I was running a workshop recently where we were discussing our success of closing business in recent months. After posing the question – How many of you take time out to analyse what course of events led to a successful outcome?….Having done this before, I wasn’t surprised to see only 1-2% of the people were or had done it in the past!

Too often we neglect a wonderful opportunity to diagnose what specific actions, behaviours and events (both ours and the customers), led to a mutually agreeable and successful outcome.

ESPECIALLY – When the competition was tough and the stakes were high! Why not ask them what SPECIFICALLY led them to choosing you over the competition and then thank them for their feedback.

99% of people don’t do the following and will keep making the same mistakes

The next time you lose business to the competition – go back to the customer, thank them for the opportunity for you and your company to be considered and that you respect their decision.

Ask them if they would mind sharing what led to them choosing the other party?

You will be surprised how many will tell you why and I bet you may kick yourself at what little else was required, to win their trust and secure the business?

Wish them well for the future and tell them that you would be more than happy to assist anytime that they may have a need in the future? I guarantee that you will be the first and most probably the ONLY person who will ever show this level of professionalism with them.

Guess who is going to be the first person they ring when the competition drop the ball???

You cannot put a value on experience – both success and failures. Most people are too busy to take time out to learn from each.

The Learning Organisation…

Harvard Business Review defines a learning organisation as an organisation skilled at creating, acquiring and transferring knowledge, AND at modifying its behaviour (i.e. skills, attitudes & competencies) to reflect new knowledge and insights.

Econometricians (yes there is such a word) report that only 40% of competitive improvements derive from direct investments, the other 60% comes from ‘advances in knowledge & or innovation’.

In other words, 40% of a competitive edge can be bought, but 60% has to be learned through knowledge and science, invention, skills and innovation, commerce and the experience of others – i.e. (Best Practices).

It’s an interesting discussion when you consider that many ‘Corporate Playing Fields’ are constantly being levelled and only a minority of businesses are able to truly distinguish themselves as a market leader.

When Heston Blumenthal appeared on Master Chef the other evening, I like the participants were a little bemused when the glistening closh was removed, revealing a substantial looking hamburger and fries.  Within an instant the curiosity and excitement on everyone’s face vanished as they struggled with the concept of what was before them – considering Heston’s formidable reputation?

As chef and owner of The Fat Duck, a 3 Michelin Star Restaurant in Bray, Berkshire – previously voted the best restaurant in the UK and the world, his legacy has leapt in galactic proportions.

Like everything Heston touches though – this was a hamburger like no other. Everything down to the most intricate detail had been scrutinised and looked at from every realm of possibility for opportunities of tantalising our senses to never before achieved highs.

As each of the participants approached the bench carrying the towering hamburger for their initial taste,  the be-speckled smiling chef was clearly confident that he had laid down a challenge worthy of any aspiring ‘apprentice master chef’.

Heston’s approach to his work is in a class off its own – evident by a visit to his web site www.thefatduck.co.uk . His creative mind reminds me of a wonderful book I read recently titled – ‘What Made You Think of THAT?’ written by Gary Bertwistle an international ‘Thought leader’ on creativity.

Full of wonderful antidotes and examples of how to apply creative principles by many notable and accomplished individuals such as – ‘Six Thinking Hats’ Edward de Bono, ‘The Art of War’ Sun Tzu, Pareto’s Principal, Pete Sampras – tennis legend and an array of musicians and actors including one of my favourites – John Travolta, Gary has gone to great lengths to capture what these and numerous others are doing in their respected fields, to differentiate themselves in a busy marketplace.

Staying with the Master Chef theme, Gary shared a story about a restaurant in Barcelona called ‘EL Bulli’ that has been voted the best restaurant in the world no less than 3 times –a remarkable feat.

What impressed me the most was how despite the fact that the proprietors of ‘El Bulli’ receive up to 2 million requests for bookings each season, they only have the capacity to cater for 30,000. What is even more extraordinary is that they actually close their doors for 6 months of the year and go back to basics. Why? So they can create a whole new theme and menu and reinvent themselves for the following 6 months of customers.

Could you imagine your local bank, mechanic or grocery store for that matter making an announcement on the 30^th June? Ok folks we’ll see you in 6 months, with a completely new approach and concept to surprise and delight YOU our customers!

Unheard of?

As Gary rightly states in his book why don’t our banks, insurance companies and other service industries invest in research and development teams to completely turn their industries on its ear? Imagine what might be possible? Remember if you’re not recreating yourself, your systems, people, processes and products, your competitors most likely are. Don’t kid yourself…they are!

For some inspiration you can watch Heston in action here. His creation…. Bacon & Egg Icecream….NATURALLY! Heston – Bacon & Egg Icecream

Imagine co-ordinating a national sales team from your study and coaching sales people responsible for selling services and solutions running into the many millions of dollars, from your breakfast table, after walking your kids to school.

How? By using your laptop, at any location at ANY time?

Let’s face it. The costs associated with air travel, accommodation, meals, utilising conference facilities and ground transport (taxis etc), are not getting any cheaper. With budgets constantly on the squeeze – there has never been a more pertinent time to explore other alternatives?

For over two and a half years I have been using technology that is I believe, one of the most efficient ways of communicating quality information in a timely manner and the results have been nothing short of spectacular. 

Ladies and Gentlemen – I give you CISCO WebEx…Everything you can do in a face to face environment, you can do online and much much more. (And no I am not on a retainer!)

AT …8AM

You can be sharing information with your sales team, speaking via video and an audio link and preparing them for their customer meetings for the day ahead. Some of your team are at home; some are in their cars outside their customers business and some are sat in their favourite cafe. (30 Minutes)

10AM

Your phone is running hot with positive comments and results from your team, who have applied what you and some of your more experienced and successful sales people have shared with each other – only moments ago. (Immediate impact)

1PM

One of your most accomplished INTERSTATE sales people asks when you are next flying over, as they would like you to meet the owners of many of their key accounts who have requested help with educating and training their own staff.

You suggest they go back and arrange an interim meeting online, as you have nothing scheduled for over a month. Their customers are impressed with you making yourself available in such a timely manner and you schedule training sessions utilising the same technology for the following week. (1 – 2 Hours)

3:30PM

Your marketing manager calls and advises that their new campaign and materials are ready. The national sales conference is 6 months away and the competition are winning major accounts from you. You can’t afford to wait until you all get together and schedule a product demonstration workshop for the following day. (45 Minutes)

Having utilised this technology for sales training, information sessions, employee inductions, product demonstrations and various employee assessments, I consider this a great communication method and would be happy to give you further suggestions if you need it?

Looking for people to deliver results that are EXTRAORDINARY otherwise they don’t belong on your team?

Well at least give them some guideliness for starters….

• Tel them – if they can measure it (results), there presents an opportunity for improvement.
• Get your people out of their comfort zone and inspire them to create items that are exceptional in character, noteworthy and remarkable.
• Ask your employees to consider extremes by tackling things in ways that are outside of or additional to the ordinary.
• Have them picture their customers greatest fears and hierarchy of horrors? And then go to work and solve them!

One of my favourite comments of all time was by Sir Ken Robinson – a thought leader on creativity who said…

“If you are not prepared to be wrong – you will never come up with anything original”!

On an aside – Over Easter, my 8 year old daughter broke her wrist in a scooter accident, after following me down a hill that we BOTH now know, needs more caution. 2 days later at a family gathering I caught her in the garage with her bright pink plastercast on show – grabbing her cousin’s scooter and heading for the driveway.

Naturally I asked her – what was she doing?..and she just rolled her eyes skyward and said – Oh yeah that’s right!

I was amazed at her resilience and stunned at her naivety all at the same time. I am sure like me – many of you have done similar things like this when you were growing up and sadly most of us lose this behavior by adulthood.

PERSONALLY I think naivety goes a long way!

Here are a few more people who you might have called naive in their own ambitions – fortunately for us, they would have paid no attention.

I recently immersed myself into the world of Steve Jobs the Co founder of ‘Apple Computers’, to gain a greater appreciation of how his company has established such a legion of followers, who Lemming like adopt their products within days, (sometimes minutes), of being released to the market?

Having devoured a number of hefty novels from various authors, spent copious amounts of time scouring the internet and walked the 3 levels of very funky I must say – stairs leading up to the genius bar in their flagship Apple Store in Sydney,  I have enjoyed the time invested and it has been an enlightening experience.

What was interesting was the depths that APPLE go to – to create not just new and innovative products that give the user an experience like no other, they work tirelessly, almost OBSESSIVELY to simplify, streamline and MASK any complexities from the customer.

THEIR INSPIRATION?

Often the styling of various cars parked within the confines of others and Apples parking lot, field trips to museums and art galleries for inspiration from grand masters, the fine tailoring of a suit to the beautifully crafted wristband of a designer watch. Anything that offered some insight into an often unconsidered approach and different perspective?

Every great sculpture will tell you that within each block of marble is a masterpiece waiting to be discovered and it was this same philosophy that Jonathan Ive their Senior Vice President of Industrial Design who was the principal designer of the iMac, PowerBook G4, MacBook,  MacBook Pro, iPod, iPhone, and iPad, used when creating the aforementioned products.

Jonathan and his team of engineers spend as much time on the ‘unpacking routine’, as they often do in the design process to ensure that everything has been considered. Each new piece of unfamiliar technology is purposefully placed so that the customer can unwrap, feel, explore and in their own time recognise its place amongst its neighbouring components.

Our objective as Jonathan states is to solve incredibly complex problems and make their resolution appear inevitable and incredibly simple. By doing so the user will have no sense of how difficult this thing was. For those of you interested you can meet Jonathan and hear him explain Apple’s design philosophy further HERE. Is it any wonder why so many people are enjoying the countless benefits that Apples Products continue to offer considering their unique and rarefied approach?

With Christmas just over the horizon – I can feel the ends of my fingers start to tingle, reliving the unwrapping of my children’s toys from previous years and those delightful metal ties that secure them so rightly in place.

 I just hope Santa passes by the Apple Store this year on his way through!

The concept of getting every part of your business in alignment would to some seem impossible – almost ludicrous, you might say? Sadly on more occasions than I care to remind myself, I have had people share with me their frustrations at how bad their company is in this area. How none of their systems talk to one another, how their sales strategies are all over the place by not being aligned to their customers buying habits and it is a nightmare. It is in these situations where I often think of the following.

Have you ever read a book, listened to a piece of music or watched a sporting team and thought to yourself – Wow how good was that! That was amazing; You know those instances where everything effortlessly falls into place – almost seamless… Superhuman like? I know I have and what’s interesting is that every budding author, musician or athlete is given the same set of rules and opportunity. So if that’s the case – why are some more succesful than others? When you think about every book that you have read that was a page turner and kept you on the edge of your seat, had a storyline that typically flowed from one scene on each page to the next.

Take every member of a band or orchestra – all must play a different part and yet somehow they must all come together to a single rhythmic pulse which we recognise as music. Any sporting team to remain constantly top of game and ahead of their competition must rely on each other to commit to a common goal. Sure it isn’t always pretty and yet somehow they seem to pull  together when it counts and the players almost appear to KNOW the next move their team mate is about to make.

How do they do this you may ask? They achieve this because they have mastered the art of 

ANTICIPATING THE BEAT!

In a commercial sense – by anticipating the beat you are taking ownership of your own responsibilities to meet the needs of those people around you. The alignment occurs when those same people also take responsibility and make that same commitment. I have worked with many companies who understand this philosophy and have achieved perfect alignment by taking a consultative approach to all areas of their business and gaining substantial amount of respect in the process.

Most companies who fail in achieving perfect alignment typically do so for the following reasons:

1. They don’t engage or consult key people in the process and as a result – they don’t know what they don’t know AND / OR
2.   Their strategy has not been communicated efficiently and their employees and management are ultimately indifferent and don’t care.

Companies are investing a lot of time and resources on various social media channels, watching and listening to how people feel about their and the competitions products? While I see the many benefits of engaging with these same people in real-time, answering questions, solving problems and offering free advice as productive. Maybe consider the following…

Many of the greatest inventions in history were done so by people who had a desire for a product that did not exist OR had an idea of an improvement of an existing product, that was yet to be thought of?

 Empower your customers, give them a voice &

Make it a PART of your business process

 This is much more than asking them the usual…What do you like or dislike…YAWN!

• Ask them what features they like, dislike and would like to be improved or considered for the future: – Quality, Colours, Size, Packaging, Pricing, Delivery Options, After Sales Support, Training etc?
• Ask what features of your products and services they would like more options for their consideration? Ask them what they might look like or be?
• Ask which features that are perhaps more ‘generic’ that they would rather NOT have to be considered as options and could quite easily do without? This could potentially be a considerable cost saver!
• Ask if there are any products or services being offered ELSEWHERE that they would like you to offer the same or with variations?
• Ask them to think about their future needs as their business or family circumstances change – can they anticipate any other requirements that they may have?
• Have them think about the problems or frustrations that they encounter frequently that relate to your industry and you just never know what they may come up with that you could learn and find leverage from?

 A couple of important points for you to consider

In my opinion – NOTHING will ever outweigh speaking directly to your customers either face to face, over the phone or by video link. It is important that we find a balance using technology and not lose sight of the fact that …

 We are human beings doing business with OTHER human beings!

If you are sending something via the post or online – DO NOT CALL IT A SURVEY!

Make it personal and tailored to each and every customer. Use words to the effect of ‘we value your business, appreciate your loyalty and want to ensure we are doing everything we can to meet with your expectations’.

Thank them for their feedback and quite possibly offer a free gesture of goodwill for their efforts!?

This week I am proud to say that my wife (Teresa) and I celebrated 17 years of marriage. We met as a result of mutual friends playing cupid one night, who intentionally introduced us as we seemed like a good match and the rest as they say is history!

Which got me thinking…???

When was the last time you introduced some of your most valuable customers to others who they might also benefit from a working relationship? One of the greatest and most economical ways to add value to your customers is by providing access to other successful and credible people who are recognised ‘thought leaders and innovators’ in their respected fields.

You have a great opportunity to differentiate yourself from all of your competition by running information breakfasts, luncheons or evenings where you invite guest speakers and knowledge experts to share their own experiences on a whole range of ‘topical’ areas.

In the past I have facilitated a number of these sessions and watched new working relationships form and over time – substantial volumes of business occurred – all as a result of you playing cupid (so to speak).

Many of you I’m sure have heard of the term – when ever in doubt, follow your gut instincts?

Well one sunny morning as I was in my element way up above the clouds learning to fly an aeroplane, I was told the exact opposite and thankfully IT SAVED MY LIFE!

5000 metres above sea level, in a remote area south of Perth, my ever faithful flying instructor with a smirk on his face, handed me what he referred to as FOGGLES and to try them on for size? Naturally my curiosity was triggered and once firmly over my eyes, I learnt why they were called such, as the world became nothing but a blur and reminiscent of a heavy morning’s fog.

With my vision now reduced to a VERY small window about the size of a 20 cent coin, my senses sprang to high alert and my whole body was at unease. Immediately I sensed that we were plummeting to the earth and went into a mild panic, over compensating by making unnecessary adjustments to our flight path.

Calmly my instructor told me to take a deep breath, focus on the planes navigational instruments and assess the situation? Nervously I checked the altimeter, airspeed and attitude indicator and could see that my instincts had led me to pull back on the steering column and we were climbing at a steady rate. My instructor made a point of saying that it was paramount that I ignore  my  feelings and senses and to TRUST the information in front of me.

For the next 20 – 30 minutes without looking outside the windows of the cockpit once (well of course my instructor did…are you crazy?), we completed a number of advanced manoeuvres and several 360 degree turns. Once I began to use and trust the information in front of me, I relaxed and could make confident decisions.

It was an amazing experience that taught me some very valuable lessons!

1 – When important possibly life altering decisions are to be made. Gather as much information as you can and use it to make educated and calculated decisions.

2 – Living your life any other way, purely by instinct is very risky indeed.