Posts tagged ‘Future Planning’
Keep up (don’t give up): How to take a tech trend-based work-ation
Last week, we talked turkey; this week, we get ready for the reindeer games.
But, there is still time to sneak in a couple of work-ations before the year is over—extracurricular explorations that can set us up for success in 2011. Work-ations are creative excursions (either actual trips or virtual dives) designed to inspire us, and help our companies get a jump on some of the trends that could kick-start revenue growth.
Today’s work-ation list focuses on one of the most important (and, sometimes overwhelming) trends that everyone in business absolutely must pay attention to: technology innovations. How do you dig into what’s new and match the tools to your business concerns?
WARNING: TECH TRENDS CAN BE OVERWHELMING AND POSSIBLY LEAD TO PARALYSIS
A friend recently visited a whiz-bang tech shop in Los Angeles and came away saying, “I don’t know if I should keep up or give up.”
The truth is that we can’t afford to give up. We can all jot down a problem that’s keeping our company from moving forward, and design a work-ation refresher course to study someone who’s tackled that issue using technology.
A WORK-ATION IDEA INSPIRED BY TECH INNOVATIONS AN IDEA TO GET YOU STARTED: GEOFENCING
Trend-related work-ation task: Learn about geofencing.
It’s the next wave beyond zip codes and Groupons and Foursquare and SMS text messaging and Google maps. Geofencing is the power to know where your customers are (physically) and their permission to customize offers to their (almost) every move.
With geofencing, a company like North Face or REI can ask a customer for permission to send out customized SMS text messages with offers that match the customer’s location. If I live in California and fly to Denver, REI or North Face can greet me with a text message that says: “snowboard rental discount available at these Denver locations.”
OK, it sounds 95% creepy (Big Brother is watching) and only 5% cool (Wow, someone knows where I am and is meeting my immediate customer need).
But the ability to take customer intimacy and responsiveness to a new level definitely offers any business leader inspiration for amp-ing up his/her definition of “customer responsiveness.”
If we’re still stuck with an old-fashioned approach to coupons based on a static location-based offer (like for a free dessert at a restaurant in zip code X based on the fact that the customer lives in zip code X), we’re missing one of the biggest lessons we can learn from companies like Placecast and others taking advantage of the geofencing trend: our customers move around so our businesses needs to customize our relationships with them so that we’re where our customers are. All the time.
TECHNOLOGY HAS ALLOWED US TO SHIFT BUSINESS FOCUS FROM WHERE OUR CUSTOMERS LIVE TO WHERE THEY ARE (RIGHT NOW)
The shift from direct mail coupons to Groupons to geofencing is sort of like the shift from calling people’s houses (land lines) to calling people’s ears (mobile phones). Our places are no longer static, and zip codes are no longer the sole definition of where our customers need us.
Which technology trend will be on the back of your envelope this week and which work-ation will you schedule to catch up on the tech trends and contemplate your next moves in 2011?
MUSICAL CODA
Follow You
by Josh Kelley
Everybody tells me I am wrong
When I know I’m not
Something in me moves me to be strong
Cuz its all I got
But I don’t know what to say
When you ask me everyday
My mind won’t let me play
The thought of you
The thought of you
So tell me what you need
I’m getting stronger
If you will help me see
It won’t be long now
Its time for you to leave and I will
Follow you follow you
Dora the (Business) Explorer: How to plan work-ations that will grow revenues, part 1
November means it’s time to think about turkey and very soon about mistletoe. But, in our business lives, we translate this time of year into pressure for Q4 results, with next year’s Q1 expectations looming in the not-too-distant future.
In companies all over the country I hear quiet cries for help: 2010 has been a challenging year for many industries with the impact of low interest rates haunting some businesses, not-yet-recovered consumers challenging others, and global pressures hitting us all.
The world of commerce isn’t for sissies, so we can’t afford to quake, tremble, or stay put very long. It’s time to rally once more before the end of the year and take action.
What would be the most powerful thing a business leader can do before year-end? It’s probably too late to change course too dramatically for the next eight weeks (although sales forces can perform their final rally to reel in some fence sitters). But, it’s not too late to get creative. In other words, to carve out time to ask ourselves if a fifth grader were going to end the year with a bang, WWAFGD (What Would A Fifth Grader Do)?
The answer is clear. Take a field trip.
In business, we should create our own versions of what kids know naturally (and, what one of the folk heroines of the younger set, Dora the Explorer, demonstrates) when we’ve had too much reading, writing, and arithmetic. We need to change scenery for awhile and get ourselves re-stimulated. We need to arm ourselves with curiosity, questions, fascination, and in Dora’s case, a monkey and a backpack, and hit the road.
We need to plan at least 2 work-ations (vacations without the long flights) that will get our juices flowing about new ways to tackle our vexing issues. This week and next, I’ll share some of my recommendations, but the rules for why and how to “work-ate” are:
- Why: Businesses learn from cross-industry insights. Studying another company’s approach to building consumer loyalty can inform our own and we can adopt someone else’s ways to kick up our offerings a notch.
- How: Pick a company that rocks at something you’re trying to get good at. Ask yourself where your business is stuck and think about who’s doing a killer job in that arena. Then, go and visit (informally or by appointment—both approaches have merit).
Top Ideas for Work-ations to End 2010 with a Bang
(Part one this week; part two after Thanksgiving.)
1. Vexing issue: Customer loyalty.
Work-ation idea: Cooper’s Hawk Restaurant and Winery (Chicago)
I walked into this restaurant-qua-winery-qua-wine-bar and experienced unbelievably memorable service. The place boasts a cool environment with over-the-top customer focus. But wait, there’s more. It turns out that even at a time when many restaurants at this price point are struggling, Tim McEnery has created much more than a fantastic service model. He’s actually built a very loyal following with thousands of diners joining their wine club, and coming in every month to claim their (very affordable and great) bounty. You figure out the math. No wonder they won the Hot Concept award in 2010.
2. Vexing issue: Brick and mortar real estate.
Work-ation idea: Pop up stores (Dick’s Sporting Goods in Pittsburgh, Toys R Us Express 600 locations nationwide)
It was only a matter of time before commercial rents squeezing from one side of the vise grip and internet sales pushing from the other would yield a smart alternative to fixed rent—the popup store. It’s like the compactness of a cool Airstream trailer with the merchandising spirit of Barbie’s Dream House.
All accessible with updates via Twitter and other social media, many designed to be highly seasonal. Check out an example like Scratchproof Jackets in Sacramento California, Dick’s Sporting Goods in Pittsburgh, or Toys R Us, and be prepared to be inspired.
3. Vexing issue: What is the value of social media for business?
Work-ation idea (stay at your desk for this one): Follow some people on Twitter.
We’ve all heard opinions on two extremes of the social media spectrum. On the one hand, we see those fifth graders removing vowels from the words “Oh,” “My,” and “God,” and sending what we dismiss as meaningless drivel to each other, nonstop. On the other hand, we see that Martha Stewart has started to tweet. An easy work-ation idea—follow a couple of people on Twitter for a day (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsFmaCEOqyw&feature=related). Below is a short video that gives the overview for business and http://www.associatesdegree.com/2009/09/14/100-best-twitter-feeds-for-savvy-business-students/ gives you a great list of Twitter hotspots to follow, like @mint and @zappos and @richardbranson.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUhfDpCHeZ0
OODA
Do-do-do-do-dora!
Do-do-do-do-dora! Let’s go!
Dora, Dora, Dora the explorer!
DORA!
Boots and supercool exploradora!
Grab your backpack! Let’s go! Jump in! Vamonos!
You can lead the way! It’s Dora, the explorer.
Tough love for bad business ideas: How to advance the extinction of innovative, but unevolved, business ideas
There’s been a lot of sadness communicated over a list of 25 ideas about to become extinct with examples ranging from the US Post Office to milkmen. Luckily, apple pie missed the list. Commentators on the fates of these dying species mourn the loss and wonder how business leaders could have seen the hand just before the plug got pulled. Business Genome views the extinction differently–as a wake up call for business leaders who are avoiding the sometimes unpleasant task of constructing a gallows for their current corporate initiatives that are leading nowhere.
Business Genome offers a 7-step checklist to guide corporate leaders through the task: How to Pull the Plug on Bad Business Ideas. The key to avoiding extinction is not to mourn when it’s too late, but to stick to a discipline of facing facts before the fate is sealed.
Toughen up, stop the bleeding, and move on.
And, do it with a smile. Because after shedding dead ideas, the Phoenix rises, bringing better business ideas.
Con artists get a bad rap: How to become a master “corporate pro-artist”
How to develop a leadership message that rallies the troops in times of economic crunch? Is it ethical to become a mega-cheerleader when you’re in the midst of rough seas? What can business leaders learn from the wink and nod attitudes of con artists that would instill the type of optimism in their employees that would lead toward upticks in business results? What messages work?
The Business Genome’s rules for How to Be a Master Corporate Pro-Artist provide the guide on the side advice for leaders trying to climb out of the downward spirals of business performance.
Umami, the fifth sense for business leaders: How to build a business based on what customers want but can’t tell you
Umami represents the fifth sense in the science of the physiology of taste. Although long-recognized in the East as a flavor sensation that augments the taste dimension that westerners have defined as salty, sweet, bitter, and sour, umami has only recently gained traction in the rest of the world.
Translate the concept of a formerly unnamed “sense” finding a name to the world of business and you have one of the Business Genome’s core lessons on how companies can uncover formerly unnamed consumer preferences. These preferences, sometimes called “latent customer needs”, are elusive to many, yet open a world of opportunity for business leaders charged with developing new products or services with legs in the marketplace. The Business Genome offers the how-to’s of uncovering “customer umami”–the fifth sense for sensing what the market is ready for, but cannot name.