Comments

Yo Steve!!! – Amen and thank you! :-)

I have been advocating simplicity since I first realised managers confused me and left me confused by their mysterious complicated language that only they and a few select peers understand. That was the first day I started work at 16 years of age!

I think all of us WANT simplicity and yet paradoxically we all seem to like our ‘own professional language’ that gives us some sort of security in a false comfort blanket. About 99.999% of people I speak to agree that we need simplicity - my question is what are you DOING about it?

As long as managers continue to write garbage full of acronyms and ‘management speak’ we will never rise above that MEDIOCRITY to simplicity but I am delighted to see you raising the issue Steve!

I am often challenged with words to the effect:

"It's ok you going on about all this simplicity stuff but how the hell can we do make anything more simple when we are so busy getting on with the job? Just give us some practical ideas"

My Response?
"It is YOUR JOB to make things simpler - here are 7 things you can introduce immediately to make things simpler in your job and your organisation. My question is if not why not?"

1 When you have written your next report ask two people who are paid significantly less than you to tell you honestly if they understood it fully

2 At your team meeting every week or every month depending on the frequency of meetings, ask someone to do a five minute presentation called (without using PowerPoint) “My big simplicity idea for our team is …..”

3 Invite a customer to read three e mails or letters you have sent in the previous week and ask them to give you feedback about the language you used

4 Invite two 16 year old students who are friends to attend your team meeting and ask them to give the team members honest feedback at the end of the meeting about the language used

5 Find a report about absolutely anything two sides of A4 long. Send the report to a colleague and ask him/her to return it to you reduced to one side of A4. Judge for yourself whether one side is adequate to get the message over

6 Ask one of your team members to write a story on one side of A4 called “A complicated problem in this department/team explained for an audience of secondary school students (11-16 year olds). Send the story to a local schoolteacher and ask for feedback from the students at his/her school

7 Send a report you have written to 2 Cleaners and 2 junior Clerical staff. Ask the four of them to rate your report on a scale of 0 to 10.

0 = I did not understand it at all
10 = I understood it completely

Think about how you can improve your score in your next report. If you score 40 points congratulations you are the new Simplicity President

Posted by Trevor Gay at March 10, 2006 3:30 AM

Top-10 customer quotes…

1. Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning – Bill Gates

2. If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful – Jeff Bezos

3. Make your product easier to buy than your competition, or you will find your customers buying from them, not you – Mark Cuban

4. Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business – Zig Ziglar

5. In our way of working, we attach a great deal of importance to humility and honesty; with respect for human values, we promise to serve our customers with integrity – Azim Premji

6. If you have a good relationship with your customer, the business process flows that much more smoothly. – Richard Pratt

7. If you work just for money, you'll never make it, but if you love what you're doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours – Ray Kroc

8. Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success – Henry Ford

9. The single most important thing to remember about any enterprise is that there are no results inside its walls. The result of a business is a satisfied customer – Peter F. Drucker

10. You’ll never have a product or price advantage again. They can be easily duplicated, but a strong customer service culture can’t be copied – Jerry Fritz

Posted by K.Sriram at March 10, 2006 4:29 AM

Tom,

'Anyone whose actions affect your results' is the definition of what's called a 'stakeholder' these days.

A horrible management-speak word, but in truth it's quite unambiguous. Just like 'customer' is quite unambiguous in meaning 'someone who buys stuff from you'.

Having said that... if a newspaper or magazine's customers are it's advertisers; are the readers also customers (because they buy the issues), or suppliers (because their attention is what the publication is selling to the advertisers)?! :-)

Posted by Steven Pam at March 10, 2006 5:10 AM

...my mistake - Steve, not Tom!

Posted by Steven Pam at March 10, 2006 5:12 AM

Steve, I think its simply this;

"anyone who is loyal to you" :)-

why results ?? why actions ?????

Why not emtions, trust and all the finer virtures which actually have no relam in todays business world. Those are the key factors which impact all the rest !! Whichever way you slice and dice the dichotomy- its all about people and what they "feel" towards you as a person. !!

Posted by /pd at March 10, 2006 8:53 AM

That about sums it up, because if there are no actions on the "customers" part, then there is no business. That would fit for employees as well. They don't do their job, business suffers or ceases.

I like simplicity. We are mired in over-information. The reality is, some things simply are what they are. It's great to dissect them and derive other information, but bottomline goes back to where we started.

Posted by Caryl Felicetta at March 10, 2006 9:13 AM

Given the volume of Trevor and Sriram text perhaps they miss the point - less is more even with customers.

Posted by Sean at March 10, 2006 9:52 AM

Good point Sean - yours simply Trevor :-)

However ... did you like the tips?

Posted by Trevor Gay at March 10, 2006 9:56 AM

Great tips, Trev!

Posted by Troy Worman at March 10, 2006 10:43 AM

Is there a clear distinction between customer and client?

Posted by Troy Worman at March 10, 2006 10:45 AM

Troy- whats a clear distinction between a customer and client ??

Posted by /pd at March 10, 2006 10:53 AM

Great Steve! It will soon be a slide--with appropriate attribution!

Posted by tom peters at March 10, 2006 12:26 PM

At the risk of sounding a contentious note: what's the point of defining customer? Two quick comments: a) as human beings, it kinda becomes us to get along well with all folks irrespective; and b) if you treat customers different from the way you treat potential customers, mightn't you put them off becoming customers, it smacking of dual standards or toadying?

Posted by MarkJF at March 10, 2006 12:28 PM

Hi Mark

I agree - why treat ANYONE differently whether they be customers, potential customers, friends, neighbours, family, work colleagues? ... The list goes on ...

Good God one glorious day even bosses may treat their subordinates the same way they treat their superiors!!

Now get those rose tinted glasses off Trevor!

Posted by Trevor Gay at March 10, 2006 1:12 PM

True Mr. Peters. But if I may, let me suggest that if there is such a thing as a "customer-centric or centered" mentality; we must then always (constantly and consistently) first start with the end or the customer/client in mind. Consequently, a customer or a client is an individual whose results are affected and effected by the relevance, quality and excellence of your (our) actions. As far as the distinction between a customer and a client is concerned, it may be generally accepted that a "client" is someone under your special care or stewardship. I use the word "customer" because it embeds two very important features. First, a "customization" feature allowing us to craft a magnetic "customer experience" which would successfully lead to the second feature, the "custom, habit or repeat" feature. Repeat business is a high (or the highest) leverage and profitable business activity. Do you have customers or clients? Choose, there are no rules, only options! Whatever our choice, our words will have to speak as loud as our deeds ( and vice versa) and communicate to our customers or clients in a way that makes them feel understood, important and appreciated. As much as we are defined by our customers we must also extend the courtesy of defining the relationship we want with them. If it sounds like a contradiction, and it may well be, we must then learn to hold two opposites ideas at the same time while remaining functional. ACTION (and feedback) is the word. Cheers to all readers. Chris.

Posted by Christian Royer at March 10, 2006 2:18 PM

I love simplicity. Your definition of "customer" is the one I'll take back to my organization. I do believe you need a term to differentiate betwen those people who impact your results and the larger population who won't. Depending on your organization's mission, it could be customers, citizens(government)clients(e.g. legal profession) constituents (government again or nonprofit) or even flock (faith-based).

Posted by Glenn Ross at March 10, 2006 5:27 PM

Steve,

Interesting, but let's go the other way, your customer is ANYONE AFFECTED BY YOUR ACTIONS. You need to look at the total system, not just a part.

Del Nelson
Prof. of Management
American River College

Posted by Del Nelson at March 10, 2006 8:47 PM

Thanks for the comments! So many good ones.

The last one from Del is interesting ... of course it never goes one way.

Posted by Steve Yastrow at March 10, 2006 11:48 PM

I don't know if it is bitterness at being knocked off the hip perch, worry over his business model or plain ignorance....

At a Davos panel there was discussion with the founder of (Google or Skype; can't remember which) over how fast his customer base had grown. Geoffrey More turned to Gates and asked him how many customers he had. Gates flippantly responded, "you mean that give you money?" The audience laughed politely.

He seemed jealous of the attention focused on others. He just didn't get it, or in the likely hood that he did, he seemed cemented in his business model. As a monopolist, I suppose that's not a bad move in the short-term.

Posted by Jeff at March 11, 2006 9:52 AM

ooops.... I meant to begin my comment as follow..."True Mr. Yastrow"...apologies Mr. Yastrow!
Chris (been reading to much Peters I guess... erreur sur la personne...)

Posted by christian royer at March 11, 2006 11:56 AM

Christian - Dr. Peters actually and some refer to Steve as his holy highness Senor Yastrow - king of many things related to tango dancing.

Trevor and Sriram - love your points and yes am jealous of creativity and snappy reparte of you both :>} ...

Posted by Sean at March 11, 2006 3:14 PM

Sean - keep smiling my friend :-)

Minus two degrees in Birmingham, England at 2.50 pm Sunday - we were going for 5k run this afternoon but instead we decided to stay in and work! - Yep I am a wimp but at least I am a warm wimp!

Posted by Trevor Gay at March 12, 2006 9:43 AM

If you only regard the people paying for your product (or the ones that might pay for you product someday) as customers, you’re missing out on a lot of opportunity. Also, while I’m sure everyone commenting on this entry would never do this, you run the risk of people within your organization so completely disregarding a contributing group (employees, vendors, partners, etc.) that they create problems (morale issues, stressful negotiations, PR issues, etc.). Maybe I’m interpreting this incorrectly, but to me Tom’s comment is more of an attitude – the corporate equivalent of “do unto others”. If you treat all of these groups like customers you will generate good will and likely a cooperative and innovative environment. When it comes to assigning limited resources to things that impact the people whose actions affect your results then you obviously need to have a strategy and make some distinctions – but this definition helps you to remember that every group is important.

Posted by Ann Michael at March 12, 2006 10:20 AM

Ann,

I agree with your "uniting & holistic" point-of-view. Getting a customer being the purpose of a business (Drucker) I say that we should actually use the customer as an excuse to "free the greatness in everybody". I am an ardent advocate of managing a business as a portfolio of assets (asset word = not to diminish but isolate) not only for maximum upside leverage and profit windfalls but also for the simple sake of being great and liberating the "unreasonable" inside of each of us. As human beings we are infinitely "effective" when we let go of our "fixed ideas"...

To Trevor and Sriram (do I have this right?,

Thanks for your "great" info and comment.

Chris

Posted by christian royer at March 12, 2006 11:59 AM

Thanks Chris - Simplicity is the Key :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at March 12, 2006 12:11 PM

Sean, have you been secretly watching me practice the tango in my office during boring conference calls?

Ann ... this concept is about much more than an attitude. Recognizing that everyone who affects your results is a customer is a key part of creating an effective marketing approach.

First, it helps you identify and focus on the customers (broadly defined, remember) who can most help you succeed.

Once you identify customers in this way, you can then determine what you want would like the actions you'd like them to take. (Don't underestimate the importance of this step. It's very enlightening when you actually determine, in detail, what you really hope for your customers to do.)

Next, you can identify what you'd you like them to think, i.e., what thoughts would likely encourage them to do what you'd like them to do. This is THE key to creating a great brand strategy. (... so often overlooked ...)

And then, finally, you're ready to think about how you can create the interactions and encounters that will, through great Brand Harmony, have the greatest likelihood having encouraging customers to think those things.

We don't brand our customers, they brand us. So we have to focus like this if we want to help them think the things we'd like them to think, and do the things we like them to do.

We have four scarce marketing resources - time, money, people and our customers' attention. Thinking of customers in this way is a great way to focus your efforts, so you can use your resources wisely.

Posted by Steve Yastrow at March 12, 2006 5:44 PM

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Steve -

Thanks for the clarification. I suppose "attitude" was not the right word. In past lives, I've seen misdirected attitudes cause a lot of issues. It would be great if all companies approached their environment the way you've outlined, but even a rule of thumb in an environment that doesn't do these things would be helpful.

A few years ago I worked in a medical publishing company. I found it interesting that many people there refused to acknowledge the authors (physicians and other medical professionals) who actually produced almost all of our content as our customers. This was a big debate. Many felt that we needed to "manage them better" (translation - try to bully them into doing what we wanted them to do when we wanted them to do it). I felt that we needed to acknowledge them as customers and try to meet their needs (perhaps by providing authoring tools, revisiting our royalty structure, etc.).

The whole exercise would have gone much better if people had considered anyone whose actions affected our results as our customers.

Posted by Ann Michael at March 12, 2006 6:27 PM

Ann - exactly! Well said.

Posted by Steve Yastrow at March 13, 2006 12:53 AM

Live the impeccable life [it is so short on Earth] perhaps - customers tune into and want the same positive vibe.

Posted by Sean at March 13, 2006 9:20 AM

Simplicity for a law postgradutate might be a little difficult to achieve but my benchmark for simplicity is:

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"Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler."
-Albert Einstein

Winkidoo!

Chris.

Posted by christian royer at March 13, 2006 11:10 AM

At the risk of making your simple definition more complicated, I took the liberty of putting this discussion on my blog: http://contextrulesmarketing.blogspot.com/2006/03/how-to-define-customer.html#comments

Posted by Dale Wolf at March 14, 2006 6:58 PM

Morning,

Over the years I've differentiated Customers from internal and external teams / companies. By differentiating internal / external people as Partners & Clients, Customer becomes the word used for Consumers or potential consumers of a particular Product or Service.

This differentiation has allowed conversations to take place, and have clarity around whom we are discussing.

If we dilute the word Customer by including Partners and Clients, focus around goals can more easily be diluted.

Posted by Gary Mock at March 17, 2006 9:09 AM