Maximizing Customer Lifetime Value

I’ve been reading Carl Sewell’s Customers for Life, which focuses on the value of a customer over the course of a lifetime. Sewell runs a chain of car dealerships in the southwest. His philosophy is that you can either sell a customer a Lexus for $40,000, or you can go out of your way to completely satisfy that customer, ensuring that he’ll keep coming back to you in the future. Sewell has calculated that the average customer for life is worth over $500,000, more than 10 times the value of any single, one-time customer (in some industries, customer lifetime value can be closer to 1000 times a single purchase price). Full Story →

Tech Tools: AdobeAIR Apps

Adobe Delivers

If you haven’t heard about this yet, it’s worth checking out… Adobe has released a “cross-operating system runtime that lets developers combine HTML, Ajax, Adobe Flash®, and Flex technologies to deploy rich Internet applications (RIAs) on the desktop” (more info). In other words, web developers can use the same web tools like Dreamweaver and Flash to develop feature-rich desktop applications.

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Crash Course In Kaizen: Improve Your Business, Your Life

The Kaizen Concept

The Japanese term “Kaizen,” which translates as “Improvement,” is part business management system and part deeply-rooted philosophy in Japanese culture. Popularized by Toyota, Kaizen stresses that continuous, incremental improvement is at least as critical for a business as periodic, large-scale innovation. Full Story →

Tech Tools: Managing and Sharing Your Calendar

Organizing your Time: The Problem

I was working with a client recently who was having some problems synchronizing schedules internally. My client is a small consulting company with about ten employees who evaluate EPA and OSHA compliance for their clients.

Employees of this company regularly travel to visit with clients nationwide, and each employee tracked his or her own travel schedule individually using Outlook’s calendar. As a result, any time the company needed to schedule something that required the attendence of all employees, they had to ask each employee for a list of dates that would work. Full Story →

Hollywood, the Constitution, and Your Future

I just saw Will Smith’s The Pursuit of Happyness for the second time this week, and I had forgotten what a powerful movie it was. Or maybe I just wasn’t in a position to truly appreciate it when it first came out. It’s like studying Shakespeare in high school: at the age of fourteen you can’t even begin to appreciate the language or relate to the feelings in his plays (years later, that hasn’t improved much). But with time comes perspective, and I saw this movie in a completely different light.

 

Hey. Don’t ever let somebody tell you… You can’t do something. Not even me. All right? You got a dream… You gotta protect it. People can’t do somethin’ themselves, they wanna tell you you can’t do it. If you want somethin’, go get it. Period. - Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness

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7 Lessons Learned Abroad

I’m back! After a few weeks abroad, I came home with a completely different view of the world. In an entirely too short period of time, I saw Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich in Germany, Zurich, Bern, Lucerne, and Interlaken in Switzerland, Venice, Rome, Naples and the island of Ischia in Italy, Salzburg, Austria, Amsterdam, and Ljubljana and Bled in Slovenia. And a bunch of small towns along the way.

Me overlooking a village in the Swiss Alps. Sweet.

I’d say I probably learned more about the world in the last few weeks than I had in my entire life prior to this trip. Wandering the ruins of an ancient palace in Rome, directly across from Mussolini’s mansion on Palatine Hill, gives you a sense of history that just can’t be found in the States. Allow me to share a bit of my accumulated wisdom with you:

1. The Mario Brothers franchise dramatically skewed my perception of the Italian people

In fact, most of the Italians I met weren’t nearly as friendly as Mario, and could care less if you were attacked by a giant turtle hell-bent on kidnapping the princess. With the EuroCup right around the corner, the Italian people were far more concerned about their soccer team.

2. Americans are remarkably ignorant to the current events of other countries

People in several different countries asked about American politics, named all the presidential candidates, and seemed to know more about our government than the average American. A little more attention to global current events might have saved me a very unpleasant trip to Naples, because I would have been aware of the garbage strike in progress. Seeing people throw bags of garbage out of apartment windows into the street is certainly an experience, but not one I had been looking for. Particularly in the 80 degree weather that really brings out the stink from a giant heap of garbage.

3. The Swiss Alps are deceptively large

Starting off a day of hiking in the Alps by saying “We’ll just hike up to the snow line and then head back down” is a recipe for a very long day. Particularly in June.  That’s when we realized there’s a big difference between walking ten miles in the completely flat Midwestern United States and the terribly vertical Swiss Alps. In case you’re wondering, we never made it to the snow line. Live and learn…

4. Just because you’ve never heard of something, doesn’t mean it won’t be awesome

Case in point: the town of Bled, Slovenia. This little town in northwestern Slovenia was one of the most beautiful and relaxing places I’ve ever seen. Our trip to Slovenia was a spur of the moment decision when other plans fell through, and our expectations were low.

As it turned out, the place was amazing, the people were great, and everything was a fraction of the price of the rest of Europe. What they need most is a good marketing campaign to overcome that skepticism and bring more people to this gorgeous little place.

5. Motivation is really all about the tone and method of delivering a message

While in Slovenia, I went white-water rafting. Our guide explained, in his thick Slavic accent, that with the rain of the previous week and the snow melting, the water volume was much higher than usual. He also told us what to do if the raft flipped, and explained just how critical it was to obey his orders immediately to avoid any potential dangers.

After nearly an hour of paddling, we were getting pretty fatigued. Even so, when our guide yelled “Faster! PADDLE FASTER FOR YOUR LIVES!”, we quickly found that we had pretty deep reserves of energy. He explained later that if we had hit a rock he pointed out, we would have flipped and likely been sucked into a deep whirlpool.

It was then that I realized just how powerful it can be to appeal to people’s emotions. A less forceful command may not have been taken seriously, but when someone screams at you that your life depends on something, you tend to listen.

6. McDonalds must be one of the most globalized companies on Earth

Virtually everywhere we went, we knew we could probably find a McDonald’s more easily than we could find a place to sleep. Even the signs we followed to find the Pantheon in Rome were actually guiding us to the McDonald’s directly across from it.

That being said, it was interesting to see the regional differences in the products McDonald’s offered. They’ve got curly fries in Italy, bacon in Germany, and all their desserts in Slovenia were berry flavored. McDonald’s really does a great job tailoring their menu to the unique wants of each target market, while keeping things recognizable enough to avoid alienating international travelers like myself.

7. Europe is expensive

There are certain things I never really appreciated about America because I had never considered that they could be any other way. For instance, around here we really take public restrooms for granted. When I first saw a public restroom in Italy charging roughly $1.60 for entry I thought “That’s a great way to get your building peed on” (For the record, I didn’t pee on the building). I found that my willingness to drink in a pub declined as a result, knowing that each beer would cost me roughly an extra $1.60 and a trip to the bathroom.

That was just the first of many encounters I had where I found myself paying for things I had always gotten for free. Ketchup in fast food restaurants cost 10 cents per packet. So did grocery bags at supermarkets. I came home with a new appreciation for the verse “O’er the land of the free” in our national anthem, though I can’t imagine Francis Scott Key was referring to public rest rooms at the time.

Now What…

Now that I’ve settled in again, and sorted through the 300+ emails that accumulated in my absence, it’s time to get to work… There’s a chance I’ll be able to do some consulting internationally in the near future, an opportunity I would jump on in a heartbeat. I feel like I’ve got a much better perspective of the world, and myself for that matter, and can’t wait to see where these insights will take me.

On Hiatus - Backpacking Across Europe

I’ll be out of town for the next 2.5 weeks as I backpack across Europe. Be sure to check back in early June, I’m sure I’ll have plenty to write about!

A Week in Transition

This has been a big week for me. Monday marked the first day in a transition that will impact my life for a very long time. Recently, everywhere I turn, people are talking about following your passion. At work, home, and every aspect of your life, there should be passion. There are many different definitions of passion, not all of which apply. Here are just a few:

• any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.
• strong amorous feeling or desire; love; ardor.
• a person toward whom one feels strong love or desire.
• a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything.

For a long time I mulled over these definitions, looking for the things in my life that I was most passionate about. At the same time, I tried to identify the things that were inspiring the wrong kind of passion. For instance, I decided I had come to hate my house. The neighborhood had gone downhill, and just last week there was an armed robbery just two blocks from my house. The cops pinned him down in the basement of an apartment complex, and the SWAT team brought him out five hours later. It was cool seeing all this, but didn’t exactly inspire confidence.

What I’m Passionate About

Above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it.

-Hardy D. Jackson

After a great deal of consideration, I had come up with a list of things that I am truly passionate about:

Computers - Nearly every dollar I have ever earned (with the exception of one summer as a lifeguard) has stemmed from the fact that I enjoy working with computers. I have built and sold desktops, acted as tech support, and worked in design, programming, and database consulting. I even had the opportunity to work at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, the birthplace of the first graphical web browser, MOSAIC.

Leading - It was actually at NCSA that I realized just how much I dislike taking direction from others. In any group situation, regardless of my role, I have always had a tendency to take charge and direct the efforts of the group. In situations where I have little control over the direction of a project, as with NCSA, I have a hard time getting excited about it.

As my business has started to grow, I have had to hire employees and freelance help to manage the growth. I found myself more in a project manager position, and found that I really enjoy directing the creative talents of others toward a common goal.

Travel - As far back as I can remember, my parents took my brother and me along on my dad’s business trips. They instilled in me a love of travel that has only grown over time. Since then I have driven from Chicago to both coasts several times, and the southwest twice. I think traveling is a critical part of broadening your own perspective and truly seeing the world for what it is. My business has allowed me to fly all over the country meeting some of the most interesting and unique people I know. Some of the best experiences of the past few years have been on those business trips.

Competition - I’m an extremely competitive person by nature. Even at the most trivial games, I always feel the need to win. This has caused some friction with girlfriends in the past who were equally competitive and didn’t take well to losing. I think this competitive spirit is at once a flaw and a tremendous asset. In business, I think it’s critical in order to be successful. I see other companies doing things and think “We can do what they’re doing, and we can do it better, faster, and at lower cost.” That, of course, can place some pretty ridiculous demands on my time, but I suppose that’s to be expected.

Customer Service - That may sound like a strange thing to be passionate about, but it’s true. I love blowing customers away and turning them into raving fans. Late Thursday evening, a client sent me a database of 150 of their clients so that we could conduct customer satisfaction phone surveys for their business. He asked us to get started ASAP and hoped to get some results within a few weeks. We started the next morning, called all 150 clients by 3:00 PM, and called him with the highlights by the end of the business day, less than 24 hours after receiving the list. At the end of our conversation he said “That’s incredible. Send us the bill and we’ll pay it right away. I don’t care how much it cost.” Clients validating our efforts like that make it all worthwhile.

My Business - I realized that the thing that kept popping up in the previous categories was my business. Even though I have only been able to work at it part time, I spend the rest of my time wishing I was working on it. I often found that it was easier to work on my own business for 15 consecutive hours on a Saturday than to work on anything else for three hours any day of the week. The entrepreneurial spirit is very much in my blood. My dad is an entrepreneur as well, and shares many of these same passions (except for computers). He also happens to be my business partner, which is awesome. His dad and grandpa were entrepreneurs as well. My path was genetically predetermined…

The Right Time

With all these things in mind, I decided it was time to take drastic action in the pursuit of happiness. I didn’t like my house or the neighborhood, so I moved out last week and am still getting settled in.

Professionally, I decided it was time to throw myself into my business full time. April was the best month we’d ever had, and things really seem to be coming together. We’re now developing Standard Operating Procedures and web-based training software in several different industries, and are pursuing others as we speak. We’re working our way into several key partnerships that will extend our capabilities dramatically. Things are looking good.

Before I throw myself into this career full time, though, I decided to do some traveling. On Tuesday, I’m heading to Europe to go backpacking for a few weeks with a close friend. I’m going to see Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Greece, and who knows what else. We decided this would probably be the last chance we ever had to make a trip like this, and we really couldn’t pass it up. Hopefully I’ll come back from this trip with a renewed vitality, a better view of the world, and some awesome stories.

I hope you’ll excuse the somewhat journal-ish post. Things have been incredibly chaotic lately, and it feels good to verbalize everything a little.

With all this change happening at once, as you can imagine, I’m scared shitless. But I don’t want to wake up one day close to retirement and realize that my entire working life was wasted on things I don’t connect with on a deeply personal level. I want to look back and be proud that I always did the right thing, followed my dreams, and left no part of life unlived.

What will you see when you look back on life 30 years from now?

A successful life is one that is lived through understanding and pursuing one’s own path, not chasing after the dreams of others.
Chin-Ning Chu

IDEO on Following Your Passion

I’ve recently done a lot of reading about IDEO, Inc., a Palo Alto, California based industrial design firm. Let me give you a little background info on the company… Full Story →

FINALLY, A Positive Customer Service Experience

I’ve been fairly outspoken in the past about my disdain for the level of customer “service” provided by large companies, particularly in the computer industry. Dell’s customer service, for instance, has been lovingly nicknamed “Dell Hell” by some of its customers. The internet is full of stories from unsatisfied Dell customers, but my experience with the company today was a glimmer of hope.

Delaying the Inevitable

For a couple of months now my laptop had been warning me that my battery was slowly dying. A few weeks back it finally died, and gave me the following message:

A normal characteristic of a rechargable battery is that its operating duration decreases over time. The battery may eventually need to be replaced. Based on this characteristic, consumed batteries may not be covered under warranty.

So today I finally decided to talk to Dell, something I had been avoiding because I didn’t want the headache that generally comes with it. Needless to say I was surprised when a rep was immediately available via their online chat support. We were walking through the troubleshooting process when my internet died, because the internet only goes out when I have important things to do. Now, imagine my surprise when that same Dell rep called me on my cell phone to finish the conversation. In a few minutes’ time, he told me I’d be receiving my brand new battery free of charge within four business days. Wow, what a pleasant surprise.

Fixing Tech Support

I know Dell and many other companies have developed some terrible reputations in the customer service arena, but my experience today gave me hope that maybe they’re actually turning things around. I had made up my mind that if Tech Support screwed me today I’d never buy a Dell product again, so that simple phone call may have saved their company from thousands of dollars in lost future sales.

Others have noted that Dell is working on improving their tech support too. Many major companies like Starbucks and Dell are creating websites to give customers a place to voice their opinions freely. For instance, Dell recently launched IdeaStorm and the Direct2Dell blog to reach out to their customers and solicit ideas and feedback.

What surprised me most was a Direct2Dell blog post about the future of customer service. What I found most interesting is that the comments were in no way censored to paint Dell in a positive light. Here are a few excerpts from this post:

“North american customers want to be supported by North American techs. “

“When calling IBM for service, the entire thing is short & sweet. I’m not left on the phone on hold while the tech does ‘paperwork’. Whatever Dell techs are required to do is apparently many times that of what is required for the IBM techs.

Why is IBM so much more efficient than Dell at handling these things???”

“If the off-shore support staff is incapable of addressing a issue with a FORMER customer (I certainly won’t ever purchase another Dell product and will encourage my sons,high school and college graduates, to puchase other-than-Dell products) they should be taught to transfer the issue to someone capable of handling the small issue - instead of abruptly HANGING UP!”

Rather than censor the communication, Dell representatives posted responses to each of these complaints in an attempt to solve, or at least address, these problems.

Evidently Dell is tapping into social media even further. They now have several customer service reps searching social sites like Twitter for complaints and swiftly contacting those people and addressing the problems.

At the very least, I appreciate the fact that Dell is making an effort to listen to their customers. How do you solicit feedback from your customers? Do you have a means of measuring customer satisfaction? Leave a note and share your thoughts, and subscribe while you’re at it.

Update:

I just received my new battery from Dell, less than 24 hours after making the initial complaint. Color me impressed.