If Only…
I had a memorable episode which showed me the importance of “covering all the bases".
For some time, I’ve been looking for one of those adjustable desks that moves up and down at the touch of a button. I don’t like to bend over a computer if I only have a quick bit of work to do but equally if I have a lot, then I prefer to sit at a desk.
I finally found my “dream desk” in one of our local stores. It looked good, had the correct electronics, a wire holder under the desk for holding things like power strips and a hook for holding a pair of headphones.
So, what went wrong? I asked the salesperson to show me the desk “in action” (i.e. make it go up and down on its electric motor). The desk wasn’t plugged in to an electric socket, as the nearest one was about 3 m away. Luckily, the store had an extension cable which it was easy to plug into that distant socket and then move closer to the desk. We plugged in the desk, but nothing happened. We looked for the instruction manual and here was the second problem: it was all in Chinese characters and no one could read it.
Where I live and work, three languages are spoken, one of which is Chinese. Unfortunately, they couldn’t put their hands on manuals in the other languages. So, there we were needing a “troubleshooting guide” and not being able to do anything about it…
I was more disappointed than annoyed. After all the desk looked right, had everything I needed and if they had had one that worked and/or a troubleshooting guide, they could have made a sale. Unfortunately, it looked like they now simply had a desk.
We need to make sure we get the details right. There’s no point in putting something on display if you can’t sell it (how many times have we said we wanted to buy a particular item in a store only to be told “Sorry, that’s just a display model.”) If it’s a display model, and you have no other stock, then take it off the display.
Equally if something is on display and stock is available, sales staff need to know how to make it work, where to find the manual and the manual needs to be in the appropriate language.
In retrospect, all of this seems “common sense”. However, it’s surprising how often we encounter cases where the “sense” isn’t so “common”.
What can we as business leaders do to make sure we cover as many of these little details that could lose our business as possible?
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Customer Care, Selling, Teamwork
The “Funnel Effect”
I received an email from a client at he beginning of this year announcing new legislation in their country. It contained one short sentence: “Please find attached letter regarding XXX reforms that will now come into effect in February 2025“.
I got it some three weeks before the “reforms” were due to come into effect. Not much time to react…
Attached to the email was a “Supplier Letter” containing links to various websites.
Instead of explaining the changes this might require for our relationship, the sender left all recipients to work things out for themselves. They deal with multiple small suppliers in different countries. Not all of these speak good English and have little time to decode the complexities of (in this case) UK legislation.
This is a great example of “funnel management” in action. The organisation concerned thought, no doubt, that they had done their job by sending this letter but I suspect that many of their counterparties won’t read it and will wait until they are told what action to take. I wrote back thanking them for the letter and asking them to explain the impact it would have on our relationship. I still haven’t received a response half way through the year.
We’re all busy, I know. However, I suspect that this particular organisation will find that it’s potentially storing up more problems for itself than it solves in the long run.
It’s within our gift to make things work by being as clear as possible. Our colleagues, customers and counter parties will thank us for it. Letting others work things out for themselves may be a recipe for more problems further down the line.
How do we as leaders ensure that our people and counter parties get timely information in a form that is easy to understand and act on?
How often are we guilty of the same error as the counterparty in this story?
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.
Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Productivity, Risk
Do We Assume Too Much?
“Assume makes an ass out of you and me.”
As technology improves and people are educated in different ways and at different speeds, are we falling into the trap of assuming everybody has a certain “basic level of knowledge” when writing operating instructions, etc, for them?
If we’re operating in our “home market” then we might be justified in this assumption. After all, most people should have been educated and “brought up” the same way as us.
Not everyone has the same background, understanding and educational level in particular subject areas as everyone else. One only has to look at instruction manuals for technological gadgets to see this in action.
As I found through experience, this is the case when living and working overseas. Different cultures view things very differently and the same applies more and more even in our “home market” where immigration has resulted in diversification of cultures, societal norms, attitudes and needs.
If we’re going to service customers effectively in the future, we need to be aware of these differences. I can think of one example in which “cultural norms” have been overturned: the concept of postal deliveries. Where I live in work, mail is delivered to a PO Box at a local post office. The only delivery to one’s home address is certain government documents. Contrast this with, say, the UK where post is delivered direct to one’s doorstep. As a result of this, some people have difficulty understanding why I have a PO Box mailing address as they’ve never experienced an environment where this was necessary.
We need to educate both our children and our employees to understand that things are different in other countries and cultures and that there’s no “right” way of doing things.
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.
Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Strategy
WhatsApp: Blessing or Curse?
Many of us now use the well-known messaging service WhatsApp - an app that performs across platforms whether they be Android or iOS.
WhatsApp allows us to communicate both with our nearest and dearest, our friends and groups that we’ve set up or of which we’re members. Rather like email however, there is in my opinion a proper way to use it.
First things first: we need to remember that when we send a WhatsApp message, we’re “intruding” into someone else’s “private space”. We may have agreed that we’ll WhatsApp them (for example, when they’ve asked us for information).
The problem comes when people want to start a conversation and fail to plan it. By this I mean, they need to compose in their minds what they want to say and then type it out in full. How many times have we all received messages like this?
“Hello/hi there/good morning”
“I wanted to ask you something”
“Can you let me know…?”
“TVM”
It’s only with the third sentence in the above message that we get to the crux of the matter. I’ve developed a habit of sending my message or question in full. If the other person can answer it, right away, great. If not (and it’s not urgent), I can wait.
Do you have a “WhatsApp Etiquette” that you’ve developed for your business and/or for yourself?
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.
Labels: Customer Care, Productivity, Teamwork
When They Go Quiet
Have you ever been in a situation where you noticed that suddenly, a colleague who was always keen to suggest ideas or improvements or comment on a project of some sort suddenly "went quiet"?
You can tell a lot about an organisation by whether they encourage people to “speak up” or whether other people’s ideas are squashed. Some call this the “Yes Culture”. Whatever it is, if someone who was always willing to say something (assuming it was always intelligent or constructive) suddenly stops contributing, that should be a concern for the organisation.
I’ve worked in cultures that slavishly followed the “Yes boss” philosophy as well as others in which contributions were encouraged, heard and given due respect. In some military cultures, the rank and file are encouraged to dissect an officer’s plan to see whether they (the officer) have forgotten something or whether things could be improved.
The problem with encouraging a “Yes Culture” is that we end up with an “echo chamber” in which the team simply parrots the boss. This is not only toxic for those concerned, but also highly risky for the organisation as people may be lead down the wrong path. It’s characteristic of governments where power is concentrated in one individual. There are at least four such governments in the world at present.
From experience, I can safely say that it hurts when people “tear apart” the plan or project I’ve worked on for so long. As long as the tearing apart is constructive and results in a better plan or project, it’s worth it (and we learn what to look out for in future). If it’s simply to score points then again one has a toxic culture.
It takes only one person to destroy an open, trusting and proactive culture. I ’ve seen with my own eyes where an employee (not the “boss” themself) acted as a “happiness vampire”. When we asked for ideas or comments in a meeting, everyone else would look to that member of staff who usually sat there with a face like a thundercloud!
In the end we had to let that person go. The effect was electric! The next day everybody walked in with heads held high and were laughing, chatting and from then on suggesting ideas or commenting on discussions or plans.
The next time we see someone “go silent”, it’s time to find out why.
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.
Labels: Leadership, Productivity, Strategy, Teamwork
A Technology Update
I’ve started using the new iPad Mini 7. I chose this after finding that my trusty iPad Pro 11” was too awkward to carry around and hold in one hand for long periods of time.
Sometime ago, I wrote about my experiences with the iPad Pro 12.9” iPad. I bought this when it first came out to see whether it could replace a desktop computer and concluded that, whilst it could duplicate and perform many of the tasks I do on my desktop, it lacked the functionality for full-time office work of the type I do. As a temporary tool for going off on weekends or even week-long trips it was fine, but any “demanding” work (e.g.: creating, formatting or manipulating complex spreadsheets, documents or presentations) was beyond it. It was also still a heavy device.
I downsized to the iPad Pro 11” and found that it had the same limitations as the 12.9”. Whilst lighter and less cumbersome than its big brother, it was still “just too heavy” after a while.
I then saw a video in which the presenter made a great point: when it comes to iPads, we’re either content creators or content consumers. My eyes were opened! I realised that, for “heavy duty” work, I used my MacBook for content creation. When it came to content consumption, that was when I used my iPad. So now I knew. Creation: MacBook; consumption: iPad.
So far, the iPad Mini 7 has proved worth the investment. This latest in the Mini series introduced welcome changes such as a faster processor (eliminating the “jelly scrolling” that many complained about with the Mini 6), more storage (the Mini 6 offered either a paltry 64GB or 128GB; the Mini 7 offers storage of 128GB, 256GB or 512GB).
It has no SIM tray, unlike its predecessor but instead is programmed for e -SIMs. For me, this isn’t a problem as I generally “hotspot” off my iPhone if I’m in a no Wi-Fi zone. My iPhone is always with me!
So what about portability and functionality? Well, no complaints about portability. The Mini 7 fits in a jacket pocket quite happily (and even trouser pockets – just). It’s also far lighter than the iPad Pro 11” for obvious reasons. I find myself reaching it continually without thinking.
Note taking on Goodnotes is also much more like taking notes in an A5 notebook as the two are roughly similar in size.
Yes, the screen’s smaller than the iPad Pro 11”, but it still provides a reasonable amount of “real estate” to read with ease and I haven’t had a problem reading news websites, “The Economist Magazine" and our local newspaper on it (I do occasionally have to zoom in though!). Other content (Facebook, LinkedIn, email) is also still comfortable to read.
General web browsing and movie viewing on YouTube or Netflix is also fine (although I do miss having a larger screen here!)
What else would I like to have seen? Apple could have integrated Face ID into the Mini 7. The touch ID button at the top right of the screen is fine, but when one’s used to Face ID on both iPhone and larger iPads, it comes as a surprise. Equally surprising was that they moved the volume buttons from the top right-hand side of the screen to the top edge. I think this is because the Mini 7 takes the new Apple Pencil Pro which would get in the way of volume buttons on the side. Obviously, they had to compromise somewhere.
Brightness is also lower than the iPad Pros and iPhone, which is a disappointment.
Conclusion? The iPad Mini 7 ticks the boxes for portability, weight and general convenience. It still provides clear viewing for both readable as well as video content.
The only real criticism I have is the lack of Face ID. Some have grumbled about the lack of a faster chip, but the current one is adequate for my modest consumption needs (I’m not a gamer so can’t comment on this).
Apple has done the bare minimum to satisfy demand for an update but could have done more. The iPad Mini will always be the “poor cousin” to the larger models - possibly what Apple wants? After all, why “cannibalise” the market for the Pro series by introducing a Mini that might be “too competitive”?
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.
Labels: Leisure, Productivity
Handling Replies
In this age of 24/7 email, it’s all too easy for us to be “deluged” with emails from any number of people.
When I first started using email back in the 1990s, all I had were my corporate email (and that was an “in-house only” system, which did not allow us to send emails to people outside the employer’s network until later) and my personal “public domain” email.
Since those days, I’ve added two more personal email addresses (for different purposes), my own consultancy business email and my other business email, bringing me to a total of two corporate email addresses and three personal ones!
I receive email in each. Some require responses, some are for information only and others are “junk”. The trick is in handling responses.
One of my former employers had a standard for responding to email requests: two working days if no deadline was specified. Even if we could only send a “holding reply”, at least the sender knew we had received their message and were acting on it. This was considered “professional”. Not only is it “professional”, it’s also courteous and shows the sender that we take them seriously. Personally, if I feel someone doesn't take my requests seriously, I move on to someone who will.
Fast forward to the current age and things seem to be very different. Part of the problem seems to be caused by email systems sending emails from “unknown senders” to one’s “junk” or “spam” folders. This can be for any number of reasons which I won’t go into here.
From a customer service and professional point of view, we should have both corporate and personal standards for replying. My personal standard is that, if I need a response by a certain deadline, then I ask for it by that deadline. If I email someone without giving them a deadline in which to respond, I will generally chase after one or two weeks, depending on the urgency. Luckily I have a highly evolved follow-up system to ensure that I do chase.
For all of us in service industries, we should have response standards. Some organisations send out an automated response to every email stating that it will be handled within a certain number of working days. This is fine, provided that said follow up does occur. My experience is that most of the time, it does.
Does your organisation have “standards” for responding to emails with or without deadlines? If not, how might you change things?
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.
Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Productivity, Selling
