Comcast…need I say more?

Sometimes these blogs just write themselves.

We are moving and one of the most dreaded parts of these moves is calling Comcast and changing the cable and internet service. This becomes even more difficult when moving within the Comcast system – in this case between Chicago and Minneapolis. The latest effort just reminded me how difficult it is to improve and bring the voice of the customer to the changes.

It really was a simple request: Cancel my Chicago Internet service and transfer the email addresses to Minneapolis. It’s the same company. It’s a simple task. It’s a net gain in revenue. C’mon, how hard can it be?

OK. Let’s start with the good side. No one hung up on me. Everyone was very friendly and tried to be empathetic. The VP’s welcome message was very nice (though annoying on the third or fourth call). I wasn’t asked to enter my account number multiple times. All of these were great improvements from previous calls…but they did very little to solve my core need. Why couldn’t they just make the system work better?

Just make it easier to get what I want!! It took seven different people to solve my issue. First, it was one complete turn around the “moving” process, presumably set up precisely to handle my request. I started on the moving line, was shunted to Minneapolis, then to Chicago, off to technical services, and finally told to start back with the moving line. Determined, I started over, spoke with a very nice woman who wanted to start the same path. She listened and short-circuited the process, offering to stay on the phone until I reached the right person. Great…until I found myself alone with the auto-menu again. I (finally) made it through the gauntlet, found the right person, and was graciously and efficiently helped!!

Are you ready for the punch line…the irony…the unexpected?

After all the people and the multiple calls, Comcast had automatically changed all of my addresses to my new account. They did exactly what I wanted them to do…perfectly…without my intervention. WOW! I was so astounded that I called twice more to confirm that it was done.

I should have been ecstatic. Instead, once again, I was left shaking my head at how a company could work so hard to get better – remember they did what I wanted and were nice about it – but still miss the boat with their changes.

So what can we learn from these calls? Let’s start with these ideas:

• Keep the end result in mind. Know what the customer really wants. Ask them and don’t assume anything.
• Good processes are necessary, but not sufficient. The operators were all competent and helpful. The right changes were made. It didn’t come together in a complete package.
• Eliminate system obstacles. One of the difficulties in this change was that no one had the complete picture of my two accounts. I suspect that neither the corporate management system, nor the IT system provide that view.
• Check your success. Two or three question surveys at the end of a call don’t cut the mustard. In fact, they may be worse than nothing, if the customer never makes it that far.

Comcast is working hard to improve, and they’ve made improvements. Let’s make sure we learn from their experience and implement changes that actually matter to our customers!

 

 

 

The Future of Faith in Business

Harvey Cox, a professor from Harvard University, presented a terrific talk on the future of faith. His speech to the Westminster Town Hall Forum, here in Minneapolis (hear the talk), followed the outline of his book of the same name and painted an optimistic picture for people of faith. One of his key points was that religion is changing and becoming a more personal experience, shifting away from strict dogma. People are searching out and embracing similarities between religions, drawing strength from those similarities and rejecting firm rules and hard boundaries.

These same trends are impacting businesses across the economy. No longer are employees or customers willing to accept the dogma or hard rules of the past. “That’s policy” doesn’t cut the mustard in dealing with issues when alternatives are as close as the Internet. The options available have never been greater…and neither have the opportunities.

Customers can shop anywhere. The Internet makes it possible. This ability is driving products and even services to commodity status. Only genuine, tailored, and unique solutions provide meaningful differentiation. Companies must create close relationships in order to identify and take advantage of those opportunities.

Employees play a critical role in creating those relationships. They are as smart and capable as ever, loyal and wanting to make a difference for their companies. Modern technology makes it possible for teammates throughout an organization to connect and discover new ways to provide value for their customers. As leaders, it’s up to us to create the environment where these connections can be made and creativity unleashed. When we do, good things happen. When we don’t, the same technology that creates opportunities also makes it possible for our employees to find new places to work.

It’s an exciting time to be a business leader. These trends are making companies more honest and responsive to their stakeholders. Employees in these companies are more engaged and productive than ever before. The solutions these teams are creating are better and more effective for customers than ever before. Great companies are riding these trends.

Are you?

The Golden Rule Revisited

 

“He who has the gold, makes the rules…”

Lyndon Forman

The past year has seen some incredible changes in the business landscape. One of the most striking is business credit availability. That’s certainly not an incredible revelation, but I have been constantly amazed at business owners’ inability to effectively manage within the changing conditions.

Eighteen months ago, credit was plentiful. If one bank cut off a line of credit, three more were ready to replace them. The penalties for breaking a covenant were relatively minor: maybe some harsh words from your account manager, more likely renegotiation fees and new covenants. Foreclosure only occurred in the worst cases – and then only as a very last resort.

 

Snidely Whiplash

The landscape has changed. Conditions have caused bankers to reprise the role of Snidely Whiplash. Defaults cause brief and pointed discussions: “Payest what thou owest! You have 30 days.” These are very different times.

Here’s an especially harsh example. A business owner’s projections showed that two weeks out, he was going to need a short-term overdraw on his line of credit. Proactively, he called his banker to make the necessary arrangements. She was on vacation and he was put through to her boss, the President of the bank. The President panicked, visited the business the next day, and put them in the workout group the day after that. The business owner went from a vicissitude to major crisis in less than 48 hours!

That’s a drastic example, though not far from other examples we can cite. The change in the financial community has been lightning quick, extreme, and harsh.

More alarming to us is the underreaction to this sea change by most business owners. Everyone we talk to seems to intellectually understand the liquidity issues. Still, very few owners feel the need to implement any change until they hit a bump: a renegotiation, refinancing, or liquidity crunch. Many times it is far too late to recover in these situations. The options are too limited or expensive for the business to survive.

So what’s a forward-looking owner to do in this market? We believe it is critical for every business to increase its visibility and to stay in motion during these times. Reach out to your customers. Energize your networks – both real and virtual. Make cash flow investments in the future. Be proactive and energetic in the marketplace to be ready to take full advantage of the recovery when it comes.

Above all make sure you have good visibility to your key measures and accountability around weekly cash flows. Monthly financial statements are not frequent enough to spot critical trends or establish firm accountability. Monthly reviews allow as much 60 days to pass from when an issue first occurs, is spotted, and then rechecked. Good measures and weekly cash flows reduce that time to less than 14 days – making you much more responsive to changes in the business.

Resist the urge to “Hunker down” and wait out the crisis. Be ready to take advantage of the changes and opportunities that are coming. Keep moving, raise your visibility, and keep “Snidely” away from the back door!

Outsourcing Sales and Building Relationships

The nature of the selling process is going through another revolution, where relationships and goal alignment – not product knowledge – will be critical success factors for sales professionals. The ability to steer a purchase discussion away from pricing on a particular item and towards performance against meaningful goals will mean the difference between making a price-dependent, commodity sale, and developing a stable and profitable customer base.

Outsourcing is also affecting the nature of this revolution, as companies find outside specialists deliver their non-core requirements. Increasingly, Sales and Marketing are becoming a part of that mix – especially in niche markets or alternative market segments. This model is going beyond the traditional Manufacturer’s Representative or distributor network. It’s moving up the chain to the strategic and management functions within the company.

It’s certainly an interesting proposition: the Sales and Marketing functions are usually not core competencies for most companies, but have rarely been thought of in an outsourcing light. Customer relationships and the ability to control the company’s brand(s) trumped any cost or efficiency considerations.

The economic crisis has changed that equation. The latest cost pressures have caused companies to reconsider everything they do and how it gets done. That includes outsourcing the execution of Sales and Marketing.

On one plane, this makes perfect sense. If your company does not have high-level skills within your organization, outsource the function. Outsourcing can save money (as you only buy the services needed), but more importantly, it can save time and be more effective than trying to build the skills in-house. Never before has so much talent been available with tailored solutions to address particular Sales and Marketing situations. Even modest sized companies can hire world-class talent to drive these functions.

Of course, outsourcing means someone else will be on the front line with your prospects. A clear plan for managing those relationships must be a clear part of the outsourcing initiative. Those plans should include regular business reviews with key customers, processes to measure the success of all initiatives, and clear correction mechanisms for any significant deviations from the plan. This will require creative, non-traditional thinking to make any solution a success.

Outsourcing Sales and Marketing may be a terrific option for your operation, lowering costs, increasing effectiveness, and making world-class talent available to your organization. These gains can be realized without losing customer relationships, but it requires careful thought and deliberate nurturing of the critical parts of your marketplace!

Financial Crisis Drives the Sales Revolution

The current financial crisis is accelerating the sales revolution. All performance is under stress in this environment, as the news from Wall Street amplifies risks and opportunities at work in the marketplace. The depth of the turmoil has effectively eliminated any possibility of “muddling through” until a recovery takes hold. There will be definite winners and losers that emerge.

Sales performance will play a huge role in who wins and who loses. With cash flow and availability more critical than ever, the ability to sustain effective sales performance in the coming months can provide the winning edge in the marketplace. Relationships will be key, as clients and customers look for suppliers who can help them find a path through these times. Are you ready (and are you able) to align with, help, and calm your customers?

The Trusted Advisor role falls short in this new context. Easing pain is not the most effective strategy for growing relationships during uncertainty. Aligning goals and coordinating actions as a Co-Conspirator will build the deep trust and lasting relationships and benefits that will help organizations thrive during this time. Very few organizations are strong enough to succeed by themselves. Alignment with and support of their Co-Conspirators will make the difference between winning and losing.

Are you ready to be genuinely helpful and build success for your customers? Only then will you find the long-term success you want for yourself.

Sales Revolution! Co-Conspiracy!

The Sales profession is going through another major transition.

 

Forty years ago, salespeople were professional visitors. They followed a pre-determined route, collecting orders from customers. Sales main responsibility was to make sure customers knew what products were available.

 

At some point, the concept of features and benefits was introduced. The salesperson’s job changed to that of educator: educating customers about features and benefits so that they could make decisions about the best products for them.

 

Aggressive application of the features and benefits concept pushed the salesperson into the role of “Trusted Advisor”. In this role, the salesperson probed to discover unmet needs the customer may have. “What keeps you up at night?” became a standard question; with the theory that once a need is discovered and matched with a benefit, a sale is made.

 

Now, sales is transitioning again. This time the salesperson fills the role of “Co-Conspirator”, requiring a broader approach to the selling relationship. In this evolution, the salesperson and customer engage in a relationship where the objective is to align as many shared goals as possible in order to make the salesperson and the customer both more effective.

 

Cutting edge salespeople understand this approach and use it to marginalize their challengers and minimize price competition. Transforming transactions to encounters is something these people have been doing for years. Now, a combination of factors makes this more and more possible for broader-based consumer markets.

 

What are your experiences with these trends?