Tag: employee empowerment

Culture Design: The Best Ever Solution for Influencing Your Business

Awesome culture design influence on employees can be way beyond what you imagined them to be. 

You aren’t in the coffee business serving people. You’re in the people business serving coffee.

–    Howard Schultz, Starbucks

culture design
Culture design.

David Freemantle and Howard Schultz certainly appreciate how to build awesome culture designs, don’t they? One that has a large influence on your business. Creating such a culture is occupying the minds and activities of a lot of companies that we’re talking about lately.

Check out our thoughts on team leverage.

Here is an example:

I recently was on the phone with an incredibly chipper call center rep at a telecommunications company. He didn’t answer either of the two questions that I had, yet remained friendly throughout the call. As the call ended, he said: “We aim not just to meet your expectations, but exceed them. Have I done that for you today?”.

A more customer-centric response is: “I’m sorry that I can’t answer your questions. Let me find someone who can. Would you like to hold or can I call you back?”

Don’t get us wrong: Company intentions are important. Before we get into the culture part, we always step back with clients and ask “what kind of culture?”

  

Culture. It’s a word you often hear if you follow blogs on entrepreneurship or read articles on business and management. But what is it exactly?

According to Frances Frei and Anne Morriss at Harvard Business Review:

 

Culture guides discretionary behavior, and it picks up where the employee handbook leaves off. Culture tells us how to respond to an unusual service request. It says whether to risk telling our bosses about our new ideas, and whether to surface or hide problems. Employees make hundreds of decisions on their own every day, and culture is our guide.

 

Each culture has different tactics and unique qualities. But, universally, culture is about the employees and making sure they have a fun and productive working environment.

Let’s dive in to learn more about this important subject.

 

Culture design … why care about culture?

The workplace should not be something that people dread every day. Employees should look forward to going to their jobs. In fact, they should have a hard time leaving because they enjoy the challenges, their co-workers, and the atmosphere. Jobs shouldn’t provoke stress in employees. While the work may be challenging, the culture shouldn’t add to the stress of the work. On the contrary, the culture should be designed to alleviate work-related stress.

This is why culture matters. Culture sustains employee enthusiasm and helps build passion.

You want happy employees because happiness makes for better productivity. And when a business is more productive, that means it is working faster; and when it works faster, it can get a leg up on the competition. So it’s worth the investment for companies to build and nourish their culture.

When you put a focus on culture, you’ll have guiding principles. People will know you for this. Employees will live by it. It’ll help get you through difficult times. You’ll base hiring and firing decisions on the principles. It’ll help get all employees working on the same company mission. In some sense, it’s the glue that keeps the company together.

colossal media
Colossal media.

Here are some of the best cultural elements we use in team workshops with our clients:

Employee empowerment

Train your staff and then empower them and turn them loose. Minimize rules. Let them know that you want them to do what is right and be the customer’s advocate. The simple thought is that while the client is not always right, they always have the right to choose.

 

Hiring people who fit your culture

Tech Journalist Robert Scoble meets with a lot of CEOs. And when talking about hiring decisions, they always try to make sure they don’t hire jerks. It’s for this reason that companies have such a rigorous hiring process. Some companies like to bring potential hires into work before a final decision. They give the candidates a project and see how they collaborate and how they work with others.

In a post on Harvard Business Review, Eric Sinoway breaks down types of employees and how they impact company culture. The high-performing employees who don’t fit into your culture are known as vampires. These vampires must be terminated because, while performance is solid, their attitude is detrimental to company culture, which is harmful to business.

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, one of the strongest advocates of high culture, makes an excellent point when he notes that the people you hire represent your company even outside of work. If you meet someone and they tell you where they work, your perception of that place will change based on your opinion of the person. If they’re nice, you’ll view the company in a positive light. If they’re a jerk, you won’t see the company favorably.

This effect can be even greater when it’s a company you’ve never heard of and didn’t previously have any opinion of. If the person is helpful, you’ll view the company as helpful. This is why it’s important to hire individuals who share your business values.

 

Design culture meaning … total team involvement

Remember in marketing as well as service, everything and everybody is a service provider. Make it a total team effort and culture. Customer service is everyone in the company’s business. Unless every employee assumes responsibility for customer experience and service, you will be missing improvement opportunities.

 

Do it, don’t procrastinate

We feel the words of Martin Luther King Junior spoken about a half a lifetime ago, apply well as an essential element of culture:

 “We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood — it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, “Too late.”

Good decisions come from anywhere 

How does culture influence design
How does culture influence design?

No one has all the answers. A company where only management makes decisions is a surefire way to send A and B players away to other businesses.

As some companies get bigger, they tend to limit employee freedom. The employees are less and less involved in critical decisions, and their impact on the business is drowned out. It becomes a part of the culture. Employees go to work, do what they’re told, and just help someone else achieve their dream. The worker’s impact on the business is minimal, and they become “just another employee at just another company.”

But this is not what the best employees want.

They want to have a voice and a meaningful impact on the company and its direction. They know that anyone can win a debate with the most senior person at a company. They also know they can create tools for the business without the need for management approval.

Companies have greater success when employees are given the type of freedom that isn’t ruled by a hierarchy, assuming they’re talented employees who fit the culture. Knowing that the right decision can come from anywhere and expanding employee freedom are cornerstones of attracting talented individuals who will fit into the culture if you let them.

Invest in talent and training

Regarding hiring, companies like Whole Foods focus on getting the right people in the door to start with, so that their socialization builds on fueling a fire that’s already there.

Volution (a software company) infuses job announcements with its customer-centric values, and KeyBank tests applicants for natural approaches to customer issues that align with the company’s values.

The bottom line

The lessons of a true culture remain to inspire everyone to do the same. One act of friendliness stands out as a beacon for others to follow.

 

It’s up to you to keep improving your ability to create a customer-friendly culture.

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that struggle gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.

When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.

 

Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

 

Are you devoting enough energy to each of these steps to improving the elements of a healthy culture?

 

 Have you found additional ways to focus and motivate a true culture in your business?

So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is entirely up to you.

 

It’s up to you to keep improving your business culture. Lessons are all around you. In many situations, your competitor may be providing the ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.

 

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change.  We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. 

  

More reading on business processes from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:

Change Management Case Study… 7 Volatile Challenges to Overcome

Business Blog … Learning from the Best Examples

The Business Intelligence Process Part 4 SWOT Analysis

8 Examples of Employing Culture That Influences Your Business

The business cultural influence on employees can be way beyond what you imagined it to be. Employing culture has a great influence,
employing culture
Employing culture has multiple advantages.
 
You aren’t in the coffee business serving people. You’re in the people business serving coffee.
–    Howard Schultz, Starbucks
 
 Feelings have a critical role in the way customers are influenced.
–    David Freemantle
 
David Freemantle and Howard Schultz certainly appreciate how to build an awesome culture, don’t they? One that has a large influence on your business. Building such a culture is occupying the minds and activities of a lot of companies that we’re talking with lately.
Here is an example:
I recently was on the phone with an incredibly chipper call center rep at a telecommunications company. He didn’t answer either of the two questions that I had, yet remained friendly throughout the call. As the call ended, he said: “We aim not just to meet your expectations, but exceed them. Have I done that for you today?”. A more customer-centric response is: “I’m sorry that I can’t answer your questions. Let me find someone who can. Would you like to hold or can I call you back?”
Don’t get us wrong: Company intentions are important. Before we get into the culture part, we always step back with clients and ask “what kind of culture?”
 
 Culture. It’s a word you often hear if you follow blogs on entrepreneurship or read articles on business and management. But what is it exactly?
According to Frances Frei and Anne Morriss at Harvard Business Review:
 
Culture guides discretionary behavior, and it picks up where the employee handbook leaves off. Culture tells us how to respond to an unprecedented service request. It tells us whether to risk telling our bosses about our new ideas, and whether to surface or hide problems. Employees make hundreds of decisions on their own every day, and culture is our guide.
 
Each culture has different tactics and unique qualities. But, universally, culture is about the employees and making sure they have a fun and productive working environment.
Related: Secrets to Chipotle Culture and Employee Engagement
Let’s dive in to learn more about this important subject.

 

Why care about culture?

The workplace should not be something that people dread every day. Employees should look forward to going to their jobs. In fact, they should have a hard time leaving because they enjoy the challenges, their co-workers, and the atmosphere. Jobs shouldn’t provoke stress in employees. While the work may be difficult, the culture shouldn’t add to the stress of the work. On the contrary, the culture should be designed to alleviate the work-related stress.
This is why culture matters. Culture sustains employee enthusiasm and helps build passion.
You want happy employees because happiness makes for better productivity. And when a business is more productive, that means it is working faster; and when it works faster, it can get a leg up on the competition. So it’s worth the investment for companies to build and nourish their culture.
When you put a focus on culture, you’ll have guiding principles. People will know you for this. Employees will live by it. It’ll help get you through difficult times. You’ll base hiring and firing decisions on the principles. It’ll help get all employees working on the same company mission. In some sense, it’s the glue that keeps the company together.
Here are some of the best cultural elements we use in team workshops with our clients:

Employee empowerment

Train your employees and then empower them and turn them loose. Minimize rules. Let them know that you want them to do what is right and be the customer’s advocate. The simple thought is that while the customer is not always right, they always have the right to choose.

 

Hiring People Who Fit Your Culture

Tech Journalist Robert Scoble meets with a lot of CEOs. And when talking about hiring decisions, they always try to make sure they don’t hire jerks. It’s for this reason that companies have such a rigorous hiring process. Some companies like to bring potential hires into work before a final decision. They give the candidates a project and see how they work and how they work with others.
In a post on Harvard Business Review, Eric Sinoway breaks down types of employees and how they impact company culture. The high performing employees who don’t fit into your culture are known as vampires. These vampires must be terminated because, while performance is solid, their attitude is detrimental to company culture, which is detrimental to business.
Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, one of the strongest advocates of a strong culture, makes a great point when he notes that the people you hire represent your company even outside of work. If you meet someone and they tell you where they work, your perception of that place will change based on your opinion of the person. If they’re nice, you’ll view the company in a positive light. If they’re a jerk, you won’t view the company favorably. This effect can be even greater when it’s a company you’ve never heard of and didn’t previously have any opinion of. If the person is helpful, you’ll view the company as helpful. This is why it’s important to hire people who share your company values.
 
total team empowerment
Total team empowerment.

Employing culture … total team involvement

Remember in marketing as well as service, everything and everybody is a service provider. Make it a total team effort and culture. Customer service is everyone in the company’s business. Unless every employee assumes responsibility for customer experience and service, you will be missing improvement opportunities.

 

Do it, don’t procrastinate

We feel the words of Martin Luther King Junior spoken about a half a lifetime ago, apply well as a key element of culture:
 “We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood — it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, “Too late.”

Good decisions come from anywhere

No one has all the answers. A company where only management makes decisions is a surefire way to send A and B players away to other companies.
As some companies get bigger, they tend to limit employee freedom. The employees are less and less involved in key decisions, and their impact on the business is drowned out. It becomes a part of the culture. Employees go to work, do what they’re told, and help someone else achieve their dream. The worker’s impact on the business is minimal, and they become “just another employee at just another company.”
But this is not what the best employees want.
They want to have a voice and a meaningful impact on the company and its direction. They know that anyone can win a debate with the most senior person at a company. They also know they can create tools for the company without the need for management approval.
Companies have greater success when employees are given the type of freedom that isn’t ruled by a hierarchy, assuming they’re talented employees who fit the culture. Knowing that good decision can come from anywhere and expanding employee freedom are cornerstones of attracting talented individuals who will fit into the culture if you let them.

Employing culture … invest in talent and training

invest in talent
Invest in talent early.
Regarding hiring, companies like Whole Foods focus on getting the right people in the door to start with, so that their socialization builds on fueling a fire that’s already there.
Volution (a software company) infuses job announcements with its customer-centric values, and KeyBank tests applicants for natural approaches to customer issues that align with the company’s values.
The lessons out of a friendly culture remain to inspire everyone to do same. One act of friendliness stands out as a beacon for others to follow.

The bottom line

Prognosticators and futurists try to predict what will happen through some combination of extrapolation and supposition, but the truth is the future will mostly be shaped by the choices we make. We could have chosen to make our society more equal, healthier, and happier, but did not. We can, of course, choose differently. The future will be revealed in what we choose to build.

 

build value proposition
Does your business have a winning value proposition?
It’s up to you to keep improving your ability to create a customer-friendly culture.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.
When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.
 
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
 
Are you devoting enough energy in each of these steps to improving the elements of a strong culture?
  
Have you found additional ways to focus and motivate a friendly culture in your business?
So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you.
 
It’s up to you to keep improving your business culture. Lessons are all around you. In many situations, your competitor may be providing the ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.
 
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.
When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change.  We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed how reasonable we will be.
  
More reading on learning from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
9 Things to Know About Creative Visual Design Content
8 Presenter Mistakes That Are Rarely Made Twice
Know These Great Secrets of Collaboration and Co-Creation
How Good Is Your Learning from Failure?

Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

Marriott Tourism Marketing Makes Customer Experience the Secret Sauce

How often do you receive a surprise ‘wow’ customer experience from a business you have selected? While it is not that often, it makes a big impact on your impression of the company, doesn’t it? As Maya says, people will never forget how ‘a company’ made you feel. And that is the Marriott tourism marketing plan where they put a focus.

Marriott tourism marketing
Tourism marketing.

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

-Maya Angelou

Brands like Marriott are not built through gimmicks or sleight of hand.  The consumer can not be fooled for long.  Great companies build great brands by valuing their customers and wanting to make their lives better in some way. That you must keep in mind for this story.

In the end, despite all the gimmicks and tricks that gurus use to sell books and seminars, it comes down to one simple equation: Brand Value = the value of promises kept.

Here let me backtrack momentarily. I have been a loyal Marriott customer from the start of my business career for over 45 years.

I did quite a bit of travel throughout my career and got sold on Marriott from their Rewards Program, one of the best, if not the best in the industry, early on. Of course, in addition, their properties were all consistently outstanding.

But since my retirement, I have not had the opportunity to stay with them very often.

Some more excellent marketing examples here.

But for my wife and I’s 20th anniversary, we decided to visit Miami Beach for a couple of nights recently. For my many years of loyalty, I am a Marriott Platinum Rewards member. The most significant benefit of this is having access to the concierge lounge and upgrade to a nicer room if available.

When I called to make a reservation, the corporate reservation desk reminded me that he would request an ocean view upgrade, in case they were any available. A few days later, after thinking about it, I called the local hotel reservations desk, told them we had a reservation for 2 nights in celebration of our 20th anniversary, and asked for a special favor for the ocean view room for this special occasion.

The reservations desk assured me they would do their best.

On our arrival at check-in, the front desk welcomed us with a warm anniversary congratulations and welcome. They said they were able to find us a very nice ocean view room. We certainly were not disappointed.

Later, upon returning from an afternoon of sightseeing and dinner on the bay, we returned to the room to receive a very nice bottle of champagne and fresh strawberries from the front desk and hotel chef. What a great surprise and ‘wow’ customer experience

The thing is this: the front line of any brand in the marketplace is not the advertising, packaging, or product design. It is the interaction that the customer experiences that determine the brand’s reputation to a large degree.

It is human and emotion, and at that critical time when a customer engages with your employees anywhere in your channels, your brand (your product and reputation) will either be enhanced or diminished. No doubt about our experience was there?

Related post: Case Studies to Evaluate New World Marketing Concepts

Want to know one of the most effective examples that any company can use to build its brand and create reciprocity with its customers?

By surprising them!

People like getting things for free and like them, even more, when they are viewed as ‘favors’.  But even more, they love receiving these favors as surprises.

Why give away this sort of benefit as a surprise?

Marriott tourism marketing … simple

A company like Marriott (known for their quality customer experience) recognizes the benefits of surprising people with a “wow” experience.

This kind of example is justified by almost any cost, and the cost hit Marriott took by doing this is paid back multiple times over by the customer loyalty and customer word of mouth recognition they generate from making people happy.

So … a company’s brand communicates every time it touches a customer.

As a marketer, you need to manage this communication and be responsible for each ‘moment of truth’. Marriott certainly has this type of brand marketing down pat and well recognizes its value.

But our customer experience observations about this local Marriott did not end there. Here are a few more experiences we observed:

Always offer reassurance

Everyone ‘on the stage’ has a casting role, and as such, is responsible to contribute to the positive customer experience by being as helpful and assuring as possible. We only saw one employee who did not smile or greet us positively.

show ready
Always be show-ready.

Show ready

Each customer-facing employee is expected to be ‘show ready’ whenever they are on stage.  Everyone has a part to play as a component of the show. Everyone at this Marriott knew their role and was more than show-ready.

Show guests fun  

Everyone showed their commitment and responsibility for ensuring the property remains clean, friendly, and most of all, fun. Emphasis on pleasant and fun.

Marriott tourism marketing … assertively friendly

All employees were ‘assertively friendly’.  They sought out those who look like they need help before they come looking for help. They could not have been more helpful and friendly. It started at check-in when we were asked if we had ever been to the hotel or Miami Beach before.

When we said no … the front desk spent 5-10 minutes with a map discussing the area and things to see.

employee empowerment
Employ employee empowerment.

Marriott tourism marketing … employee empowerment

What Marriott is saying to its employees … if you act in support of the values that really matter to our business, we want you to take the initiative to care for our customers.

Marriott certainly knows all there is to know about customer immersion and customer experience, don’t they?  It is a culture handed down by William Marriott himself.

This is a very simple concept, eh?  But how many of us put such a thing into practice with our own people? Sit down today with your employees and do what Marriott did. Start building your employee empowerment culture today.

Companies that are proactively managing all elements of their customer experiences are most successful in achieving customer loyalty.

The bottom line

Attitude is the most important choice any of us will make. We made it yesterday and we get another choice to make it today. And then again tomorrow. The choice to participate. To be optimistic. To intentionally bring out the best in other people.

We make the choice to surprise, to be curious, to challenge the status quo. To give people the benefit of the doubt.

Of course, these are our attitudes. What else could they be?

What can your business apply from this Marriott operation that would improve your customer experience? Please share a story about a creative customer experience design strategy with this community. Perhaps you’d like to add a comment or ask a question?

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.

Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

Do you have a lesson about making your marketing strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?

Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find him on Twitter, and LinkedIn.  

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change.  We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.

More reading on marketing  strategy from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:

Marketing Branding … 9 Secrets to a Continuous Improvement Strategy

Target Market … How to Target for Best Marketing Campaigns

11 Steps to Media Framing Messages for Optimum Engagement

6 Shortcuts for Creating a Customer Friendly Culture

Feelings have a critical role in the way customers are influenced by a customer friendly culture.

  • David Freemantle
customer friendly culture
Customer friendly culture.

David Freemantle certainly appreciates the value of a customer friendly culture, don’t they? Building a customer friendly culture is occupying the minds and activities of a lot of companies that we’re talking with lately.

This is great because the culture is the difference between going through the motions of a script and internalizing a set of values that dictate actions beyond the script.

Here is an example: I recently was on the phone with an incredibly chipper call center rep at a telecommunications company. He didn’t answer either of the two questions that I had, yet remained friendly throughout the call.

As the call ended, he said: “We aim not just to meet your expectations, but exceed them. Have I done that for you today?”. A more customer-centric response is: “I’m sorry that I can’t answer your questions. Let me find someone who can. Would you like to hold or can I call you back?”

Don’t get us wrong: Company intentions are important. Before we get into the culture part, we always step back with clients and ask “what kind of culture?” The story about Southwest Airlines, in which the company refused to give customers reserved seats, food, and baggage transfers is a great example.

The company’s primary value proposition to customers is low prices (along with on-time service that’s fun). That sets the stage for the kind of culture the company sets out to create. It’s not customer-centric at all costs. It’s focused on what’s valuable to customers.

Recently over at AmazingServiceGuy, Kristina Evey wrote a post about the friendliness factor and how it relates to customer satisfaction. In her post, Kristina wrote that:

Customers make their purchasing decisions based on how they feel. When they are developing relationships with their service and product supplies, a person who smiles is inviting and is easy to talk to ranks high in the preferred qualities that customers list.

Think about the last great customer experience you had (maybe on Zappos, maybe in your local convenience store). Now think about the last really bad experience you had with a customer support person.

There’s a fair chance that much of the difference between the two exchanges wasn’t about the product or service that the organization provides, but rather was simply a reflection on how personable, how helpful and, yes, how friendly the customer service person was.

Here are 6 fantastic shortcuts for a customer-friendly culture where you and your business may see value from your contributions and efforts:

Demonstrate great service value

Show customers examples of your or maybe others that you exemplify. Hopefully, you appreciate that great service is your best marketing tactic.

Total team involvement

Remember in marketing as well as service, everything and everybody is a service provider. Make it a total team effort. Customer service really is everyone in the company’s business.

Unless every employee assumes responsibility for customer experience and service, you will be missing improvement opportunities.

Employee empowerment

employee empowerment
employee empowerment

Train your employees and then empower them and turn them loose. Minimize rules. Let them know that you want them to do what is right and be the customers’ advocate. The simple thought is that while the customer is not always right, they always have the right to choose.

Active listening

Sometimes the best marketing is being social. Listen actively and remember things for the next engagement. Like names. Don’t be hesitant to ask good questions to learn new insights. And use initiative to take action on those insights.  

Invest in talent and training

In terms of hiring, companies like Whole Foods focus on getting the right people in the door to start with, so that their socialization builds on fueling a fire that’s already there.

Volution (a software company) infuses job announcements with its customer-centric values, and KeyBank tests applicants for natural approaches to customer issues that align with the company’s values.

Go all in

If you’re going to do something, do it. Go all in. Doing it half in makes no sense at all to us. It’s like a business that has so many rules and regulations about sales and exchanges that you wonder if they really want to be bothered to sell you anything at all.

Focus on details

focus on details
Focus on details.

Always pay attention to the details, as they are the things that matter the most. Declare war on bureaucracy. Focus on making things and as simple and convenient for customers. Ask for and use ideas and collaboration of customers.

Do it, don’t procrastinate

We feel the words of Martin Luther King Junior spoken about a half a lifetime ago, apply really well here:

“We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood — it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, “Too late.”

The bottom line

Friendliness has a way of coming back; that is the nature of the beast. One doesn’t have to be friendly for a return. It just happens.

The lessons out of a friendly culture remain to inspire everyone to do the same. One act of friendliness stands out as a beacon for others to follow.

It’s up to you to keep improving your ability to create a customer-friendly culture.

 

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.

When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.

Try. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

Are you devoting enough energy in each of these steps to improving customer conversations?

 Have you found additional ways to focus and motivate a friendly culture in your business?

Please share one of your stories on developing a friendly culture with this community. Any questions or comments to add below?

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change.  We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.

More reading from Digital Spark Marketing’s blog library:

 What Skill Is Most Critical in a Good Business Leader?

Doing What You Love Is Not That Easy a Task

How to Get Your Attitude Adjusted For Each New Day  

Why Amazon Is Most Innovative Company? Our Answer May Surprise You

Innovative vision. We are always fascinated by this skill. It is one of the best business skills to have in our view. Does it mean you see everything? Certainly not. It does mean you have the ability to see what many cannot. And then act on these items. That why Amazon is the most innovative company, in our minds.

Amazon Is Most Innovative
Most innovative company.

Lots of experiments and exploring. Innovation doesn’t work well without experimentation and lots of action. And Amazon is the best of the best, in our opinion.
Good executives are often the smartest guys in the room. Through years of experience solving tough problems, they learn to be masters of their craft and are able to mentor those around them. A great operational manager is a great coach, guiding others around them to achieve more than they thought they could.
Unfortunately, innovation isn’t about what you know, but what you don’t.. It requires you to explore, push boundaries and venture into uncharted areas in which there often are no true experts. You’re basically flying blind, which can be incredibly uncomfortable, especially to those who have had a strong track record of success in a structured environment.
For years, I’ve been fascinated by Jeff Bezos’ innovative vision and Amazon’s action and ability to execute.
We have written a lot about him and Amazon. (See our article on why the Wal-Mart e-commerce strategy won’t beat Amazon.) They are the most innovative company around in our humble opinion.
If you invent frequently and are willing to fail, then you never get to that point where you need to bet the whole company.
  • Jeff Bezos
Amazon is an e-commerce company in everything they do. They have developed all their expertise in full support of e-commerce. In fact, they now do e-commerce for many other businesses.
Amazon has existed in the e-commerce technology world since its inception. They think like a technology company and agile innovators, only innovative in everything they do, not just technology.
They are not afraid to try new things, and they can get things done quickly, thanks to the culture their CEO Bezos has instilled.
Probably the most persistent — and damaging — myth about innovation is that it’s about ideas. It’s not. Tremendous amounts of time and energy are wasted thinking up radically new ideas that never end up going anywhere. Middle managers never seem to tire of complaining that their ideas are ignored by the powers above.
The truth is that nobody cares about your ideas. They care about what problems you can solve for them. So if you want to innovate effectively, don’t go looking for a great idea so that you can dazzle others with your brilliance, look for a meaningful problem and get to work on solving it.
Let’s examine some of Amazon’s more creative innovations. And remember that innovation isn’t just about technology.

Amazon is most innovative … logistics and delivery

Amazon lockers
Let’s examine a recent e-commerce delivery innovation example that Amazon tried out, the introduction of Amazon lockers.
The concept is pretty simple. Amazon offers customers in select locations the option of having their package delivered to an Amazon Locker instead of to their street address.
When the package arrives, customers receive an email letting them know where to pick it up along with the code to unlock it.
Because most of the lockers are being placed in locations like convenience stores, often the customer can pick up their package 24 hours a day.
This is a great advantage for one segment of their customer base … the one that has trouble receiving their packages, either because they live in an apartment or condo that is difficult to deliver to, aren’t home to sign, or because they are worried that their package might be stolen.
But the motive for the experiment is not one based just on customer service alone, as companies like Amazon pay up to 20% more to have packages delivered to a residence.
So, delivering a package to a locker helps Amazon save money too … helping to offset the costs of installing and maintaining the lockers.

world's most innovative companies 2016
World’s most innovative companies in 2016.

Fresh grocery delivery
After trialing the service for five years in Seattle (no one accuses Amazon of a lack of patience), they expanded Amazon Fresh to Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Prime Fresh members pay $299 a year and receive same-day and early morning delivery not only on fresh grocery items but also on over 500,000 other items ranging from toys to electronics to household goods.
They’re also partnering with favorite local merchants (the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills, Pike Place Fish Market, San Francisco Wine Trading Company, as examples) to provide the same convenient home delivery on a great selection of prepared foods and specialty items.
Their goal? To continue the methodical approach – measuring and refining Amazon Fresh – with the goal of bringing this service to more cities over time.

Amazon is most innovative … E-commerce applications

Amazon Web Services
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a collection of remote computing services that together make up a cloud computing platform, offered over the Internet. The most central and well-known of these services are the simple storage service, and the elastic compute cloud (EC2).
In 2010, Amazon launched 61 new services and features. In 2011, that number was 82. In 2012, it was 159. In 2013: 280.
They are also expanding their geographic footprint, with ten current AWS regions around the world, including the East Coast of the U.S., two on the West Coast, Europe, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney, Brazil, China, and a government-only region called GovCloud.
The development teams work directly with customers and are empowered to design, build, and launch based on what they learn.
 
Prime
Prime launched nine years ago: an ‘all-you-can-eat,’ two-day shipping for a flat annual fee. At that time, Amazon had one million eligible Prime products. This year, they passed 20 million eligible products. They have added new digital benefits – including the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library and Prime Instant Video.

Amazon is most innovative … online services

employee empowerment
Employee empowerment.

 Prime Instant Video
Prime Instant Video was launched in 2011 to provide customers with streaming video on demand, analogous to books.
In 2011 with 5,000 titles, they’ve grown selection to more than 40,000 movies and TV episodes.
The Amazon Studios team continues to invest heavily in original content and will compete in the new TV market of the future.

How Sears Lost the Innovative Retail Recipe and Went to the Bottom

Fire TV
In the last month, the Amazon team launched Fire TV. Not only is Fire TV the best way to watch Amazon’s video offerings, but it also embraces non-Amazon content services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, VEVO, WatchESPN, and much more.
In addition to Prime Instant Video, Fire TV gives you instant access to over 200,000 movies and TV episodes available a la carte. As a bonus, Fire TV also lets you play high-quality, inexpensive games on your living room TV.

 

Amazon is most innovative … employee empowerment

Amazon not only innovates outward facing features but also on better ways to do things internally – things that will both make themselves more effective and benefit their employees.
 
Pay to Quit
Pay to quit was invented by the  Zappos’ team (an Amazon company), and the Amazon fulfillment centers have been iterating on it. Pay to Quit is pretty simple. Once a year, they offer to pay employees to leave.
The first year the offer is made, it’s for $2,000. Then it goes up one thousand dollars a year until it reaches $5,000. The headline on offer is “Please Don’t Take This Offer.” While they hope they don’t take the offer, they do want to encourage folks to take a moment and think about what they want.
In the long-run, an employee staying somewhere they don’t want to be isn’t healthy for the employee or the company. A good engagement technique, yes?
 
Virtual contact center
It’s an idea Amazon started a few years back and had continued to develop. Under this program, employees provide customer service support for Amazon and Kindle customers while working from home.
This flexibility is ideal for many employees who cannot or prefer not to work outside the home. This Virtual Contact Center is our fastest growing “site” in the U.S., operating in more than ten states.

Amazon is most innovative … listening to customers

Nothing gives Amazon a better result than “reinventing normal” – creating innovations that customers love and resetting their expectations for what normal should be.
Frustration-free packaging
Here Amazon’s battle is against annoying wire ties and plastic clamshells wrapping of products. An initiative that began five years ago with a simple idea that you shouldn’t have to risk bodily injury opening your new electronics or toys has now grown to over 200,000 products, all available in easy-to-open, recyclable packaging.
Packaging designed to alleviate “wrap rage” and help the planet by reducing packaging waste. They include over 2,000 manufacturers in this Frustration-Free Packaging program.
 
Amazon Smile
In 2013 Amazon Smile was launched. This program’s goal was to create a simple way for customers to support their favorite charitable organizations every time they shop. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, Amazon donates a portion of the purchase price to the charity of your choice.
You’ll find the same selection, prices, shipping options, and Prime eligibility on smile.amazon.com as you do on Amazon.com – you’ll even find your same shopping cart and wish lists.
In addition to the large, national charities you would expect, you can also designate your local children’s hospital, your school’s PTA, or practically any other cause you might like. There are almost a million charities to choose from.
 
The Mayday button
Mayday reimagines and revolutionizes the idea of on-device tech support. Tap the Mayday button, and an Amazon expert will appear on your Fire HDX and can co-pilot you through any feature by drawing on your screen, walking you through how to do something yourself, or doing it for you – whatever works best.
Mayday is available 24×7, 365 days a year. Amazon’s response time goal is 15 seconds or less. This last year they beat that goal – with an average response time of only 9 seconds on their busiest day, Christmas. Pretty impressive, yes?

What is the bottom line?

Amazon, we believe, is the most innovative company in America in an industry built on constant innovation and change. Why may you ask?
We believe there several good reasons. First, as one of the creators of the e-commerce industry, they will know the industry is in its infancy and is built on a foundation of new technology and constant introduction of new ways of doing things.
Second, they know their future is based on those trends. They also know to do new things well, they must be good at trying new ideas in many areas as experiments. These experiments, they realize, will not all work as planned, and some percentage will fail. They know and accept this without worry.
There are many great business growth campaigns we can learn from. Please post your comments below, offering questions or your great examples for business innovation strategies.
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More reading on creativity and innovation from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Learn How to Think What No One Else Thinks
Generating Ideas by Convergent Thinking
Amazon and Managing Innovation … the Jeff Bezos Vision
The Secrets to Building an Innovative Culture
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of the small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.