A couple of years ago I was at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam on my way to a meeting in Eindhoven. As often happens when travelling I needed to use the restroom. For the most part it was like any other restroom around the world but when I addressed the urinal I noticed there was, what appeared to me (sans glasses) to be, a black image of a spider or something etched on the bowl. You probably don’t want to hear this level of detail but I need to tell you that I aimed for that image, hit it and then left the restroom after washing my hands without giving it another thought. Continue reading “Urinals, Flies and System Design”
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Brewing excellence, one cup at a time
That’s the marketing slogan of Keurig the company (among others) that has created coffee pods they call K-Cups that allow consumers to enjoy a really good quality coffee beverage without having the skill expected from a trained Barista and, most importantly, it makes all this possible to quickly and conveniently do in their home or office. Continue reading “Brewing excellence, one cup at a time”
The Disruptive Power Of Collaboration
In a recent blog post Bill Sheridan (click here to read) lamented the fact that one of his daughter’s teachers had set the students an assignment and advised them that they would incur serious penalties of they collaborated. Continue reading “The Disruptive Power Of Collaboration”
Brilliance comes in short bursts
In his absolutely fascinating book Linchpin, Seth Godin, writes “brilliance comes in short bursts, ordinary is a continuum.” At least that the quote according to my journal and since I was making some notes on his work at the time I assume it was him. He was talking about the fact that most of the things Richard Branson does in a day are mundane and most people could do them just as well as him. Continue reading “Brilliance comes in short bursts”
The Law of Attraction meets the Law of Common Sense
No so long ago I waxed lyrical about the importance of pricing your services at what you’re worth. I used as an example an orthopedic surgeon I had needed a couple of years ago to fix a rotator cuff tear that resulted from a skiing accident.
I said how his fee was not an issue and when you need the help of a professional you look for the best in town not the cheapest. I also said:
The surgeon was Dr. Kyle Swanson and he’s at Lake Tahoe Orthopedics & Sports Medicine — I mention that to make another big point: when you get great work done (irrespective of cost) by a skilled professional you are very happy to refer him/her. I have referred Kyle dozens of times to my ski buddies because we bust and tear body parts quite regularly – birds of a feather flock together which is exactly what relationship marketing recognizes. But referrals rarely happen in relation to low level work (because there are so many obvious solutions) and when they do all you get is lower level, low price work. I raise this point in the context of your post because when you focus on, and engage in, value creation you get talked about and you get referrals to value-seeking clients.
This is where the law of attraction seems to have come into the play because on Christmas Eve, just a couple of weeks after my original post I experienced another incident.
The result is nicely summarized by the following extract from Kyle’s Operative Report which is shown below.
POSTOPERATIVE DIAGNOSES
- Right knee anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear
- Right knee medial collateral ligament tear (MCL) tear
- Right knee posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) avulsion
PROCEDURES
- Right knee anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction using bone-tendon-bone autograft
- Repair right medial collateral ligament (MCL) avulsion off the medial femoral condyle
And there you have it!
Lesson learned …… don’t invoke the law of attraction with the possibility of negative outcomes.
Why leaders need to worry about digitization
This is a thought-provoking video discussion between two heavyweights from MIT and McKinsey. Even though they’re not directly talking to leaders in the accounting profession their observations and insights give food for thought. Continue reading “Why leaders need to worry about digitization”
At last: A drug that will help you sell more
It seems that there’s a drug to fix every conceivable problem we humans have. You will not therefore be surprised to learn that there’s even one that will help us close more sales. It’s called 1,3, 7-trimethylxanthin and you can buy it over the counter anywhere. Continue reading “At last: A drug that will help you sell more”
Customer Service: How to move from ordinary to extraordinary
Differentiation is arguably the most important source of growth for service businesses. That said, when it’s difficult to differentiate the outcome of your service, it’s essential to focus your attention on differentiating the process by which you deliver your service. Continue reading “Customer Service: How to move from ordinary to extraordinary”
What every business can learn from Gordon Ramsay
If you can tolerate the language you can learn a lot from Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. In fact you can learn something from virtually everything that goes on around you. Back to the kitchen ….. there is a common theme that runs through practically all of the restaurants he works with. This is ….
The menu is way too broad – there are so many dishes it’s hard for people to choose and harder for chefs to get any good at any of them. In their attempt to appeal to a wide range of people they end up appealing to very few.
The owners start by being so appreciative of Ramsay’s help but very quickly push back on virtually every suggestion he makes because they “know better.” Ah, hello, the business is failing!
The team members who work at the restaurant know EXACTLY what is wrong and they are, for the most part, incredibly loyal to and tolerant of the idiot owner they work for. But if or when they try to suggest a way to improve the process or offer suggestions based on direct or indirect customer feedback to the owner they are totally ignored.
Does this give you any ideas for your firm or any of your clients businesses? Perhaps you could invite some clients to a breakfast meeting, show one of his episodes and discuss the lessons learned and how they could apply to any business….. just an idea.
Value Pricing: Some Mischievously Misleading Musings
Recently, a practitioner named Frank Stitely, CPA posted his thoughts in CPA Trendlines on how charging a very high fee for work that only took a few hours can backfire. Understandingly, this post invoked a lot reaction from the proponents of value pricing including me. Continue reading “Value Pricing: Some Mischievously Misleading Musings”