The Quisenblog

If you held the original patent on the modern slide rule (first introduced by a French artillery lieutenant in 1859), for more than 110 years you had a license to print money.

Over the years, the slide rule got simpler, more colorful, slimmer and even more specialized. In the 1930s, for example, the revolutionary E6B model was released–a circular slide rule created specifically for airline pilots. In 1952, the Swiss watch company Breitling took the E6B a leap further by embedding a circular slide rule into a pilot’s wrist watch.

The Texas Instruments TI-30, circa 1976

More than 100 years of iterations, based on the same basic technology.

Then the ceiling caved in. In 1976, Texas Instruments released the TI-30–a $25 scientific calculator that rendered 100 years of slide rule technology obsolete.

Okay, so enough with the slide rule history lesson already. What this story really demonstrates is how most “innovation” comes in the form of incremental improvements. And to the outside observer, those incremental improvements were just what was called for. The world didn’t need (and wasn’t looking for) a new technology to replace the slide rule for calculating trig equations or logarithms. But when the pocket calculator came along (which was more or less a “repurposing” of off-the-shelf technologies that made the transistor radio possible), well, 100 years of ”new and improved” slide rules weren’t worth the wood they were made of.

Such is the dynamic of “disruptive technologies.” They seemingly come out of nowhere, but are mostly just a reimagining of existing technologies, harnessed for a specific new purpose.

Disruptive technologies have been with us for a long time. Flushing toilets, electric lighting, frozen entrees, the iPod. These are a few not-so-distant examples. Of late, it seems every time your pick up the paper (though today it’s most likely a tablet), you’ll read about yet another long-standing technology that’s been banished to the history books. Be it record stores, travel agencies, film cameras or “snail mail.”

The photo to the right gives us a snapshot of how personal technologies have evolved in just the last two decades.

ABOVE: 1993 Technology BELOW: Same Technology 2013

With “disruptive” technologies now coming at us faster and faster, what can industry do to make sure they’re not on the same track as the slide rule? A few things come to mind:

1. Develop a “flanking strategy.” Just because you own 90% of the market doesn’t mean you always will. No matter your market share, you are potentially one technological advance away from being out of business. So rather than stay “fat and happy” with your situation, invest 10% of your profits towards a flanking strategy. Call it your “what if” fund. Create a division whose only job is to look at new technologies in other categories and ask “what if we could harness them in our category.” Xerox did this in the 1960s, and ended up patenting many of the technologies that are now commonplace in our personal computers. Tech companies live-and-die by flanking strategies. They are under continual pressure to innovate or die. Borrow some of this imperative for your category.
2. Whatever you do, continually add value for your customers. Some breakthroughs are of the truly mundane variety. It’s just that no one had applied them to certain industries before. Southwest did it when they understood they were in the hospitality business as much as they were in the travel business. So they went all-in on recruiting the friendliest people, training them, and giving them the freedom to create great experiences for their customers. This at a time when most carriers saw themselves as “ways to get from point-A to point-B.”
3. Understand your customers’ pain points. Actually go out and “live in your customer’s shoes” to see what she sees, experience things the way she does. You’ll find out rather quickly that your offerings are a mere blip in her existence, and that there are things you may be able to do to make her life easier elsewhere. For example, understanding how important the commodity of “time” is to modern families, a “60 minute guarantee” or something similar in a category that might not seem time-sensitive could be worth testing.

One thing is for sure. Technology is going to be with us, and it’s going to change change things quickly. By staying as knowledgeable about your customers, and being as relevant as possible for them, you’ll keep yourself on the “calculator” track.

Posted by Mickey

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Mickey Ramblings, customer experience, how-to, strategy adding value, customer empathy, disruptive products, disruptive technologies, Southwest Airlines, time starved customers

Think for a moment about all the different types of “experiences” a typical consumer might have with your brand.

She might see a commercial on TV. She might read a press article that mentions you. She might see your product on the shelf at retail. She might read a post in her Facebook news feed from a friend. She might run across your brand while conducting an unrelated web search, or on a third-party website (such as Amazon). She might receive an electronic coupon at the point-of-sale. She might even hear your name mentioned in a news story (let’s hope it’s not for the wrong reasons). Or, she might proactively seek out what previous customers have to say about you on Yelp. Or she could do her own Google search.

Wow, that’s a ton of touchpoints.

With so many ways for consumers to get “exposed” to you (and the 5,000 other marketers they’ll run across today), does that make it more likely she’ll purchase from you? Or is it just a bunch of clutter that confuses matters, and makes it harder to break through?

Tough question.

The best definition of a “brand” I have heard is “the sum of everything you know, hear, believe, feel and experience about a particular product or company.” If we accept this definition, then we can see how every way your brand “touches” your consumer or prospect contributes to your “brand” in their view.

So how do you make sure that the customer hears a consistent narrative across all these possible touchpoints?

While there is no controlling everything that’s said/written/shared/experienced about you, there is one powerful tool you have at your disposal:

Walking the talk.

Find out what your most devoted fans love about you. Why they’d never leave you. Why they feel you can’t be replaced. (This is your “talk”.) Then take that one thing, and amplify it every way you can throughout your value chain. And live by it, no matter what. (This is the “walk” part.)

If you conclude your competitive difference is that you offer the best service, see what you can do to kick it up a notch. For everyone, everytime, whether they are a customer or not. No phone trees. No “let me talk to my supervisor.” No “that’s not our policy.”

Southwest AIrlines found that fans flocked to them because they were the “low fare airline.” So they found dozens of ways to amplify and demonstrate that, from offering ridiculous “super saver” fares, to not charging for bags, to not offering food service, to having the industry’s simplest frequent flyer program, to keeping their planes in the air 20% more than competing airlines (cutting downtime).

By uncompromisingly walking the talk, you are creating consistent perceptions, experiences and stories that are passed forward. These are the “tidbits” that go into formulating your “brand” in consumers’ minds. The more consistent you are, the more consistent the stories will be, and the more consistent your brand narrative will be.

And yes, the more you’ll break through the morass of clutter out there.

Posted by Mickey

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Mickey On Clients, On Customers, customer experience brand defined, brand formation, brand narrative, brand vision, consistent messaging, Southwest Airlines

Would Twitter be as useful or popular if it didn’t restrict your messages to 140 characters? Would Groupon’s emails receive a better open rate if its audience didn’t know the offers were for 50% off? Would Southwest Airlines attract more business travelers if it served three-course meals during its flights? Would Jackson Pollock have sold more paintings if he did the occasional still life?

My answer to each of the above questions: not so much.

In each case, the marketer’s limitation serves a marketing purpose. It keeps the marketer from falling into the trap of being “everything to everyone.” It lets them hyper-concentrate on its marketing “sweet spot.” It helps the marketer occupy an important niche. The limitation is a key component in how its users view the marketer’s product, and in fact, is one of the reasons the audience finds it so useful and desirable.

In essence, these organizations’ limitations have become some of their biggest advantages.

Back to the Twitter example, there’s already a platform that allows for unlimited social conversation. It’s called email. Could you imagine the folly of “following” hundreds or thousands of Twitter voices via email?

While the limitations of the marketers mentioned here are more or less “self-imposed,” what about marketers who have their limitations thrust upon them? The mom-and-pop that’s forced to compete with a Big Box Store? The retail shop who doesn’t have the space to carry an exhaustive inventory? The small-market service business that’s competing against well-stocked big city firms for both business and talent?

I guarantee, within each limitation is a kernel of a pre-emptive advantage. It is incumbent on the marketer to recognize that kernel, and rather than paper it over, embrace it. Put it on steroids. Make sure everyone who does business with you recognizes that you’ve embraced your “limitation” and used it to provide something no other competitor can deliver.

After all, you’ll never be able to get a burger at Starbuck’s.

Posted by Mickey

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Mickey On Clients, On Customers, customer experience, strategy brand vision, competitive advantage, marketing limitations, small business, Southwest Airlines, Twitter

“No. Matter. What.”

When Southwest Airlines dedicated themselves to being “THE low-fare airline,” they didn’t address it by saying “we’ll cut costs wherever it’s feasible.” They said they were THE low-fare airline—no matter what. So whenever someone from within the organization presented a business case that the airline could attract more business travelers by having wider seats, or by serving hot meals or by allowing business passengers to pre-board, instead of looking for a way to implement these initiatves cheaply, they dismissed these ideas all together. Because they got in the way of them being THE low-fare airline—no matter what.

When Nordstrom dedicated themselves to providing out-of-this-world customer service, they didn’t put a lot of “ifs” or “excepts” into it. Want to return something without a receipt? No problem. Want to return it after it’s obviously been worn a time or two? Still no problem. Want to return it, even though you don’t even know for sure it was bought there? Chances are they’ll take it. And do it with a smile. (There’s one urban legend that a man actually returned tire chains for a refund, even though Nordstroms never carried tire chains.)

Without a doubt, “No matter what” will cost you money. It may cost you some sales. It may cost you some customers. It may force you to eat some expenses. But if your brand vision is truly meaningful to your customers, and if you’re delivering it uniquely as no other organization can, that doesn’t matter. You just built and owned a valuable niche in your industry. And while others may try to copy your success, they will fail, because they’ll waffle on the “no matter what.”

One of the biggest challenges in implementing what could be a break-through Brand Vision is getting the whole organization, from the C-suite down to the street level, to buy into it and “live it” in their day-to-day transactions.

“No matter what” creates a narrative for your organization that everyone can relate to and re-tell. It eliminates wiggle room for interpreting your Brand Vision. It puts it on steroids, and eliminates the need for case-by-case interpretation. If I’m a sales clerk at Nordstroms, and I know my charge is to offer “uncompromised service, no matter what” I suddenly have permission to do whatever it takes to create a great customer story, without having to run it upstairs or refer to a policy manual.

Would your business look differently, or operate differently, if you added “no matter what” to the end of your brand vision?

Posted by Mickey

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Mickey Creative, On Clients, On Customers, Ramblings, customer experience, strategy brand narrative, brand stories, brand vision, marketing case studies, Nordstroms, Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines has built a monumentally successful business model as a low fare, no frills service-oriented airline. A key component in this model is to “keep the planes in the air” understanding that the longer a plane is on the ground, the less revenue it generates. Southwest has revolutionized the industry by developing systems that allow their crews to flip a plane in under 20 minutes.

So what do you think Southwest Airlines would do if one of its employees took it upon himself to delay a plane by 12 additional minutes, nearly doubling the turnaround time for the flight? One decision by one line employee could potentially have a rippling effect through the entire carrier’s flight operations. Connections could be missed. Passengers irritated. It’s no stretch to say that Southwest would be justified in terminating the “loose cannon” that made such a decision.

But wait till you hear the rest of the story.

As reported by Christopher Elliot on consumertravel.com, he received a letter from a reader named Nancy chronicling the story. I am reposting Nancy’s letter as Chris reported it.

“Last night, my husband and I got the tragic news that our three-year-old grandson in Denver had been murdered by our daughter’s live-in boyfriend.

He is being taken off life support tonight at 9 o’clock and his parents have opted for organ donation, which will take place immediately. Over 25 people will receive his gift tonight and many lives will be saved.

This morning, after only a couple hours sleep, my husband and I began to make all arrangements to get him to Denver to be with our daughter. He is currently on business in LA and is flying Southwest.

While his employer, Northrop Grumman, made arrangements to get his ticket changed so he could get to Tucson today (which he had to do in order to not spend any extra money) I called Southwest to arrange his flight from Tucson to Denver so he would be stepping off one plane and getting on another.

He has several free flights with them so I couldn’t really do it on the website. The ticketing agent was holding back tears throughout the call.

In LAX, the lines to both check a bag and get through security were exceptional. He got to the airport two hours early and was still late getting to his plane.

Every step of the way, he’s on the verge of tears and trying to get assistance from both TSA and Southwest employees to get to his plane on time.

According to him, everyone he talked to couldn’t have cared less. When he was done with security, he grabbed his computer bag, shoes and belt and ran to his terminal in his stocking feet.

When he got there, the pilot of his plane and the ticketing agent both said, ‘Are you Mark? We held the plane for you and we’re so sorry about the loss of your grandson.’

The pilot held the plane that was supposed to take off at 11:50 until 12:02 when my husband got there.

As my husband walked down the jetway with the pilot, he said, ‘I can’t thank you enough for this.’ The pilot responded with, ‘They can’t go anywhere without me and I wasn’t going anywhere without you. Now relax. We’ll get you there. And again, I’m so sorry.’

My husband was able to take his first deep breath of the day.

I don’t know any other airline that would have done this.”

All of a sudden, those 12 minutes don’t seem like such a big deal.

Why would a pilot feel empowered to rock the boat in order to accommodate just one passenger? I’ve got to believe it has to do with the fact that SWA’s “People First” culture is so ingrained that the pilot and gate agent really saw it as a no-brainer. They didn’t need to run it by anyone upstairs. They didn’t need a corporate directive telling them when they should and shouldn’t take such actions. They instinctively knew it was the right thing to do.

It also created a terrific story. Every passenger on that flight could imagine Southwest doing the same thing for them. And in this age of Social Media, a compelling story like this will spread like wildfire. Check out the airline’s Facebook page for a sampling of what the general public has to say.

We all say our customers are important. We all claim to be customer-centric. But how many of us would be willing to go so far out on a limb for one customer?

There’s an old saying that a principle only becomes a principle when it costs you money. This pilot’s decision may have cost Southwest financially. But it more than made up for it in good will.

Posted by Mickey

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Mickey On Clients, On Customers, Social Media, customer experience brand vision, living the brand, Southwest Airlines

This week’s social media blog posts:
Monday: The two kinds of online consumers.
Tuesday: Creating a Community, Part 1.
Wednesday: Creating a Community, Part 2.
Thursday: Social Media you can own.
Friday: Giving up control.

(This is the twelfth in our series of Social Media posts for the month of October. We look forward to your feedback on this series.)

Where many organizations struggle with the realities and potential of Social Media is in accepting the fact that they aren’t in control of the agenda. Companies cannot force goals on people, can’t control what they say about the brand, can’t spin the facts.

Truth is, the power of Social Media is the ability to hear what customers are REALLY SAYING. There is tremendous opportunity in searching out negative comments and addressing them directly. Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to be responsive. Ignoring the true conversation coming from customers does no one any good. If someone has a bad story to tell about you, you need to accept it is being told somewhere. (See our post on “United’s Sour Note”) Social Media gives you the opportunity to get out in front of such stories and contribute to a solution.

You can’t control what people are saying about you. What you can do is organize that speech. You can organize it by highlighting the good stuff and rationally responding to the not-so-good stuff. You can organize it by embracing the people who love your brand and challenging them to speak up and share the good word.

Here is an example of how Southwest Airlines uses Social Media to approach this:

You’ll note that “Sean” left a post complaining of a specific customer service concern. A few hours later, “Christi” from Southwest Airlines answered Sean directly, and tries to use this complaint as an opportunity for further conversation. Interestingly enough, “Phil” intervened before Christi had a chance to respond, and “stood up” for the airline, essentially evangelizing on its behalf.

This is typical of how social media works. For Sean, it is an easy outlet to contact the company, and list a specific complaint. The company then had the opportunity to address it, or at least acknowledge its intent to make things right. If nothing else, it had to make Sean feel better about the company being that he knows they “heard” him. His post also opened to the door for Phil, a loyal member of the SWA community, to weigh in.

Having loyal customers jump in and “run interference” for you isn’t that unusual, once you demonstrate to visitors that you are willing to hear what they really have to say, and demonstrate that you are trying to facilitate solutions.

Have a great weekend, and we’ll check in with you next week!

Posted by Mickey

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

admin Social Media customer interaction, customer satisfaction, Facebook, solutions, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines