Recently I’ve been able to talk to Jane Stevenson and Bilal Kaafarani about their new book Breaking Away. It’s a fantastic book about how great leaders create innovation, and it’s filled with tips on how your business can be more innovative without breaking the bank. What follows are some questions that can help your business be more innovative and learn from all the research Jane and Bilaal did for this book.

Phil: Let’s start by defining innovation. What is it – and why do so many get it wrong?

Jane & Bilal: Innovation is a term that is often used, but seldom understood.  That’s because the word has a mystical quality that infers something new or magical, but isn’t clearly defined.  Often when people talk about innovation they are each referring to different things and don’t even realize it.  Thus the confusion.  Since  everyone talks about innovation and agrees it is needed, wouldn’t it be powerful if we all used a common definition and could actually communicate about it with mutual understanding?

In the research for “Breaking Away”, we met initially with 50 top executives, asking each to define innovation, before we came to our first duplicate definition on the 51st interview.  That was proof to us that having a common language around innovation was clearly needed.  In looking at innovation down through the ages, we found that there were three common ingredients to almost any innovation.  These three form a litmus test that defines innovation as something that is 1) unique, 2) of value, and 3) worthy of exchange.  We’ve found widespread acceptance for this definition.  What do you and your readers think?   

Phil: You reference 4 levels of innovation (transformational, marketplace, category and operational). Which one can help a small business grow the most? The fastest?

Jane & Bilal: Of the four types of innovation, Category innovation can help a small business grow the fastest, and probably the most dramatically (within a reasonable time frame).  The reason for this is that Category innovations create whole new sectors with major upside and new markets to serve.  They are often breakthrough in nature, and yet are proven enough to realistically provide growth within a couple year time frame.

Transformational innovation, potentially provides the biggest upside, but often takes well over a decade to achieve social adoption.  This makes it so risky and long term in orientation that it can kick in after a small company’s window of business opportunity may already have closed.

Marketplace is another situation altogether.  With Marketplace Innovation, the opportunity is quick to deliver to market, but it is typically highly competitive, and less sustainable.  This is because it is based on new features and benefits rather than whole new categories or markets to develop.

Operational will help a small company operate cheaper, faster or better, but it is unlikely to generate significant new revenue.  The opposite of Category innovation, Operational innovation generally benefits the bottom line more than the top line.

Phil:      Your book says that “What if?” has been at the center of innovation for centuries. Please explain this.

Jane & Bilal: The question “What if?” is the curiosity factor that ultimately generates innovation.  What if, is the precursor to discovery, and discovery is the precursor to innovation.   If it is a science based company, the discovery process begins by saying “What if this were possible?” or “What if we tried X, would Y then be possible?”.  If it is a financial services company, a telecommunications company or an IT company the question might be, “What if people could deposit funds using their mobile phone?”  Or “what if we could send funds to a relative by phone?”  The “What if?” factor is essential to generating the discovery phase of innovation.

Phil: Quoting Breaking Away: “Customer feedback is an important component for innovation.” If this is true, why do so many companies (Apple as an example) either not ask for this feedback or outright ignore the feedback from their customers?

Jane & Bilal: Customer feedback is important for innovation because it can serve as a guide to future discovery and opportunity development.  People often don’t utilize customer feedback because they are a solution looking for a problem.  If they have to find a problem that fits their solution, then they are already locked in to a particular conversation that may or may not intersect with customers.

You mention Apple as an example.  Many of Apple’s biggest innovations have been things that customers would not have directly asked for, because they didn’t know the offering was even a possibility.  This should not for a minute suggest that Apple is not getting feedback from its customers.  They have studied their customers so well, that they understand from customer feedback, what they would want, if they knew it was possible.  The best companies are those that study their customers so closely and cleverly that they understand desires even before the customer knows him or herself.

Phil:  Another important concept in your book is the idea of trade-offs and how it relates to risk. Please briefly explain this idea.

Jane & Bilal: Risk is an essential part of innovation.  Bilal always says that “risk is innovation’s middle name”.  The question is, how much risk is there and how much upside is the trade-off for that risk?  If the upside is significant, than you can afford to take more risk.  By contrast, if the upside is minimal, then the risk should be contained also.

Phil: Is innovation more important in a down economy or an up economy, and why?

Jane & Bilal: The answer is both.  In a down economy, innovation is important to help restart the engine of growth.  In an up economy, innovation is an imperative to keeping the economy strong.

Phil: What did I miss that you would you like to make sure my readers know?

Jane & Bilal: One of the unique things we share in “Breaking Away” is how to identify not only the four levels of innovation, but also the needed leadership profile and what type of cultural environment is essential for success with each.  This is why “Breaking Away’ is truly a breakthrough book.  It lays out the world’s first innovation framework, and then additionally provides a roadmap to the leadership selections and cultural fit that will enhance the odds for success.  Innovation should be managed similarly to an investment portfolio.  You need different levels of risk, different levels of reward and different types of people to maximize the innovation outcomes.

For more information about Breaking Away, the best way is either www.breakingawaythebook.com, or www.winningjaguar.com.  Both are chock full of information about Jane & Bilal and about innovation for  the 21st century.

Recently I’ve been blessed to spend a little time with Corinne Edwards, author of Sales, Lies and Naked Truths, and get a behind the scenes look at the person behind the book, and get some more insight into how this book can help you move from inaction to action and get more done in your sales career (and yes, I believe we are ALL in sales careers).

Phil: Who do you say you are?

Corinne: I am a communicator. I am a writer, a life and media coach. I believe that my talent is to take a complicated situation and simplify it into every day terms.

Phil: What’s your life’s purpose?

Corinne: I was blessed with the ability to intuitively “get” the person or group I was dealing with. My purpose is to never lose sight of that fact and to use it for their advantage – and as a byproduct, – mine.
Phil: What is the general premise of your book?

Corinne: I believe that selling involves all of life. Whether you are a stay at home Mom who is in charge of the bake sale, it involves selling. And selling is very tied into appreciating and thanking people for their involvement with you.

You need those other busy Moms to bake those cupcakes. If you make everyone feel that their role, their hopes, their goals are very important to you they will give their full support. .

And that they are important. The turnover in travel agent staff is tremendous. I kept people for years because I always told them what a good job they did. That is sometimes more important than money.

I think people in business do not praise enough.

In the travel agency, we also were offered many free trips. I spread them out and gave people time off to travel.

People are so hungry for affirmation that they are doing well. Including us. So some of the book is about techniques I have learned in my long history in sales and a lot of it is about taking care of your own needs and giving yourself credit.

We are inclined to be much harder on ourselves than others.

Phil: Why did you write your book?

Corinne: Because I love sales. I am good at it. I have a lot to share.

Phil: Who do you learn from?

Corinne: I have to say that I learned most from my mother who was a funny, crazy Irish lady, was known to take a drink and was the last one dancing at every party.

But she never had a bad word to say about anyone. She always told us that if we grew up to be kind, she had done her job.

When you come down to the basics of sales – the bottom line is kindness.

Phil: How do you prefer to network with people? (Face-to-face, phone, Skype, Twitter, pick your favorite)

Corinne: I love to network face to face because you pick up so much from the affect of people, their body language, their eyes. You can tell if you are connecting.

I do also enjoy the social networking. Have made some good friends on the Internet like you who I have never met. But I am hoping to change that soon. The secret there is supporting other people. Taking the time. They almost always return the favor. You supported me when I first started blogging three years ago. I’ll never forget that.

Phil: Always make the time to connect with people. Be supportive and don’t expect anything in return, and you’ll almost always be amazed at how things turn out.

Phil: What’s the best advice you ever received?

Corinne: When someone does you a huge favor, you may not be able to reciprocate directly to them. But you owe.

You pay off your debt to them by paying it forward.

Phil: What else do you want to share?

Corinne: If you don’t keep reinventing yourself, you may as well pack it in and give up. Without a curiosity and a challenge in life, our voyage on this earth is not only worthless – but boring.

And if you fall flat on your face, I always liked that old song –

“Pick yourself up, dust yourself off – and start all over again.”

Phil: Last but certainly not least, where can we find more about you Corinne?

My “About” page on my blog will tell you a lot.

I also had fun writing about 25 things you probably don’t know about me.

Phil: It’s truly been a pleasure Corinne. I always enjoy learning from you, and Sales, Lies and Naked Truths was exceptional for its simple, actionable tips. Thank you for making time to share a little more with my readers!

Full disclosure: The links are not affiliate links, and I get nothing other than the satisfaction of you being smarter if you buy Corinne’s awesome book. It’s only $9.95, and if you get just 1 actionable idea, you’ve made your money back right there.

Today I’m delighted to share Tanmay Vora with you, someone who is amazingly insightful that I was introduced to you by our mutual friend Rajesh Setty, and someone I am now proud to cal my friend. Tanmay wrote a nifty book on QA, quality and leadership called #QUALITYtweet. I devoured it when I got it, and I needed to know more about the man behind the book.

Phil: What’s your background?

Tanmay: I am a software quality management professional based out of India. I have been working in IT for over 12 years and have worked in diverse areas like software development, methodologies, quality management, software testing and process improvement initiatives. I specialize in pragmatic process implementation, building independent software testing teams from scratch and exploring importance of leadership in the quality equation. I speak and consult on Software Quality Assurance and host QAspire Blog. I tweet as @tnvora

Phil: Why did you write #QUALITYtweet?

Tanmay: We are living in a world where attention span of people is getting shorter and shorter. On top of that, most books on Quality tend to focus too much on heavyweight processes and models. I wanted to offer lightweight and practical insights on building quality culture through effective leadership, people and processes.

Phil: Who do you think can benefit most from #QUALITYtweet?

Tanmay: #QUALITYtweet is a useful collection of ideas for

• Business Owners (because if there is not commitment from the top, a quality culture never evolves).
• Quality Managers (because they are the ones who implement quality improvement strategies and drive change in the organizations).
• Project Managers and Leaders (because they manage people who deliver products and services).
• Team members (because unless they don’t do their job right the first time, quality is difficult to attain).

Phil: That sounds like a LOT of the people who read my blog. Outstanding!

Phil: As you know, my mantra is Make It Great!, and I believe everyone needs a mantra. What’s your personal mantra?

Tanmay: My personal mantra is – Spreading Happiness Through Quality, Excellence and Leadership.

I strongly believe that quality is not just ‘conformance to requirements’ or ‘degree of excellence’. Quality is happiness. Happiness of people who produce, people who lead them, internal customers, stakeholders and the end-customers who use the products/services.

Phil: I know you are a lifelong learner, so I’m curious…What are you reading these days?

Tanmay: I recently read “The Leadership Test” by Timothy R. Clark, a fantastic book that can kick start some soul-searching and self-assessment for aspiring leaders. (NOTE from Phil: This is on my list to read soon too)

I am re-reading Nicholas Bate’s book “Instant MBA” which is an excellent resource for accessing fantastic MBA thinking without going to management school.

Mike Friesen has written a book titled “Expected End” which is a brilliant book on building great organization culture. The basic premise of the book is “Culture drives Results”.

Phil: Is there anything else you’d like to share with the folks who read Make it Great!?

Tanmay: I would like to share a few selected tweets from my book #QUALITYtweet that emphasizes importance of leadership in the quality equation:

“How NOT to deliver total quality: focus on quality of product without focusing on quality of relationship and communication.”

“People work for a leader who works for their people.”

“QUALITY = HARD + SOFT.

Hard = data, statistics, and information.

Soft = human attitudes, beliefs, and motivations.”

Phil: Fantastic stuff Tanmay! Thanks for making time for my readers.

In case you missed them, here are the ways to learn more from Tanmay:

• #QUALITYtweet – A nifty little book about quality
• Follow Tanmay Vora on Twitter
• Read the QAspire blog

Today I am delighted to bring you Donna Cutting, author of The Celebrity Experience, and someone I am pleased to call my friend! As she’s on a whirlwind blog book tour, I only had time to slow her down for 5 questions about her book and how managers can implement red carpet customer service!

Phil: What is red carpet customer service?

Donna: Red-Carpet Customer Service is demonstrated when a service professional has mastered the basics of service, adds the “and then some” and customers walk away feeling as though they’ve been treated like Hollywood celebrities.

Phil: Why is red carpet customer service so important?

Donna: From a business standpoint, there is no better way to differentiate your company in a competitive marketplace than by providing an exceptional customer experience. In today’s world, people are used to receiving poor customer service and they talk about it – with their friends, on blogs, on social networking sites. You can give them something else to talk about – an experience that is so uniquely positive, they can’t wait to come back and bring friends. Every company featured in The Celebrity Experience because of their extraordinary service has seen real bottom-line results because of their efforts.

Phil: What is 1 simple and inexpensive way companies can institute a "red carpet customer service policy?"

Donna: You can start by combing through the experience your customer has with you from start to finish, and eliminating any of the negatives from the process. For instance, John Wood, CEO of Hub Plumbing and Mechanical, Inc. in Boston, MA knew that his customers were worried about inviting strangers in their home and disliked getting voice mail. He developed a strict nametag and uniform policy, and sends each customer an email that includes a photo of their plumber so they know who to expect when they open the door. He also hired people for 24 hours a day to answer his telephone so customers always hear a live person on the other end. He eliminated the negatives with those simple changes and immediately differentiated himself from other plumbers in his area.

Phil: What’s your favorite personal example of red carpet customer experience?

Donna: My husband and I recently stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. This is a hotel which is included in my book and I am not surprised when their employees (or STARS, as they are called), who know me as the author of The Celebrity Experience, give me extraordinary service. They have been told to take excellent care of me and my guests, and they do.

However, one morning my husband and I went down to a little shop in the resort to look for coffee we could brew in our room. The woman in the shop did not know me or my husband from Adam.

Jim, my husband, asked if they sold coffee. They didn’t and the woman asked him, “didn’t you get coffee in your room?” “Yes,” Jim said, “but I drink a LOT of coffee.” We all laughed.

Without a word, the woman picked up the phone. When she hung up, she told my husband, “It’s all taken care of.” We got back to our room later that day to find no less than 20 packets of coffee sitting on the counter! To top it off, without our asking, the coffee was replenished daily. Now there’s an employee who’s been empowered to give her customers red-carpet service!

Phil: What is one thing managers can do to inspire greater red carpet customer service in their employees?

Donna: Treat your employees as you want them to treat your customers and reward them in tangible and intangible ways every time they “Make It Great” for a customer.

Thanks Donna for stopping by and helping me Make It Great!

This interview has been a part of Donna Cutting’s Blog Tour.

Yesterday, the blog tour stopped at these blogs

   
• Andrea Nierenberg’s blog

   

• Dr. Sally Witt will conduct a book review on her blog.

Today, you can also read about the book at:

   
• Betty Lynch / My Country Kitchen

   

• Becky Wyatt / Becky Wyatt Online

And tomorrow the blog tour continues:      

   
• Wendy Piersall / CEO of Sparkplugging, will be hosting a guest blog by Donna about how to be a A-list customer.

   

• Heidi Richards/founder of WECAI and Virtual Women’s Blog

   

• Carol Deckert will be interviewing Donna LIVE at 7pm on her Ladies In Business Today

Buy The Celebrity Experience to get your own copy of Donna’s book.

This week I’m honored to be the last stop on the tour for the amazing book Change the Way You See Yourself  Through Asset Based Thinking. I read the first book based on the strong recommendation of Johann Stossel, and I was NOT disappointed. When this book came out, I had hoped I’d be fortunate enough to get a review copy. In addition to a review copy, I got to connect with the authors. This book is now one of the top books I’ll be offering folks who ask me for a book to help them get out of their "stinkin’ thinkin’" and into the Make It Great! zone!

A little background on Hank and Kathy:

Kathryn D. (Kathy) Cramer, Ph.D. is the Founder and Managing Partner of The Cramer Institute in St. Louis, specializing in organization change consulting, leadership and team development, and executive coaching. She and her colleagues at The Cramer Institute have pioneered the development of Asset-Based Thinking  approaches to coaching, consulting, and training processes for more than twenty years. 

Hank Wasiak is a communications industry leader who has worked with the corporate elite of global business throughout his 40 year career. He is co-founder of The Concept Farm, one of today’s hottest creative development companies. Hank is an Emmy award winning producer and TV host, author, entrepreneur, and teacher.

Without further ado, what follows is my interview with Kathy and Hank. I plan to interview them for the Make It Great Radio Show soon, we just couldn’t make our schedules match this week to get it ready in time for you today.

What follows is my interview with the authors, Kathy Cramer and Hank Wasiak. The book was well done, and the authors are just as engaging as the book.

Phil: For those who are unfamiliar with the term, please share an overview of Asset Based Thinking.

Kathy and Hank:   Asset Based Thinking makes it possible for people to focus their attention on opportunities rather than problems, strengths more than weaknesses, what can be done instead of what can’t.  This focus on the positive side of life’s ledger build enthusiasm, energy and confidence, strengths relationships, and moves productivity and creativity to the next level.

Phil: Why is Asset Based Thinking so powerful and so helpful when there are so many other theories out there?

Kathy and Hank:   Asset Based Thinking is a fundamental mindset management tool that makes the other positive psychology theories more accessible.  With ABT principles and practices you accelerate the effectiveness of other compatible methodologies. 

Phil: This seems like such a great way of thinking and of LIVING! Tell us…How many ABT experts are there? How can I get certified in ABT?

Kathy and Hank:  Currently our ABT partners apply this methodology to coaching, consulting and training.  Please see a list of our 25 project partners on our website http://www.assetbasedthinking.com.  Please contact us via our website to discuss the certification methods available.

Phil: Your first book was awesome and full of pictures and life. How does this book compare?

Kathy and Hank:  Many readers believe our second book is even more beautiful than the first.  The design supports the spirit of adventure and discovery that makes Change the Way You See Yourself a special experience in creating the future you most desire.  The images in each of the major sections expand as the readers sense of power grows, explodes with circles of influence, and pinpoints impacts large and small.  Take a look at how the design supports the ABT messages.

Phil: What’s next for this dynamic duo?

Kathy and Hank:  Asset Based Thinking Teen edition.  We are very excited about supporting the world of education.  Our teen edition includes teacher guides and workshops for teachers and administrators.  We are planning to host a website for teens only so that the positive conspiracy can sweep through that generation.

Phil: Besides for your books, what are 2 books or websites (from each of you)  that you’d encourage us to explore?

Kathy and Hank: "The Science of Happiness" by Stefan Klein  and Stephen Lehmann, "The Back of A Napkin" by Dan Roam, and "The How of Happiness" by Sonja Lyubomirsky

Phil: I just did an audio interview with Dan Roam last week. I’ll definitely have to check out the other 2 books you mentioned. Thank you!

Phil: Where can we learn more?

Kathy and Hank: Please visit us at http://www.assetbasedthinking.com, for workshops and speaking schedule contact or call The Cramer Institute at 314-725-0500

Phil: Anything else we should know?

Kathy and Hank:  We would love to have you and your community of followers join the positive conspiracy to help ABT tip.

Another fun interview for another great book! I hope you enjoyed learning about How to Change Yourself Through Asset Based Thinking straight from Kathy and Hank as much as I did. If you’d like to learn more, check out the other stops on the tour (click on the blogger’s name to go to the interview, to their blog title for their blog homepage):

• Paul Williams at Idea Sandbox (and host of these awesome Post 2 Post book tours)
• Scott Hodge at Livin’ Venti
• Derrick Kwa at Sui Generis
• Dan Schawbel at the Personal Branding Blog

Last but last not, you’re welcome to read or listen to more of the Make It Great! interviews.

Recently I had the good fortune to spend 40 minutes with Dan Roam, author of the great new book The Back of the Napkin. It’s quickly become one of my favorite books, for it changed the way I think about problem solving and helped me look at things in a new way.

GOOD NEWS: You do NOT need to be an artist to use Dan’s great style of problem solving.

MORE GOOD NEWS: If you read on, you’ll find out how YOU can win a copy of this wonderful book!

Go to http://www.thebackofthenapkin.com/ for all the stuff that’s been written about Dan, including cool videos, other audio interviews, and a few of the methods we talk about in this podcast.

For all my deaf and hard of hearing friends, I hope to have this transcribed soon so you can learn from Dan as well.

Enjoy Phil Gerbyshak Meets the Back of the Napkin. It’s about 40 minutes long. When I get it transcribed, I’ll post the raw MP3 file so you can download it for later. For now, head over to http://www.thebackofthenapkin.com/ to learn a few of Dan’s tips and tricks!

Win a copy of The Back of the Napkin Contest

Share your best way to solve a problem in the comments below, and I’ll pick someone at random Thursday the 29th of May, 2008 and you can win an autographed copy of Dan’s book!

One of my favorite things about having a blog is that I get access to some of the most amazing people to interview and to share with you.

This week’s interview is no exception. I recently spent 30 or so minutes talking with John Rosen and AnnaMaria Turano of MCAWorks, and authors of the exciting new book Stop Watch Marketing. I met John and AnnaMaria at the 800 CEO-Read Author Pow-Wow in December, and I LOVED the concept of their book that they shared with me. I knew when the book came out I had to share the ideas with you, so here you are. I’ll be posting the interview in audio form shortly so you can listen in.

For now, read and enjoy the written words from my conversation with John and AnnaMaria about Stopping the Clock for Your Customers!

Phil Gerbyshak: For those who don’t know, please give me an overview of your backgrounds.

Stop Watch Marketing: John and I started working together at another consulting firm from 1999-2000. In 2002, we decided, along with John Hawkins who is another partner, that we could do our own thing along. We decided to write a book. In running the Consultancy, we called a meeting three years ago ago and said we have to do other things to market and build the firm, and to build intellectual capital. rather than calling clients and asking for more projects. Each partner (there are now five) took on a specific assignment. They all picked something beyond consulting to help build the firm. The one that Anna Marie and John picked was to get a book out there. We know there are a lot of things that we don’t think are sufficiently addressed in the marketing world right now. We took that one on as a project.

The result is Stopwatch Marketing. It’s basic premise is that Marketers (Managers, Vice President of Marketing, or small business people), are all charged with same thing, creating a sale. Marketers give insufficient importance to the importance and power and implications of the customers time. A lot of clients, we have found, really believed that the consumer hangs on every word in a 30 second commercial, or reading the print ad from beginning to end. We found ourselves constantly telling them that our research tells them that during the 30 second commercial, the consumer goes to the refrigerator to get a beer, and the Marketer is lucky to get 5 seconds across to them. Think about the “time” the target customer is willing to give you to sell them. Then we developed this image that had a lot of power with our clients. Think of every customer having, figuratively, a ticking stopwatch in the back of head, counting down to moment they actually decide to buy. Your role as Marketer is to either slow that ticking down so that you can capture their attention and make the sale, or speed up and stop it right then and there, and close sale. It is a complex issue. You have to figure what time segment you are going to work with, speed or slow down, so you can capitalize on the moment the customer decides to buy.

What Marketers fail to realize is the level of risk that the consumer is willing to take, or not willing to take, in any purchase decision. This is something that the book talks about. There are lots of decisions people make, having lunch, buying a soda, etc., that have a very small level of risk. On the other hand, it might be a decision they might have to live with a couple years, some for the rest of their lives. They could be buying furniture, painting walls of their home, or deciding on a college for their children. These decisions are of a higher level of risk, when there might be more thought put into it and Marketers need to realize how important this purchase decision is in someone’s life.

PG: Why don’t more companies do this?

SWM: Companies today know how to do the blocking and tackling of marketing so they have the P’s C’s, and everyone is embracing the idea of consumer centricity. But they are not going a level beyond, not thinking of their own time and consumers time. In a way, it is very self- centric thinking. As a Marketer, we know this, because we probably experienced that as well. You think about your product 24 hours a day 7 days a week. No consumer is ever giving that much thought and time to thinking about your product the same way as you, the Marketer, are. So you really need to flip your thinking, walk the walk of your customers life, how much time they are going to spend listening to messages, sifting though information, weighing purchase options and ultimately making a decision.

Flipping that thinking is so important, when you’re thinking of anything, thinking of it from the other persons perspective instead your own. You know your message, customers don’t know or care. Customers have no imperatives to care, unless it is something urgent and important to them at this point in time. Otherwise, customers have other things to do. An example in the book is replacing tires. We drive around three or four years, the last thing you think is that you need tires. When the moment comes you need them, it is deeply emotional, and highly urgent to the customer. Their thoughts may be that they don’t know about tires, don’t have time for this, and don’t want to make a mistake. How am I going to do this ? The risk is two-fold: The customer doesn’t want the wrong tires, or they don’t want to feel like their next door neighbor got a better deal. More psychological than marketing research, people think in relative and competitive terms. It’s not so much in an absolute sense, “Did I pay less for…” , rather, “Did I pay less than my neighbor”.

PG: Let’s talk about marketing and customer service a bit more. Obviously customer service is often the “new” marketing. Let’s talk about how important it is, how can Stopwatch Marketing work with the Customer Service department to really add value to the equation.

SWM: We talked with Whole Foods about Stopwatch, how a lot of times it’s fast ticking. Customers don’t have a lot of time or energy weighing the purchase decision. But sometimes they want to slow down the ticking. For some, shopping is recreation. But for most, going to grocery store is not. For most customers, it is usually dreadful, they want to get in, get out, and not feel like they’ve been “taken”. Whole Foods succeeds in slowing customers stopwatch, not just by product and merchandising, also by fantastic Customer Service. They have done a lot of training and incentives for employees. Employees go out pro-actively to see if customers need anything, to help you find them, and they will open a box for you to try, even if not being sampled that day. This encourages the customer to spend more time and money in the store. Every associate knows it’s a great way to add to that Customer Service and marketing experience.

We talk a lot about Customer Service in the sense of Help Desk, and service after the sale of something. Important considerations there are that from a customer standpoint, it is often the usage of product, such as Laptops, and the relationship with the company after a purchase, which leads to true loyalty. Will we buy more Dell, etc? It all comes down to after sale service quality. If you are a calling Customer Service, and have a problem, your stopwatch is ticking very very fast. If your computer has problems, you are losing money and your stopwatch is ticking very very quickly. We found clients who emphasize only that “fast ticking”, and don’t emphasize the overall quality of the experience. Basically they want the problem fixed professionally and intelligently. Dell is a very good example. They got very, very good a few years ago at handling their customers on the phone very quickly. They found that everyone was angry, they didn’t feel they had been treated professionally and courteously, and they didn’t feel the problem had been solved. This cost Della lot, and they made a big announcement about a year ago. They put in billions of dollars revamping and upgrading Customer Service, because for a company like that, loyalty after the purchase is how you get repeat purchases, for the rest of purchasers life. This builds the company. It is now how you fix the problem, and how you make people feel about fixing the problem. If you don’t fix it often, they still feel valued and will get another one even if your brand is faulty. But they don’t trust you forever! They will give a second chance, if you market them, and make them feel valued and feel like it is a quality experience. Everyone wants to feel unique in the sense that whomever they are dealing with in a Customer Service or business relationship understands their unique set of problems. It may indeed be something that we as Marketers have seen 50 times before, but the purchaser hasn’t. That is their problem, and issue, and they need you to understand them and give a unique solution for their unique problems. If you do that, you’ve do a great job. Think of the companies that use technology to simulate, or do this.

Think about Amazon when we look for books: They have list of people who bought that book, plus what other purchases they have made. They use technology to show that they understand my unique issues, and respecting it. That is what Marketers need to do, respect the Customer. They have a certain schedule and you are on their schedule, they’re not on yours. Make sure that follows through in your product development and marketing, and advertising. Focus on the customer.

PG: How do we implement Stopwatch Marketing in our own life? How can we make it more relevant to you and me as consumers, and as people?

SWM: As Marketers, we need to apply the Stopwatch Marketing principles. These gather information on how to better understand your Customer shopping style. A simple survey, asking questions, what kind of calls coming into the call center, etc., along with the complaints. We actually featured a Wine Seller, Discovery Wines, in the lower East Side of New York. They had their employees execute a one page survey to their Customer. There was so much information garnered by the 10 questions asked of consumers. This allowed us to figure out where does everyone fall, how much money and how much time they can spend in the store, then how you can use that to your advantage. After gathering this information, we decided on the ideal shopping style for that brand. We talk Recreational a lot. Recreation Shopping behavior is not the end all for every category or product, nor do we advocate that. The idea is to speed up the customer’s Stopwatch, or slow it down. What makes sense for your brand for your unique proposition. Allocate resources to that pathway. Think of a pinball machine, the accelerators and brakes are marketing touch points. The consumer is the ball moving through machine, sometimes you want to bounce them around a bit more because they want to gather more info before they make a decision, other times will be brought right to the finish.

Applying Stopwatch Marketing can also improve our daily lives. Think of your interactions with all the humans you come into contact with every day, separate from the specifics of trying to market and close sales. If you keep thinking of it this way, people have ticking stopwatches to get through the day, and different levels of risk tolerance for the various interactions. My advice is, if dealing with spouse, child, or coworker, stop and think how much time they want to allot to this, and is it high or low risk situation and decision that you are asking them to confront. If you read literature on troubled kids or marriages, people always wonder why a simple discussion about where we were going on vacation blow up into huge fights. We would say that is because, to begin with, one partner didn’t realize how risky it was, and, one of the parties didn’t stop to think he/she wanted to take a little more time to talk about this and analyze and discuss it. Think of those two dimensions, risk and time, and think of that in your daily life. You will get a bit further. While it won’t solve all problems, it goes a bit further in getting through the day.

What we loved about setting up the book was, it doesn’t have just case studies, and theory. We also have real life application to it. We have shown where we applied it (the Wine Store), and we give the Marketer tools to use it Monday morning in their organization. It’s not cocktail chatter, or an enjoyable read, to be read on an airplane. It also is something that is usable, almost a workbook. You can look at marketing strategies, looking at marketing budget, and allocation of their resource and their own time and money to do what is best for the consumer.

We did work very hard to have practical applications and “How To Do It” in the second half the book. The First half is descriptive, second pre-scriptive. We broke that up the “what do you do about it” section into two. One is, if you have a big budget, and separately if you don’t. If you own a shoe store, or the wine store we talked about earlier, for $250.00 you can do some of this research, and get very good results. Things like laying out the store differently will drive up sales. One of the messages we don’t understand, literally, why small businesses don’t do a bit more market research. You don’t have to spend millions, just ask
Customer’s as they are checking out, with as little as six quick questions. Examples are, “How much time did you plan before coming here, etc). Then start to apply StopWatch principles. The “How To’s” work well in either small companies, or big companies. In addition, if you work for a big company, we lay out, in significant detail, and with a lot of math, how to help you align your marketing expenditures to the specific time segments of the process the Customer goes through before making a buying decision. You must align marketing spending with the importance of each step or tick in the Stopwatch. It is important to the buying decision for consumer. Car companies spend billions on things like TV advertising, not enough, in our opinion, in dealer training and experience in the dealer location, and the researchers said the dealer experience is critical!

To learn more about John Rosen and Anna Maria Turano, or our thoughts about the Stop Watch Marketing book, case studies, or praise in our blog, go to www.stopwatchmarketing.com and www.mcaworks.com. This gives more information on the type of work we do, results, successes, etc.

PG: Lastly, remember that risk and time, two little principles we all can put into practice today, and in our lives, and increase our profitability. Great takeaways!Thanks John and AnnaMaria for your time and for sharing your insights.

Friends: what do you think?

Does the theory of Stop Watch Marketing resonate with you?

What can you learn from John and AnnaMaria’s principles?

How can YOU put them into practice?

This week I was hoping to have an interview posted for you with AnnaMaria Turano and John Rosen, authors of the great book Stop Watch Marketing. I’m almost done processing the MP3, and will have it for you NEXT Thursday morning.

Instead, this week I invite you to check out part 2 of my interview with Stephen Hopson, where he shares the "dark side of Phil Gerbyshak." He also asked me questions about my mentors, how I’ve dealt with adversity in my life, the defining moment in my life, and much much more.

Go check out Stephen Hopson Interviews Phil Gerbyshak, part 2. If you missed part 1, you can check it out as well.

The interview is up, and if I do say so myself, it is FANTASTIC! Stephen Hopson nailed it with some great questions about me in an interview he posted today.

Questions included:

• What do I do for a living?
• 3-5 sentences you won’t find out about me from reading anything here at Make It Great!
• The beginnings of Make It Great! and how I created the name
• Why did I start Make It Great!
• …and many more!

So check out Stephen Hopson Interviews Phil Gerbyshak today. Then come back, and tell me what you thought

Recently my good friend Stephen J. Hopson asked me if I would spend a little time with him to be interviewed for his incredibly popular interview series Stephen Hopson Interviews. How could I turn down a guy who has overcome so much in his life, to be a pilot, a stockbroker, and now, a professional speaker. Now for any person, this would be darn amazing. But the fact that Stephen is deaf makes all of these feats even more amazing!

Don’t believe he’s incredible yet? Check out his first VIDEO post! Wow!

Check out Stephen’s promotion post. It’s done so well, it makes ME want to read our interview, and I know what the questions are going to be.

Tune in tomorrow to check out Stephen Hopson Interviews Phil Gerbyshak, over at Adversity University.