Use 3D Thinking for Better Change in 2008

By James Feldman, CITE, CPIM, CPT, MIP

As we begin 2008, I hope that this column has helped you to determine tactics, set strategic initiatives and align the organization to create a "first choice" for your customers and clients. To develop a business model in which they insist on coming to your organization over others. To create "Customer Insistence."

When I look at business today, what I see are organizations that claim to be progressive but are mired in traditional thinking.

There are few innovations and few risks. This offers the opportunity to change. There is no better time than now to discover how to become remarkable to your customers. Face it, the old components of price, promotion, publicity, etc., aren’t working any more. It is time to create something remarkable, so that your customers can’t go elsewhere.

I see companies that have carefully laid out plans that are rigorously implemented, without deviation, as the way to overcome the inevitable confusion they themselves have created. As more resources are placed in the process of planning, the successful execution of the plan becomes secondary. Resources are placed at the top (planning) and all but eliminated at the bottom (execution). Promotion then sets itself up for failure because more time and money is spent on planning than on execution.

I am not suggesting follow the leader. That path has been taken by someone else. I am suggesting that you become the leader, the risk taker; the pioneer that IS the competition not following the competition. Look around. What impacts your personal buying decisions? Big brands, big ideas, big impacts, big connections.

iPod changed the way we buy music and videos. Starbucks changed the way we purchase coffee. FedEx changed the way we send packages. ESPN changed the way we follow sports. In 2008, you can create something remarkable that the right customers will insist upon. Leaders do something remarkable, and, once they stake their claim, anyone else’s attempt to replicate their achievements is not remarkable, but a pale imitation.

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The Wall Street Journal is the black and white poster child for old-thinking. USA Today delivers more information, using color, graphics and "sound bites" that take dull information and create "water cooler buzz." Look around and make the comparison. Are you discovering more "black and white" or "color?"

I often talk about 3D Thinking. The premise is that in today’s business environment, situation assessment before creating the plan is often ignored in the rush to action. Bets are placed without understanding the "rules of the game." When action is taken without a thorough assessment of the situation, people begin working on the wrong things. If the goal of every promotion is to increase "Customer Insistence," then we have to re-examine our promotions.

As a new year's gift let me provide my three-step 3D Thinking process – DEPTH, DISCOVERY and DETERMINATION.

1. Reach into the DEPTH of the problem by going into the box instead of stepping outside of it. Dig deep into the underlying causes of your problems and search for new and better ways to achieve success. If you really look at what the successful organizations are doing, it comes down to a few simple concepts: Define your customer. Set a goal to obtain that customer. Do everything possible to keep that customer. Create "Customer Insistence."

2. DISCOVERY involves closely examining the actual, real-world situation devoid of politics or any other subjective factor. Assess whether or not the solution is worth the effort. Look at your marketing efforts. I believe that the return on the marketing investment to existing customers can be many times greater that to prospective customers. The greatest source of increased revenue is from those who already patronize your organization. How do we treat them? Are your processes and procedures giving them reasons to look elsewhere? Or are you making it easy for them to get what they need and want?

3. DETERMINATION is required to carry out new practices successfully. Not all new ideas succeed immediately. In fact, relatively few do. But the ones that succeed do so because they are believed in, supported and given the time they need to prove themselves. That takes determination, and no matter what the idea or goal, without determination it doesn't stand a chance. And this means having upper management buy into and sign off your program.

Use 3D Thinking to develop strategies that go beyond conventional rules. Become another ESPN and dedicate yourself serving a niche so well that you own it. Become another FedEx and absolutely, positively deliver on your promise. Become a Starbucks and deliver a commodity product with such innovation and flair that people insist on your brand over others. And remember, if there are a thousand changes you want to make, change one thing at the time, or the process will overpower you.

Make a promise that this is the year in which you overwhelm the market by creating "Customer Insistence." And as this year ends and the new one begins place these BETTER CHANGES :

1. Make 2008 a year in which your strategy succeeds with emphasis on the professional execution of tactics.

2. Make 2008 a year in which you improve your planning and execution with tactical plans shaped by reality, with information learned from direct contact with your customers, employees and suppliers.

3. Make 2008 a year in which you look at your customers as an ally instead of an interference thus creating "Customer Insistence."

4. Make 2008 a year in which you partner with your employees and suppliers and through their pro-active input and craft plans to make the customer experience exceptional, thus building and empowering the team to create and maintain "Customer Insistence."

And finally, my holiday wish for you is to retain what you know, discover what is not known, and learn the unknowable. Expand your knowledge base by looking outside your industry, looking inside the box, and discovering new opportunities using existing resources.

Here's to a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year.
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The Better Change Newsletter from Shift Happens!
Formerly Thriving On Change
James Feldman Associates, Inc.
http://www.shifthappens.com - 312-527-1111

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