Do you have a Marketing problem…Or is it something else???
July 15th, 2010
We get hired many times by clients when they are under the assumption they need “marketing help”. Many times we meet with clients they are having problems with communication, getting things done, management, and general business decline.
Consider a company that comes to us through their Chief Operations Officer (COO). The COO makes contact with us to ask for help in fixing a major business problem in their organization. The CEO is unaware of who we are, the fact that were coming, and most important why we are there. Does this give more insight into the REALLY problem?
The COO brought us in to address a marketing concern they had regarding customer satisfaction and branding. What they thought they needed was a “marketing make-over”. What they really needed was clarity, organization and teamwork.
Nobody in the company knew what the others were doing and many were doing the same job or at least overlapping. Tremendous amounts of waste.
We explained that they did not have a marketing issue by an organizational structure problem. Business was not flowing, communication was not happening, nobody knew their jobs, and the CEO was losing control of leadership and management.
One of the first things we did was create team/company Standards. This is part of our Performance Management process.
In the end after a long several months, we were able to return the client to a path of profitability and solid foundation in which they can now start building marketing initiatives on which will be supported.
Your Organization Structure – Need a Better One?
June 15th, 2010
A typical organizational chart, like the ones found in many companies in the world is shown here; showing only titles. What do these words even mean in terms of actual responsibility?
“Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to nothing.” – Colin Powell (Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff: 1989-93 )
Thank you Mr. Powell. We couldn’t agree more. An organizational chart filled with meaningless names serves as nothing more than an office decoration.
Having names on a flow chart tells the employees very little about what is going on in your organization. Organization charts are important because they display a chain of command. But how many staff really know the structure of their business? Does management post or publish the organization chart?
What if an organization board was posted around the office with details? Details such as…..
- Names
- Titles
- Responsibilities
- Performance Measures
Our clients that require more productivity are really look for organization most of the time and part of our consulting solution is to implement and train on our Organization Chart. The results are huge. We deliver increased performance by as much as 25%.
Want to speak with us about how to take an organization chart and make your business produce more? Email us at: info@theoctopussolution.com
Pay Attention to Who May Be Marketing Your Company
April 15th, 2010
Marketing is the communication and representation of your brand, company, image, etc to your customers and general public. What employees in your business are doing the marketing? And what controls do you have in place?
The companies we work with are small to mid-size businesses that may or may not have a marketing director. Regardless of having a marketing director many of the people in the organization are facilitating the marketing. For example: one business we work for has 7 different people in the company running the marketing in different departments and there are 7 different messages, different images, no consistency in brand management, and very little communication between these departments. This is a major issue because it is confusing to the customers. It is very important to protect the brand of a business and put in place controls to ensure there is oversight as to what can and can not be done.
There are many marketing channels that businesses utilize to get the word out: Social media, events, direct mail, cross promotions, website, media, partnerships, collateral, etc. All these initiatives need to have final approval and sign off by the most experiences marketing person to ensure controls and consistency of image and message. If 7 people are running marketing in their own silos without oversight then your brand is getting beat up! All 7 of those people should have to seek final approval to print, publish, distribute, etc any and all marketing material and projects.
Consistency in Marketing creates security and trust with customers. How many people can run marketing initiatives in your business without controls in place?
We take it one step further than Harvard
March 15th, 2010
In the september 2009 issue of the Harvard Business Review there is an article on “What Service Customers Really Want” on page 22 and it is a good article. It explains the the 10 things customers want from their service company and how they should be measured, and they are:
- Has Knowledgeable Employees
- Addresses my needs on the first contact
- Treats me like a valued customer
- Demonstrates desire to meet my needs
- Can quickly access information
- Is good value for the money
- Has courteous employees
- Is a company/brand I can trust
- Treats me fairly
- Provides relevant/personalized service
These are the 10 things people most demand from a service company as measurement tools. Do you see any commonality? What does every single question have in common? All ten are facilitated by your Employees!!!!
Are you wondering why you have customer retention issues or revenues are slipping? Are you looking internally first? There is a reason the book Good to Great was a best seller because it explained clearly that to have a great company you need to have great employees, as evidenced in the Harvard Business Review too.
To generate repeat business you need employees that you can trust to get your customers excited about coming back and using your service. Employees, Employees, Employees….they are the only way to make great customer service happen!
Dating your Customers
January 15th, 2010
Date your customers! Yes, that is right date your customers. Every business has three types of customers: the potential, the established, and the repeat. Each phase of a customer should be treated as if you are dating them and here is why:
If we look at the dating scene/process we have three stages: finding a date(external marketing), asking for and getting a date (sales), and getting repeat dates (internal marketing). Each phase of the dating scene is handled differently as should each phase of customer care. In today’s world of texting, emailing, tweeting, etc… the customer needs to feel taken care of and having the right approach will make all the difference. Build long lasting relationships with customers, it is the monster advantage small business has over big business.
When you first started the dating process you most likely didn’t walk to a street corner and start asking random people for a date. You could have done this but you run some risks by being so cavalier. The random street people may not even fit the type of person you want to date. You may have wasted valuable time and energy without any positive returns. The point is…blindly going after random people may work but usually not. This is the same when looking for potential customers. Many small business owners do not take the time to research their target market which leads to a lot of time and money wasted targeting random people and not their ideal match.
Think of potential (new) customers as if you were looking for a new date. Match your values, do some research and watch how your marketing dollars can give you tremendous returns. There are various strategies to this method, but it starts with knowing your business and audience first. Building successful relationships is what life is all about, so pay attention to how you interact with your customers.
Many small business owners have serious challenges when it comes to taking care of their customers. Many view their customers as transactions instead of relationships. If we take the dating approach, with our customers, we will see our customers coming back to us to do business again. Who doesn’t like to be treated well? The best part is most well-treated customers tell others about this treatment and refers other like-minded customers. above we focused on the viewpoint of looking and finding your “target date”, which concentrates on the potential customers who are our target market we are trying to drive into our businesses.
This post we are going to focus on the established customer and how it relates to the dating scene. If external marketing was looking for a new date then sales and operations is asking and delivering a date. This is a two-part process: asking and taking someone on a date. Asking for the date is equal to asking for a sale. Where most companies fail is delivering top-notch customer service/experience, which is equal to delivering a successful date. The good part is that you qualified this date with external marketing, which increases your chances of it being successful. The challenging part is figuring out how compatible both of you are and how to best interact. Factors that play into this are the following: perception of what a date should look like, who should pay, is each person being attentive, did one talk only about themselves, where did they go on their date, did they have fun, etc…
All of the above factors are key in having a successful date. We know up front that not every date will lead to a long-term relationship but adopting this mindset will be the key to your success. If we start to treat our customers as if we want to marry them; the approach and handling of each one would be much different than the one night stand transactional approach. Lets try to focus this month on treating our customers as if they were a relationship not a transaction.
Your Comments?