considered a win. They seem like high risk strategies but maybe recessionary times call for extreme actions. Kind of double or quits. After all, marketing departments should do exciting things, not churn out the same boring stuff month after month.

And Finally

Can anyone lend me a monkey? No, not £500; the animal variety. I have been experimenting with the mailing facility offered by MailChimp. MailChimp comes well recommended and apparently got its name because it is so easy to use that even a monkey can do it. They either have very smart monkeys or this Rambler … !

Maybe next month this newsletter will arrive in its new format. Peanuts anyone?

David

July 2009

July’s Ramble is mostly by Owen Smith with a bit of help from Heather Noble.

• No Jerks Allowed
• If I Had More Time I Would Have Written Less
• Heather Is A Twit!
• More On Missed Opportunities
• Outdoor Life
• Never Mind The Customer
• French Reflections
• Wet Paint
• Circulation Details
• And Finally

No Jerks Allowed

“We believe the customer is always right. Except for when they're wrong. Or when they're jerks.”

Wonderful! This is part of the terms & conditions of US email marketing company MailChimp. They give examples of what constitutes being a jerk. Sending spam is number one, followed by being rude and offensive for no good reason. That begs the question as to whether it’s OK to be rude and offensive if you have good reason.

I am sure that we all get thoroughly fed up with Ts&Cs that run to several pages of small print. When I’m in charge there will be a requirement for a minimum font size, say Arial 10pt and a maximum of one page of A4.


If I Had More Time I Would Have Written Less

The title quotation above from Mark Twain is backed up by US president Woodrow Wilson who once said, “If I am to speak ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if fifteen minutes, three days; if half an hour, two days; if an hour, I am ready now.”

Generally we have far more information than we can, or should, use. Deciding what is relevant can be challenging. Whilst on holiday I re-read Maverick by Ricardo Semler. (By the way, if you employ people you should read Maverick even if it is the only ‘business’ book you ever read.) In Semler’s Semco company, memos are allowed to be one page only. They are written in the manner of a newspaper article with headlines, a summary of the key facts followed by a short explanation. Semler’s view is that anything that can’t be fitted on that one page isn’t of critical importance.

The great thing about Twitter is that messages are limited to 140 characters (not letters, spaces and punctuation count). Arguably it is a more efficient means of communication than email because it prevents rambling.


Heather Is A Twit!

The great Twitter experiment goes on. Maybe I’m following the wrong people but I seem to be finding out a lot about what the weather is doing in different parts of the country, dog walking habits and other vital bits of business information. I was beginning to lose heart. But Heather Noble removed my doubts about its potential effectiveness as a business tool. Heather runs Shropshire based events planning business Salt Solutions (www.salt-solutions.co.uk) and is a fellow Twit (should that be Twitter or Tweeter Heather?). These recent extracts from her blog reveal why we should keep the faith:

“Unless your business has first hand experience of the powers of Twitter you have neither reason to believe that it is a necessity in the modern business world nor a sense of how it can be beneficial whatever your line of business.
So where is the evidence? Well, since joining Twitter in April I have been fortunate to have featured in The Sunday Times Business Section; I have appeared in The Shropshire Star in their 'TwitterTalk' column and on Thursday of this week I will be appearing on local BBC Radio Shropshire ...
All of the above have come about via Twitter. Each of them without any 'cold calling' on my part. Not a single penny has been spent by my business in achieving any of this. But every single item has helped me to raise the profile of my business.”

Never mind the Sunday Times Heather, now you’ve made it into Random Ramblings! By the way, I listened to Heather’s radio broadcast and it was excellent.


More On Missed Opportunities

Last month I wondered how many businesses and organisations miss out on big slices of the potential market. This was prompted by attending concerts in Birmingham, a city where nearly half the population is not white, a city with one of the youngest populations in Europe, and yet the audiences are predominantly white and middle-aged to older.

Afterwards I remembered an article I’d read that suggested that your business team should be made up of people from your target market sector. This seems to make sense. A teenager would be unlikely to buy clothes from a shop staffed by people of my age and vice versa. But it goes beyond the sales team. Everyone in the business needs to be thinking like the customer. So if you are not succeeding in a particular market sector, take a look at the make up of your team. Slightly more difficult if you are a toy manufacturer admittedly! Oh, I don’t know though. You just need lots of men in the team!


Outdoor Life

Last week, despite the risk of thundery showers I decided that it was too nice to be indoors, so adjourned to the outer office. Of course, this brings its own challenges. Glare on laptop screen among them. Owen Smith of BHS has kindly provided me with more items for this month’s Ramble, including a wonderful account of a problem that a council encountered with glare on a computer screen. After six months of reviewing the options they came up with a solution. Move the desk with the PC to a different place in the room. Brilliant! They congratulated themselves on ‘only’ spending £5,000 on the solution. Thank heavens they didn’t bring in a consultant.

One is tempted to say only in the public sector ... but I can’t quite convince myself that similar scenarios aren’t being played out elsewhere.


Never Mind The Customer

When Rover Group moved into its brand new, purpose built engineering headquarters at Gaydon in the 90s there were similar problems with screen glare. The quick fix was café style sun brollies. It made for a colourful office! Why is it that designers, architects and the like seem to overlook the requirements of the users? After the Air France plane crash in the Atlantic one seasoned pilot commented that the latest generation Airbuses were designed by engineers for engineers, not for pilots. And given the significant percentage of the population that dislikes heights (including me), why do architects put glass lifts on the outside of buildings or escalators that ascend through space?

Health check: are you designing for your customers or for yourself?


French Reflections

While on holiday I read several books, one was an autobiography of Dragons’ Den multi-millionaire Theo Phaphitis. Well worth a read if only for his commentary on his time as chairman of Millwall Football Club.

He makes the sort of comment that many multi-millionaires make. Making £100 million is easy. But then goes on to qualify it by saying that making the first £1 million is challenging.

But presumably one can scale it i.e. making £100k is easy once the first £1000 has been achieved. Then from £100k to £1m and so on. I guess it’s all about setting realistic targets.

One particular paragraph of the book caught my eye. Paphitis says, “I firmly believe that most of the answers to problems people have in business are within the organisation itself, and that most of the answers are to be found at a very low level. Head office managers are often far too theoretical and detached from the reality of the business. So a fundamental part of all my businesses is talking to the people who work with the customers.”


Wet Paint

Another contribution from Owen Smith was an item by Simon Barnes in The Times:

“It's a strange thing that can happen to you when you get the dreaded negative instruction. You know that above all, there is one thing that you mustn't do: and so, by a strange quirk in the wiring of the brain, it becomes the one thing that you can't avoid doing.

What strange impulse impelled Ronan O'Gara to make that final, fearful error? His dreadful move - whatever you do, don't concede a penalty - in the final seconds of the international between the Lions and South Africa held the glassy-eyed fascination of the person who double-faults on match-point, who false-starts in the Olympic Final, who handles the ball in the box in the final, who is clean bowled without offering a stroke.”

This links in to an RR item a few months back where I commented on the way the brain fails to register the negative, so a command such as ‘don’t do that’ is subconsciously registered as ‘do that’. As Simon Barnes comments, it is likely that O’Gara ends up with paint on his hands whenever he walks past a sign saying wet paint.

The importance of providing positive encouragement rather than a warning not to fail should be apparent. This applies in all walks of life, not just sport.


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And Finally

One final input from Owen after reading last month’s Ramble:
“Something struck me when reading the piece about Jenson Button ... can it really be a coincidence that 'talent' is an anagram of 'latent'?”

Now if someone would like to write the August edition I could pour a glass of wine, put my feet up in the sun(?) and gaze into space (sometimes passed off as strategic planning).

David

June 2009

June’s Ramble truly is Random.

• Push The Door
• We Have A Huge Competitor – Great!
• Avoiding Eurovision
• Missed Opportunities
• Please Take My Money
• Twittering Hubs
• Brilliant Button
• It’s Not Cricket!
• I’m Right!
• Circulation Details
• And Finally

Push The Door

Never be afraid to ask for help. If you push the door you might just find that it is open. Website forums demonstrate how many people are willing to offer help and advice for free. The more business people I talk to, the more I find people involved in voluntary activities. Most people are not totally motivated by money.

Last month’s Ramble talked about the Six Degree of Separation i.e. we all know someone who knows someone etc. Over the last few months I have seen this demonstrated several times. With no real expectation of a positive response, on behalf of others I have tagged, “By the way, do you know anyone who can ...” onto the end of a conversation. Several times I have been pleasantly surprised by a, “Yes, we can; get him/her to call us.”

Increasingly I realise that many people will help if they can. This lies at the core of networking. So don’t be afraid to push the door, it might just be open.


We Have A Huge Competitor – Great!

Last month I mentioned a few ‘new’ technologies that would never catch on – electricity, the telephone, computers and so on. Apart from the technical challenges to be faced, the innovator has to convince sceptics (that’s most of us) that the new idea/product really will work and is useful. It can take a huge marketing effort and a great deal of time to develop a new market. Entrepreneurs look for new ideas with which to make their fortunes and some of them succeed. But is this the best way?

Large organisations rarely do things particularly well, but what they do is to spend mega bucks promoting products and raising awareness. That’s great. Let them spend their millions to create the market, then follow on but do it better than them in some small way. They have created the market, now all you have to do is follow in their slipstream. Easy!


Avoiding Eurovision

Whilst avoiding the Eurovision Song Contest (will it ever be the same without Wogan?), I watched a splendid BBC2 programme about Handel, a composer who turned out quite a few good tunes. I was completely wowed by the performances of Danielle de Niese. This young soprano really understands ‘performance’. Even without subtitles for the Italian words it was easy to understand the emotions portrayed through her incredibly expressive face. If ever there were a demonstration that the actual words used are but a small part of the communication, this is it.

Handel was German, became a British citizen and wrote Italian operas. Danielle de Niese is Australian by birth, was brought up in the US and is of Dutch/Sri Lankan decent. Music truly is an international language.


Missed Opportunities

Over the last month or so I have been to a number of classical concerts as well as the opera. Predominantly, the audiences are white, middle-class and middle-aged to older. Most of the events attended have been in Birmingham, a city where nearly half the population is not white, a city with one of the youngest populations in Europe, a city with one of the finest concert halls in the world, a city with a world class orchestra and a visiting top opera company. Orchestras and opera companies, large and small, go into schools to perform, they involve young people in various ways, they try to engage with the community in general. And yet they still fail to attract a huge sector of the potential market.

La Boheme performed by Welsh National Opera in Birmingham attracted a full house and, in fact, the audience profile was younger than usual. Is that because it is a very well known opera or do WNO tackle their marketing differently? Actually, their operas do tend to have a slightly younger audience profile than for orchestral music. But still virtually 100% white.

I wonder how many other businesses and organisations miss out on big slices of the potential market? Does yours? And does anyone have any bright ideas as to how to address this challenging issue?


Please Take My Money

I have written before about how difficult it is to spend money with some businesses. Recently I read of the experience of someone in the US making enquiries of businesses by email. The majority of those approached failed to respond. That exactly mirrors my experience in the UK. Extraordinary!

Recently I contacted four local companies to ask for a quote for some work on the house. You know what they say about first impressions count? Well, two had ruled themselves out before I saw their quotes. I say ‘saw’. In fact one phoned to give me the price and was taken aback when I asked if he was going to confirm it in writing.

Begrudgingly he said he would until I pointed out that his price was way over the top, at which point he lost all interest and put the phone down. Whether relevant or not I do not know, but he was the only ‘salesman’, the other three being the company owners.

I have given the business to the smallest of the companies. The owner put himself out to accommodate my availability, he gave the impression of competence and reliability, and I liked him. From the first meeting I wanted to give him the business and so was pleased when his quote was competitive. It confirmed to me the adage that we do business with people we like.


Twittering Hubs

As mentioned last month, most people have relatively few contacts whilst a few have many and are in effect communication hubs. In an attempt to upgrade my hub status and to test the business benefits of social media I have become a Twitterer and have joined LinkedIn. First thoughts are that it requires a time commitment to generate and maintain contacts and that like face-to-face networking, it will take time for any benefits to become apparent. Like email it also requires discipline not to spend too much time tweeting just because it’s fun.

To take part in this evaluation of the business benefits accruing from social media, sign in to Twitter (http://twitter.com/invite) and follow me at DavidRWike or link in with me at LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com).


Brilliant Button

What turns a fairly ordinary Formula One driver into world championship material overnight? It’s the car of course. But is it that simple? An ordinary driver in the best car would be good but not brilliant. So there must be something else. The reality is that having the right car and the right team has allowed Jenson Button to demonstrate that he was never ordinary but in fact has extraordinary talent; that he can deliver when it counts. He had latent talent that hadn’t been allowed to develop fully previously.

I look back at my corporate career. Could I have delivered more? Could I have helped others to deliver more? I’m sure that the answer to both questions is yes. So what happened? Probably the same as in most businesses. Everyone is so preoccupied with day to day activities that they find it difficult to look beyond the immediate task and to find time to develop themselves and others. Of course, many companies send employees on training course, but how effective are they? Much of what we learn goes straight out of the window come Monday morning and the resumption of the usual hectic routine

It seems a shame that more organisations don’t have mentoring programmes that operate from top to bottom of the structure. It is a significant commitment to make, both monetarily and in time. But if it unearthed just one Jenson Button in your organisation, wouldn’t it be worth it? Of course, that assumes that the rest of the team is structured to support rising starts of all ages.


It’s Not Cricket!

I read an interesting article in the Radio Times. It was lamenting the demise of free-to-view Test Match cricket. When the England and Wales Cricket Board sold TV rights to Sky they automatically precluded 80% of the population from viewing it. Sure, they made a short-term financial gain, but what of the long-term effect on the game?

There are so many forms of entertainment competing for our money that it is easy to forget those that are not brought to our attention on a regular basis. In effect they fall off our radar. Or in the case of younger people, cricket may never get onto their radar in the first place. It seems to me, as it did to the writer of the article, that the cricket authorities may well have made a strategic error that will have a serious impact on the popularity of the game in the longer term.

It astonishes me that companies are prepared to spend thousands, even millions, on advertising but are reluctant to spend a few quid on better product quality or customer service. For long-term success, building a reputation for quality, dependability and accessibility is far more important than making short term gains.


I’m Right!

Every type of organisation likes to do surveys. You can’t go to an event or buy a product online without being asked to complete a survey about the experience. OK, so I’ve told you what I think. Now, what are you going to do about it? Let me warn you, if I’ve told you where you could improve or do things differently I expect you to take note and change things. I don’t care what you think or what other customers think. I’m right. Every customer that fills in the questionnaire is right. So unless you are going to do what I and they suggest, don’t even think of asking me to fill in another questionnaire!

Questionnaires raise expectations, expectations that something is going to change. If it doesn’t there is disappointment where previously there might have been contentment. If you go in to a restaurant, spend ten minutes pondering over the extensive menu, make your choice and are then told it’s off, you are disappointed. If the menu had been more limited but was able to deliver everything advertised you would be more satisfied.

It is all about managing expectations. Don’t offer what you can’t deliver. Put another way, under-promise and over-deliver.


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And Finally

Perhaps we over-complicate things sometimes. Maybe we should take Nike’s advice and ‘just do it’.

“If you're in the penalty area and don't know what to do with the ball, put it in the net and we'll discuss the options later.”

Bob Paisley, Liverpool FC manager 1974-83


Enjoy the sunshine (hopefully).

David

May 2009

This month’s Ramble is mainly about communication.

• Nag Nag Nag
• Idea Transfer
• Expensive MPs
• Comma, Pause
• Hubs and Spokes
• No War Paint Here
• It’ll Never Catch On
• Circulation Details
• And Finally

Nag Nag Nag

There is a fine line between helpful reminders and irritating nagging. I was discussing this with a manager in a business that has adopted a practice of reminding their customers on a regular basis as the date approaches for them to renew their agreement. As I have processes in place to make sure that I don’t overlook such things, I find it rather irritating to be reminded ... or at least reminded more than once. However, I accept that the less organised may welcome this approach.

Most business sectors are very competitive and traditional High Street operators have to work very hard to stave off the challenge from online companies. It seems that the approach of frequent reminders does lead to retention of customers who might otherwise have explored other avenues and potentially drifted away. Perhaps this is a message for any businesses wanting repeat custom.


Idea Transfer

Dilwyn Scott, training officer for the national Association of Speakers Clubs, defines communication as ‘The transfer of an idea from one mind to another’. US author and marketing authority Seth Godin contends that the only reason for making a presentation is to change minds. These are two useful concepts to consider when putting together a communication. If someone is already minded to buy from us we might be well advised to shut up for fear that we change their mind in the wrong direction. Does nagging fall into this category?

OK, so assuming that we are yet to persuade someone that they want to buy from us, invest in us or work with us, how do we present our case? Of course, that rather depends on what mind change we are trying to achieve. But I’d be reasonably sure that a slick PowerPoint presentation won’t do much to transfer an idea into most minds. Casting my mind back I cannot think of a single memorable PP presentation – oh, apart from one given by a guy when we were interviewing a few years back. He did a 46 slide presentation. Yep, 46 slides. I have no idea what any of them said. He certainly changed minds that day. Before he’d got a quarter of the way through his presentation he had successfully helped us to decide that we did not want him in the team. Death by PowerPoint indeed!

A good speech, presentation or sales pitch has to include audience rapport; that is the audience needs to feel engaged, involved. The audience may be one person only, but even if it is more, each person has to feel involved. US president Franklin Roosevelt was one of the first to use radio effectively as a means of mass communication. When making his broadcasts Roosevelt always visualised talking to just one person. In that way he was able to make his words seem personal.


Expensive MPs

Those of you who have been Rambling for a while may remember an article from the September 2008 edition. It described how one company boss removed the requirement for sign-off of expenses. He put the responsibility on his staff to claim what was reasonable and honest. This resulted in a dramatic drop in expenses claimed in all areas.

I saw an interview with Edwina Currie on TV a few days ago. She said that when she entered parliament MPs were not required to submit receipts; as Honourable members they were trusted. She also commented that Margaret Thatcher would have skinned alive any MP caught with their hands in the till! Edwina went on to say that the regulations governing expenses and the requirement to summit receipts are relatively recent change.

It appears that having a regulatory system makes some people inclined to push it to its maximum. Way back when the 70mph speed limit was introduced on motorways the average speed went up by three miles per hour, as people who had been content to travel at 67 now felt that 70 was the ‘approved’ speed for motorway driving.
So if you were thinking of tightening your expenses claims procedure, perhaps you should think again.


Comma, Pause

“I’m sorry this is my wife.” So said my son’s best man when he introduced said lady. This apologetic introduction caused great mirth amongst the bystanders. Of course, he was not regretful at being married to her; what he meant was, “I’m sorry” (for not having introduced her sooner), pause, “this is my wife.” The precise words used are generally unimportant when we speak, but the way they are delivered is critical. In English the word order is often not that important, but the punctuation can be; the absence or misplacement of a comma can change the meaning completely, or at the very least, cause ambiguity.

We all make mistakes but some communications that I receive from business organisations are littered with them. Perhaps the greatest offence is the misuse of the apostrophe. Undoubtedly some will say that these things are not that important, but I take the view that a business that sends out mistake ridden communications may be equally sloppy in delivering its services.

Email me for a simple guide to the use of the apostrophe. (I hope there are no mistakes in this Ramble!)


Hubs and Spokes

No, not an item on cycling but about communication. Recently BBC 2 screened a programme that studied the so-called ‘six degrees of separation’. The theory goes that we are all linked to anyone else in the world by a maximum of six contacts. ‘A’ knows ‘B’, ‘B’ knows ‘C’, ‘C’ knows ‘D’ and so on. The experiment carried out by scientists and mathematicians to prove the theory wasn’t entirely conclusive, but something far more important emerged. Most of us are aware of hub airports, places like Heathrow that are linked by regular flights to all the major airports in the world. But the same applies to rail networks, the electricity grid, mail distribution, in fact pretty much anything you care to name, even diseases. Yes, apparently there is a vast interlinking of diseases via relatively few hub diseases.

From a business perspective there is a very important lesson here. People also conform to the hub and spoke model. Most people have relatively few contacts whilst a few have many. It is generally recognised that sales success is heavily dependant on referrals and recommendations, which is why networking is so important. For maximum networking effectiveness it appears that we should seek out those who are hubs in preference to those at the end of spokes.

Now of course, nothing is ever black and white, well apart from black and white things. There are mega hubs and smaller hubs. If you consider your list of contacts you may find that you are a mini-hub. It will be in your interest to upgrade your hub status. In doing so you will increase your usefulness to others and so will attract more ‘followers’.


No War Paint Here

There is much said about tribes these days. These are not people who live in jungles and daub themselves with war paint. I first came across the term used by Mary Portas to describe different types of shoppers. In trying to help boutiques struggling for sales she encouraged them to understand their tribe i.e. the specific market group that they were, or should have been, targeting.

As an organisation you will have some sort of tribe. It may be tightly knit or it may be widely spread and disparate. In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, ‘belonging’ is in the middle. It is not the most important thing to us but it is pretty important once we have secured basic survival. Just think how useful you could be to your tribe if you acted as the hub for them. By linking tribal members you increase their sense of belonging to the tribe. You help them to help themselves and each other. And you strengthen their bond to you. By encouraging them to become fully involved in tribal activities you have the opportunity to become the tribe leader. Now you are not marketing to strangers, you are talking with tribe members. So out with the marketing department to make way for the tribe development department.


It’ll Never Catch On

When a few pioneering companies started to produce electricity, the gas companies responded by increasing their efficiency in anticipation of seeing off this upstart technology. Apparently the advent of the telephone was also seen as a passing fad. Quite a few of us will remember the first mobile phones. They were very expensive and the size of a brick. Clearly they had no future. And I can remember a phone call from someone within the company asking me about the benefits to us of using a thing called a word processor. I couldn’t get my head around this at all. And yet within a very few years we all had desktop computers and typists were people from another age.

Then along came Tim Berners-Lee and invented the Internet, and all of these other technological developments were put in the shade. I imagine that even the most backward business has an email account now. However, I suspect that the majority have not moved on to the next stage of exploiting the opportunities afforded by social networking sites. That includes me. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and the like are for personal use, primarily for teenagers aren’t they? Gordon Brown’s appearances on YouTube will do nothing to dispel the view that we should steer well clear.

Recently I read an article (http://www.freshbusinessthinking.com/business_advice.php?AID=2412) that put forward a compelling argument for businesses embracing these new communication media. Over the next few months I intend to try out and to evaluate some of the options. I’ll keep you posted.

As a starter, you can follow me on Twitter (www.twitter.com) at DavidRWike. So far I haven’t quite managed to make it work, so maybe technology isn’t for me, but I’ll persevere!


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And Finally

You see, I told you that accurate communication is important. The following, courtesy of John Niland at Success121, is a message from a CEO to his team to encourage them. "I firmly believe that the coming months will present many exiting opportunities for staff." That missing ‘c’ may just have changed the emphasis!

David

15th April 2009

Walk on with hope in your heart.

• Pegs and Holes
• Charlie the Plumber
• Coachability
• Pause For Thought
• How Are You Valued?
• Words of Wisdom
• Did You Notice Anything?
• I Don’t Think We’ve Met
• Circulation Details
• And Finally

Pegs and Holes

Many years ago I had someone working for me who was failing to deliver. This was difficult to understand as he was bright, capable and appeared enthusiastic. He recognised the problem as well, so we sent him off for psychometric profiling. Once we had the results, all became abundantly clear. Quite simply he was the wrong shaped peg for the hole.

We managed to organise a transfer to a different role, one that fitted with his profile. Lo and behold, he became like the proverbial pig in **** and did a great job. I wonder how many people labour on in the wrong holes, not giving of their full potential. There are a number of footballers who started out in one position but for whatever reason where asked to play in a different position. Suddenly they discovered that they were much better suited to the new role and their careers took off. Equally, some managers appear blind to the fact that they are asking players to perform in positions that do not suit them.

Are your team members all playing in their best positions?


Charlie the Plumber

“I left school at 15 with no qualifications, which was a mistake.” So said Charlie Mullins, the founder of a plumbing business. I am sure that many of us have come across people who have subsequently recognised that they left school too soon. The next comment by Mr Mullins is rather more surprising. “I should have left at 14.”

He goes on to explain that he knew that he wanted to be a plumber from age 10 and was lucky enough to have a mentor who instilled in him the virtues of a quality operation: doing a good job, reliability – turning up on time, charging the correct price, smartly dressed workforce, clean and tidy vans etc. A four-year plumbing apprenticeship coupled with this vital insight into the requirements for success was all he needed to set him on his way.

A variation on pegs and holes?


Coachability

New Rambler Owen Smith sent me the following quote from England rugby player Nick Easter writing in the Metro a few weeks back:

"Take on board what the coach says, but don't take any negative comments personally as it can affect your coachability."

As I have mentioned before, I am a member of a speakers club. When we have made a speech, another club member will evaluate it. The evaluator’s remarks are not directed at the speaker but at the audience in general and are focussed on the educational benefits to be gained. Strong points are highlighted, as are opportunities for improvement. By depersonalising the evaluation it generally avoids any negative feelings developing between speaker and evaluator.

Of course, for the message to be taken on board fully, it does require the coachee(s) to understand and accept the comments made. Which almost certainly means that they need to respect the abilities and judgement of the coach.


Pause For Thought

Back in October 2006 I described an encounter with Bob Geldof at a business event. As you might expect, his communication style was very informal and relaxed. But there was one aspect that fascinated me. Twice when answering questions from the audience, he paused for what seemed like an eternity before answering. In reality it was probably only 15 to 20 seconds before he started to speak.

This demonstrated two things. Firstly, here was a man who liked to think before opening his mouth, so what he said actually meant something. The second point is that he was sufficiently self-assured to be comfortable with the silence, not to feel that he should have instant answers.

Now, although Barrack Obama is rightly praised for his ability to communicate, it is also pointed out that he ‘ers’ rather a lot when asked a question. At times he seems stumped for an answer. But at least he does pause for thought before responding. To me this is vastly preferable to the many politicians and others who rush in with an answer that does little to enlighten us.

Perhaps we would all do well to listen to the other person and to think about what they
have said before responding.


How Are You Valued?

Apparently the banks and similar institutions have to pay astronomical salaries and bonuses to attract and keep the right kind of talent. Or so the justification goes. Quite apart from the blindingly obvious observation that it clearly didn’t work for the banks, there is other evidence available that money is not, or should not be, a prime motivator.

Richard Branson recounts how the Australian Virgin Blue airline pays way below the rate of its main rival, Quantas, and yet had no trouble recruiting people to join them when they started up. Ricardo Semler is open about the fact that Semco does not match other top Brazilian companies on the wage front, and yet has a waiting list of people wanting to work for it, and has been very successful over the last twenty five years. And, perhaps most tellingly, Professor Jim Collins identifies that his team researching for the book ‘Good to Great’, found that the ‘great’ companies (those that outperformed rivals and the general market over a sustained period), actually paid their executives less than other comparable businesses.

Up to a certain point, and certainly in the earlier parts of their careers, I imagine that most people are driven to a large extent by financial need. But beyond a certain point, is money really such a great motivator? After all, why do so many people give their time for no reward to voluntary organisations? Because the want to make a difference? Because they want to give something back? Because they feel they have a valuable contribution to make? Because it is stimulating? Because they like the people involved? Yes, probably all of those reasons and a good few more besides. But perhaps the strongest reason is that they feel that their efforts are appreciated and valued. Maybe someone even thanks them for their contribution.

So rather than huge financial reward, wouldn’t it be better to help employees feel appreciated and valued? Surely that would be a greater motivator.


Words of Wisdom

“As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.” Bill Gates, American bloke who made a few dollars out of computer software

“A manager's job is to liberate, develop and use the talents of the people who report to him or her.” Nigel Nicholson, London Business School professor

“A leader's role is to raise people's aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there.” David Gergen, author and US presidential adviser

“If managers have a job at all it is to make it easy for front line staff to do their job with freedom.” Trevor Gay, Manchester United supporter and author of Simplicity is the Key

“I see the manager's principal role as identifying things that get in people's way (by asking them!) and meticulously getting those things out of their way.” Tom Peters, quite well known management consultant

“Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish.” Sam Walton, founder of the Wal-Mart Corporation

Anyone disagree?


Did You Notice Anything?

I have been stupid! I haven’t visited Seth Godin’s blog for some while. I have just rectified that omission and have reminded myself of how much wisdom I have been missing.

Do you want people to notice your website? The answer is ‘no’ unless viewing the website itself is the point of the visit. For the majority of us the website is just the vehicle that carries the message. It is the message that we want people to see and remember, not the website. I guess it’s a bit like saying that the frame should not be more memorable than the painting.

I guess that the same could be said about all of our marketing communications.

Seth’s blog: (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog).


I Don’t Think We’ve Met

I attend a reasonable number of networking meetings. There are a few people who attend most, but the majority appear to be new faces each time. Now I admit that this may just be a trick of my ageing memory but I don’t believe it to be entirely so. So why is it that the majority don’t attend on a regular basis? Networking is about building relationships. It is difficult to do that in a brief one-off meeting.

Is it that the contacts made don’t appear to be immediately useful? Possibly. But how can one be sure that somewhere down the line there won’t be a benefit from having built a relationship with someone that you met a year ago?


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And Finally

Last week Liverpool played Chelsea in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal. They had ‘a bad day at the office’ and lost 3-1. In the return game at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge ground last night Liverpool had to score three goals to recover the situation. With pretty much any other team you would say that the task was impossible. But Liverpool believed that they could achieve it. Their fans believed that they could achieve it. I believed that they could achieve it.

They scored four times. But in this astonishing game, so did Chelsea. Even in injury time needing two more goals there was an urgency and belief in the Liverpool players. In the end it wasn’t to be, but even as the final moments were played out their incredible supporters were singing the Liverpool anthem. It will be sung again today at the memorial service for the 96 innocent people who died 20 years ago at Hillsborough because of a catastrophic catalogue of organisational blunders by various authorities. Its words encapsulate the bond between everyone associated with Liverpool Football Club and their belief that they will ultimately succeed. Perhaps these words have a message for us all.


David

You’ll Never Walk Alone

When you walk through a storm

Hold your head up high

And don't be afraid of the dark

At the end of the storm

Is a golden sky

And the sweet silver song of a lark

Walk on through the wind

Walk on through the rain

Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown

Walk on, walk on

With hope in your heart

And you'll never walk alone

You'll never walk alone

March 2009

As the weather is so lovely, this month’s Ramble is a few yards longer than usual.

• Let Them Eat Cake
• Free Swans
• Pebbles And Beer
• Racing Yaks
• How Much?
• Speaking Of Which …
• Circulation Details
• And Finally

Let Them Eat Cake

It is always encouraging to receive positive comments from fellow Ramblers and even better when our Rambles lead them to take action. So you can imagine how pleased I was to receive this from Etta Parkes at Graduate Advantage: “I just wanted to let you know I took inspiration from the Obamarama article, and Will Carling’s love notes and have bought my team a big cake to celebrate the launch of our new website!” Well done Etta, Marie Antoinette would have approved!

So fellow Ramblers, the gauntlet is laid down. Can you rise to the cake buying challenge? Etta tells me that she is pretty good at eating the cake as well.

For information, Graduate Advantage are the people to talk to if you want work experience placements in the West Midlands. They can provide a suitable student or graduate for eligible SMEs and, subject to conditions, may even be able to help fund the cost. Their super new very pink website is: www.graduateadvantage.co.uk.

PS - You’ll have to negotiate your own cake deal.


Free Swans

Generally I have reservations about the marketing benefits of ‘freebies’. However, when the opportunity arose to attend a free concert on the afternoon of my birthday, it seemed like an offer not to be missed. The concert was in Birmingham’s magnificently restored Town Hall and was given by the Orchestra of the Swan. The orchestra is based in Stratford-upon-Avon, a place well endowed with these large white graceful birds, hence the unusual name I presume.

The orchestra were excellent and I have it in mind to attend another of their concerts soon. With the world class City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra performing so frequently in the fabulous Symphony Hall, I have found little incentive to try the smaller and more obscure bands. By giving away so many free tickets for the concert in the Town Hall, I am sure that the OOTS will have won many new customers.


Pebbles And Beer

I smiled at this quote by the veteran US business guru, Tom Peters: “While we all ‘do a hundred things,’ we may not/should not/cannot have more than 2 (or 3) true ‘strategic’ priorities at any point in time.” I have just finished running a series of self-employment/enterprise awareness workshops for a local authority. One of the things that I mention is the myriad tasks that find their way onto our ‘to do’ lists when we work for ourselves. When confronted with a long list, it is very easy to get stressed. But generally I have found that careful study of the list shows relatively few ‘must do’/urgent tasks, then there are a few more quite important jobs and lots of less important/urgent tasks, many of which may fade away if we just ignore them.

To demonstrate this to the workshop participants I do an exercise that may be familiar to some of you. I have some pebbles – a few large ones, quite a few medium sized ones and lots of small ones - gravel. The pebbles represent the various sized tasks. I have a container that represents the working day or week. As I point out, it is tempting to do the small easy jobs first just to get a few things crossed off the list. So I fill the container with the gravel, then the medium pebbles and finally the large pebbles … but not all of these will fit in. So then I repeat it the opposite way round, shaking the container to allow some of the smaller stuff to fit in around the big stuff. All goes in. And the best bit? I then open a beer bottle and tip this in to show that if you are organised there is always time for a beer at the end of the day.

Just in case you are horrified at the waste of beer, as are several people every time I do the demo, trust me, I drank it first and refilled the bottle with tea!

Do you have all of your pebbles in the right order? And perhaps you could look at your gravel and put quite a few items on the ‘to don’t’ list.


Racing Yaks

A while back I was talking to Trevor Gay and asked him how he generated new business. Mostly down to luck he said, but then went on to quote South African golfer Garry Player: “The harder you work (practise), the luckier you get.”

In his book, Liberation Management, Tom Peters says: “If you believe that success does owe a lot to luck, and that luck in turn owes a lot to getting in the way of unexpected opportunities …”. I love that, “… getting in the way of unexpected opportunities …”. Peters then goes on to list 50 strategies to help get lucky. Here are a few:

Read odd stuff. Look anywhere for ideas.

Cultivate odd hobbies. Raise orchids. Race yaks.

Train without limits. Pick up the tab for training unrelated to work - keep everyone engaged.

Listen to everyone. Ideas come from anywhere.

Forget the same tired trade association meetings, talking with the same tired people about the same tired things.

Smash all functional barriers. Unfettered contact among people from different disciplines is magic.

Spend 50 percent of your time with “outsiders.” Distributors and vendors will give you more ideas in five minutes than another five-hour committee meeting.

Get out of your office. Tell me, honestly, the last time something inspiring or clever happened at that big table in your office?!

Get rid of your office.

Spend a workday each week at home.

I think you get the drift. Right, I’m off to try to get in the way of unexpected opportunities. Anyone know where I can find a yak? Come to think about it, there are some alpacas (bit like a llama) for sale up the road. I wonder whether they’d do.


How Much?

I was pondering on the recession, bankers' remunerations and the like. Then my thoughts moved on to the increasing numbers of employees who have agreed a pay cut in an attempt to avoid redundancies. I wondered whether everyone is taking a hit or just the front line. From there my mind grasshoppered to Ricardo Semler’s Semco. At Semco they have open books. All the employees have access to all of the company’s financial information, including wages.

I know that many people would be uncomfortable with such a notion but surely it would be in everyone’s interest. In difficult times employees would be able to see that the finances were not in good shape and would more easily understand the steps that had to be taken to turn things round. Who knows, they might even come forward with proposals themselves if encouraged. And what about knowing how much everyone is paid? Semco take it to the next level and allows employees to set wage levels within their own teams. Invariably those in a team will know who pulls their weight and who doesn’t. In my experience senior management aren’t always very good at that and can be taken in by those who talk a good game.

Having decided to pen those thoughts, I then spotted the Tom Peters item mentioned previously. Also included in his list of 50 where the following.

Empower. The more folks feel they’re running their own show, the more at-bats, etc. (No idea what an at-bat might be – a baseball term perhaps?)

Open the books. Make everyone a ‘businessperson,’ with access to all the financials.

I rest my case!


Speaking Of Which …

Judging people’s capabilities can be extremely difficult based on initial acquaintance. As mentioned above, I have just finished running a series of workshops. They were for people who are unemployed. During these sessions I met a wide range of people, some of whom were fairly challenging. So who or what sticks in my mind?

Firstly, it was surprising how often a person who was vociferous in their opposition to being asked to attend the session put their reservations aside and became the unofficial leader of their team in the various activities. One young lady in particular comes to mind. She was very ‘mouthy’ at the start, didn’t want to sit where I’d asked her to sit and so on. She had ‘attitude’. But put a sheet of flip chart paper in front of her and a pen in her hand and beautifully drawn mind maps appeared. And she was articulate in expressing views and ideas throughout the day.

At the start I had given out card and marker pens to make name ‘tents’. Hers was a work of art. At the end of the day the cleaner came in and quickly cleared the debris – flips, name tents etc. Shortly after he had gone our lady came back, having intended to take her name with her. She was very disappointed to find that it had gone. I asked if she would like some more card to make another and gave her a marker pen. She was so pleased. Interesting how a name on a piece of card could be the subject of pride. However, she didn’t go before receiving a brief lecture on not letting her attitude get in the way of her talent. I think she took it on board. I hope so.

In some of the sessions I asked the teams to come up and present their ideas. For many this was a new experience and was often tackled with some considerable reluctance. One group came up to the front. They were not the brightest that I’d seen. One of the team had great difficulty articulating his thoughts. They stood at the front in awkward fashion. I had concluded that none was going to be able to present their ideas so I was about to help them out by asking a few questions. Suddenly our inarticulate friend stepped up and gave a very good presentation. I was astonished – what a transformation. I still can’t quite believe it. I just hope that the experience gave him a confidence boost and a warm feeling to take away from the day.

I guess that some of the people I met might win approval from Tom Peters: “Hire odd people. Boring folks, boring ideas.” Certainly it was surprising how many of those I met were artistic and creative. And how many were different from first perceptions once you got to know them a little better.


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And Finally

How about trying something different this month?

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

Eleanor Roosevelt, US First Lady, author, politician and human rights campaigner.

But also: "Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself."


Enjoy the sunshine!

David