This video presents an argument that what we think incentivises people at work is not really true. Very interesting and highly appealing way to present this argument too.

Watch it and let me know what you think.

Pure Inspiration

While his country was in poverty and famine, a 14 year old Malawian boy built a windmill to power his family’s home. Now 22, William Kamkwamba wrote his take and now shares in his own words the moving tale of determination that has changed his life.

Use the comments area below to share what you think.

by George Lee Sye

Business leaders can have a massive impact on the success of Lean Six Sigma.

In fact they have a massive impact on the success of any improvement initiative.

Some years ago I had a very interesting discussion with the Managing Director of a medium sized company about the implementation of Lean Six Sigma in his business.

He told me about the difficulties he had experienced in keeping the initiative going.

During the conversation he said it never really became a part of the way work was done in the business. His next level managers weren’t committed to it and over the short-term focus had drifted away from the philosophies of proactively improving the business.

He was concerned about whether or not it was even worth continuing. With so many other things on his plate it was now becoming a distraction.

I asked him a few questions. Questions like …

• What training did you participate in?
• What tools from the program have you used yourself?
• How do you run your meetings with the management team?

His responses can be summarised in a few words.

He had not attended any formal education or training beyond a very short ‘executive alignment’ session. He admitted that during that session he had attended to other work commitments, you know phone calls and texts about other matters.

He said his work life was very hectic considering his enormous responsibilities, and “he did not really have the time to commit to any training”.

If I had one dollar for every time I have heard that!

Okay, granted he knew quite a bit about the methodology, there’s absolutely no doubt about that. However, he had never used any of the tools or processes or event minor pieces from the Lean Six Sigma toolkit … EVER!

I also noted that his approach to meetings and facilitation was the same as … well the same as everybody else’s approach.

His meeting agendas were just lists of discussion topics. No defined outcomes or written purpose.

The meetings … in my opinion they were lengthy studies of what had occurred in the past. Plus … one of his greatest challenges was getting the team to agree on decisions.

I noticed that he often used phrases like “I don’t have the time”, “the approach has always worked for me” and “what I’ve always done is this”.

You get the picture.

Here’s the problem.

He ESPOUSED the value of engaging in Lean Six Sigma for the business and its participants. More importantly, he truly BELIEVED it … he did, no doubts about that whatsoever.

He committed RESOURCES by putting in place a team of people who focus on the project work and manage the day-to-day Lean Six Sigma function.

Now … we need to listen carefully to this … when he talks to people about what is happening and he sees the day-to-day operation for himself, he knows that people are INCREDIBLY BUSY (as he is).  He’s told by his direct reports that they don’t have time to attend training, he hears EXCUSES for not doing business improvement such as ‘there’s nothing wrong with what I do now, it’s always worked’.

Every time he sees or hears this, deep down inside HE KNOWS EXACTLY what these people mean and are experiencing.

These are actually HIS REASONS for not really being involved in it.

He is emotionally connected to THEIR EXCUSES for not using the initiative themselves, so how can he sell the concept?

The NON-VERBAL part of his communication conveys HIS TRUE FEELINGS.

Here’s my point.

If you want to sell something … and we are ALL SELLING … you have to convey and transfer feeling to the buyer.

What do I mean by that?

My experience is that ‘selling’ and ‘leading’ is the same thing!

Don’t you think it’s interesting that we use the term buy-in when we talk about leading change?

To sell an idea to your people, to get their buy-in, to CLOSE THE SALE, you have to be emotionally CONNECTED to it, to have feeling for it. You cannot be emotionally connected to the excuses for NOT DOING it.

If you were a car salesperson, could you honestly expect to effectively sell Ford or Holden motor vehicles yet drive a different brand of vehicle yourself?

When the customer says she’ll buy the different brand because it is CHEAPER, you’re emotionally connected to that very same reason for not buying the car you’re selling YOURSELF.

I’m not suggesting that all a leader does is sell, but I am suggesting that influencing how people think and what they buy-in to is a significant part of the role. And a business leader or manager cannot expect to get buy-in for business improvement at any level when they do not use the terminology or concepts themselves!

When people give excuses for not doing it a business leader will never be able to lead them beyond that paradigm when the same paradigm is theirs.

The only way we can CHANGE THAT PARADIGM is to DO IT OURSELVES, thus severing the emotional connection to the excuses we get.

I think the phrases used, perhaps to the point of excess, are that leaders have got to not only ‘talk the talk’, but also ‘walk the talk’.

If you say you don’t have time, hold that thought for a moment.

The CEO of Ford (a company with more than 300,000 employees world-wide) had time to undertake Lean Six Sigma training and champion projects. He has 300,000 employees!

[Source: Paton, S.M., “Consumer Driven Six Sigma Saves Ford $300 Million”, Quality Digest, September 2001, http://www.qualitydigest.com/sept01/html/ford.html (2001)]

I’m sure we all can MAKE THE TIME, we just need to learn how.

Any opportunities to include personal effectiveness training for leaders and managers in the early phases of your business improvement initiative roll-out should be explored.

That type of training should produce two specific outcomes:

• To have all employees realise that CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT is the key to success in ANYTHING, not something they do as an add-on in business.
• To upskill participants with the psychology and tools they need to BECOME MORE EFFECTIVE in all aspects of their life (both personal and professional) and have MORE TIME for proactive improvement.

I believe this is a powerful way to create the mental space and emotional desire to develop business improvement capability and so far this is proving to be true.

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Soarent Vision arguably provides the most advanced and business relevant Master Black Belt training in the world today.

With a unique focus on influence and persuasion concepts, this program integrates perfectly with Soarent Vision’s AQF accredited Lean Six Sigma program for Green Belts and Black Belts, and prepares Master Black Belts to be the most influential and high performance leaders on the planet.

by George Lee Sye

How would you like to be able to achieve what most business leaders struggle with?

How would you like to be able to lead a change initiative in such a way that key stakeholders rapidly buy into the idea, it rolls out with widespread momentum, and it sticks over time?

Not for a day or a week, but sticks in such a way that you can turn your back and it remains and thrives!

Then read on.

The greatest challenge many business leaders are faced with is simply maintaining momentum for the change.

The reality is that many leaders continue to repeat the same mistakes, even though they desire a different outcome than that experienced by their predecessors.

Consider these carefully before you roll out your next big change.

1. Failing to establish a common understanding of why the change is important across the organisation.

The task of a change leader is to create a compelling reason for people to change. Knowing the reason why any change is necessary must come before knowing how the change will be achieved. When the reason to change is compelling enough, you have leverage over key stakeholders, and the transition to a new state can be accelerated.

2. Failing to establish a unified or commonly shared sense of direction.

Stakeholders do not know what the desired state looks like, the objective is unclear. The task of change leaders is to generate a broad understanding of the desired outcome, what the future looks like. A clear vision of where the organisation is headed, plays a significant part in aligning efforts and inspiring action by large numbers of people.

3. Failing to build a powerful coalition of key stakeholders with credibility and formal authority who can guide the change.

The task of the change leader is to build a powerful coalition of key players to guide the change. Not only must the leader of an organisation be visibly committed to the change, they must commit the right coalition of the key senior people to guide the change. The right combination of key players will help transcend ‘silos’ and ensure a consistent theme permeates the organisation.

4. Communicating the details and case for change in ways that do not motivate stakeholders.

As we know, everyone is different, and there are very few people like ourselves. An effective change leader recognizes this and communicates in ways that ensure that the the motivational strategies for every person are stimulated in some way.

5. Failing to maintain focus on the initiative at the leadership level – lost momentum through shifting focus.

Continuous and highly visible ‘strategic conversation’ at the top and middle management level ensures that everyone knows it is important to the business and helps concentrate focus. Not only should the change be on the informal discussion agenda, it should be on the formal reporting agenda also.

6. Failing to anchor changes firmly in the way the organisation does business – allowing the old way of doing things to continue.

The transformation will only ‘stick’ when the old way of doing things can no longer exist. In essence it becomes ‘the way we do things around here’.

My advice ….. Don’t make the same mistakes if you want your change to be painless for you and to stick over time.

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Soarent Vision arguably provides the most advanced and business relevant Master Black Belt training in the world today.

With a unique focus on influence and persuasion concepts, this program integrates perfectly with Soarent Vision’s AQF accredited Lean Six Sigma program for Green Belts and Black Belts, and prepares Master Black Belts to be the most influential and high performance leaders on the planet.

The following is an extract from an interview of Rohit Khanna, Chief Operations Officer of GE Capital Global Banking Group, by the Process Excellence Network.

Note that while the GE refers to Six Sigma, it also includes Lean methodology.

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QUESTION

Could you please explain how the deployment of Six Sigma can keep you ahead of the competition?

Rohit Khanna: As global markets become more tightly integrated, competition in business will continue to intensify. With information available at the click of a button, customer expectations are going up too: they want their products and services faster, cheaper and better. This is where Lean Six Sigma helps us – it provides a structured approach to drive customer satisfaction and bottom-line results by reducing variation and waste.

In fact, the focus in Six Sigma on variation – and not averages – enables us to understand and optimize every customer touch point. Experience shows that this makes value creation an enterprise-wide process – increasing speed to market, improving the quality of products and services, and significantly reducing cost – and becomes a competitive advantage.

At another level, Six Sigma also builds consistency in business processes that deliver quality that is world-class as also in line with customer expectations. Such a ‘repeatable and reliable’ performance is critical to success in the modern age with advances in social media and its increased customer power. I believe that, leveraged well, this also presents a clear branding and customer acquisition opportunity for companies with better promise-to-delivery records, beyond customer stickiness.

Another noteworthy competitive advantage of deploying Six Sigma is its capacity to develop leadership. Quality-focused organizations inculcate a disciplined approach to problem-solving in employees, along with a focus on enhancing change acceptance. This creates a culture that is ideal for a pipeline of great thinking leaders.

QUESTION

Creating a corporate culture to motivate employees comes from the top, but how can you get effective buy-in on the benefits of six sigma from employees?

Rohit Khanna: I think it is important to recognize that to begin with, like any change, employees will be resistant to Six Sigma, until they understand its usage and associated benefits. They may see it as the ‘flavor of the month’ and try to stay under the radar, expecting it to blow away soon. Hence right at its inception, the company’s leadership must be committed to the adoption of Six Sigma and provide it strong sponsorship.

In my experience, managements’ buy in and a strong top down approach has had significant success and over time, the case becomes stronger with execution of successive improvements.

For example, in the early days at GE there was very strong communication around how the company could tap huge market share opportunities and significantly save costs by getting rid of a ship-and-fix mentality. “Six Sigma is all that matters” was a message that one could just not miss, intensely reinforced by senior leaders walking the talk by embracing Six Sigma themselves, championing projects, visibly celebrating early successes etc.

Over time, Six Sigma must become part of the culture too. This means all employees need to get trained, involved and passionate about Six Sigma, not restricted to an initiative involving some people running projects in some remote corner of the organization. Instead, Six Sigma must become a way of life and ingrained into how the company works.

QUESTION

What are some of the yet to be explored untapped opportunities in Six Sigma that have yet to be explored?

Rohit Khanna: Six Sigma can be a great program for all parts of the organization that have repetitive internal processes at one end; and complex new product development on the other. We have seen it being actively deployed in varied functions and industries over the last 15 years. In fact, though it originally started in Manufacturing, the Services industry has benefited immensely from its application in banking, hotels, healthcare and other related industries.

The potential for Six Sigma to drive customer satisfaction and income is immense as we speak. Some areas where I believe companies can do more: firstly share the Six Sigma experience with smaller customers who may not have the wherewithal or commitment to afford a standalone implementation – very similar to At the Customer, For the Customer initiatives GE has successfully run. An extension of the idea could be in Supply Chains where again Six Sigma can be used to optimize performance.

We also need a better understanding of the balance between process excellence and innovation. An indiscriminate Six Sigma deployment can damage the creativity levels in a company in the long-term, resulting instead in bureaucracy and tendency to over analyze. Done well, I see significant opportunity in a more proactive approach with focus on designing for Six Sigma vs merely using it for incremental improvements.

QUESTION

Going forward how do you see Six Sigma evolving over the next decade?

Rohit Khanna: Six Sigma has been around for over two decades now with varying achievement levels in deployment across companies. Some organizations have reported huge success, while many have not been as successful. At some pioneering companies, the program has continuously evolved: initial deployments have the statistical tools focused to reduce cost, followed by delivering customer delight by killing variation.

In the last 5 years the combination of lean and six sigma has seen increased use, mostly to improve speed to market at a lower cost. Naturally different organizations are at different levels of the deployment cycle.

Over the next few years, I believe companies will continue to utilize the rigor and discipline of Six Sigma to deliver customer impact but the tools used are likely to evolve.

We may see companies trying to find the right tool for the problem as against trying to fit Six Sigma, or more specifically its statistical tools, to every problem.

One area I would want Six Sigma to be successfully utilized is in growth and innovation where traditionally limited success can be countered with more forward-looking tool selection. Some change may also get driven by advances in information availability and bridging of the digital divide in terms of how data is collected, organized and interpreted.

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Soarent Vision supports companies in their Lean Six Sigma implementation with on site coaching and mentoring, planning and design support, and training and education. For more information about Lean Six Sigma implementation, visit the website here - http://www.soarent.com.au/lean-six-sigma/lean-six-sigma-implementation

Work-life balance, says Nigel Marsh, is too important to be left in the hands of your employer. At TEDxSydney, Marsh lays out an ideal day balanced between family time, personal time and productivity — and offers some stirring encouragement to make it happen.

This short video is well worth watching if you are committed to the ideals of balance in your life.

Work Life Balance – Nigel Marsh

One of the most widely known examples of a successful Lean Six Sigma implementation is that of General Electric. While not suggesting you should copy their approach, the implementation of Lean Six Sigma in GE under the leadership of Jack Welch does provide clues from which we can learn.

By George Lee Sye

Experiencing Massive Returns

In the first year of the program (1996), GE invested US$200 million with a return of US$170 million. By spring 1999, 800 champions, 700 Master Black Belts and 4,500 Black Belts had been trained.

Reports indicate about 3,000 projects were finished and approximately 30,000 employees received some form of Lean Six Sigma training.

By 1998, the operating margin stood at a record level of 16.7 percent. During that year GE invested US$450 million in the initiative with a return of US$1.5 billion.

In GE’s 2000 Annual Report, Welch announced an additional goal for the business improvement initiative, that was the reduction of lead times. Their focus had been on defect reduction, yet time in a process offered incredible opportunities for the business. They recognised that most of the tools of Six Sigma focused on reducing defects so additional tools were required and these came by integrating Six Sigma with Lean Manufacturing methodology.

Success Leaves Clues

What have we learnt about the implementation of Lean Six Sigma from companies such as GE as well as the likes of Motorola and Toyota?

• Business leaders must be committed to the initiative. Commitment is only demonstrated through consistent action and engagement.
• Link Lean Six Sigma to performance measures and rewards.
• Link Lean Six Sigma training and competency to promotion criteria.
• Maintain focus on the initiative. You must prevent it from becoming a ‘flavour of the month’ initiative.
• Treat Lean Six Sigma as an investment, not a cost. It will provide massive returns if you choose to make it so.
• Use it as part of your leadership development program and succession planning.
• Challenge business leaders with customer focused goals as well as efficiency goals.
• Utilise and integrate the components of Lean and Six Sigma and other complimentary initiatives that are applicable to the industry in which you work.

What you MUST DO as a Business Leader

1. Generate a broad understanding of the desired outcome

A common view of what it is you intend creating through the implementation of Lean Six Sigma is vital. A leader who exhibits passion about the future state, and takes the time to articulate that vision in such a way that all stakeholders share it, will be a powerful driving force for successful change. A clear vision of where the organisation is headed plays a significant part in aligning efforts and inspiring action by large numbers of people.

2. Create a compelling reason for people to change

Knowing the reason why any change is necessary comes before knowing how the change will be achieved. When the reasons to change are compelling enough for those involved you have leverage. However, always remember that if you are going to tell people why change is necessary, you must deliver reasons that are meaningful to the audience, not just you.

3. Create a Business Improvement Operating System

Any implementation of change has risks, regardless of how well it is planned. Recognise those risks and develop an operating system and infrastructure that helps create a control framework that is proactive as well as reactive.

4. Build a powerful coalition of key players to guide the change

The right coalition of key senior people must be visibly committed to the change. Excuses for not having time are unacceptable. People choose to use their time in any way they want. Knowing that the change is important to the leadership of the organisation will drive an employee’s behaviour.

5. Keep Continual Improvement on the agenda

Leaders must focus their attention on a handful of key strategies. Mistakingly many try to juggle ten, twenty, or even more ‘important’ items.  One of the most important strategies is business improvement. It must be on the informal discussion agenda as well as the formal reporting agenda.

6. Involve your best people

The best people in your organisation are the people who must be put to work on business improvement. Not only will you enhance the skills and knowledge of the future leaders of your organisation, you also maximise the chance of success for individual projects and the overall initiative.

7. Anchor changes firmly in the way your organisation does business

The transformation will only ‘stick’ when the old way of doing things can no longer exist. In essence it becomes ‘the way we do things around here’. The alignment of performance systems and the organisational context around business improvement will ensure the old way is just a memory.

8. Choose projects carefully

Formally recognised projects must ultimately be selected on the basis of their contribution to business objectives. Benefits of such projects can be reflected in bottom line results and / or the business risk profile.

9. Appoint full time Improvement Practitioners

In reality, project time frames can be reduced in comparison to part time project work, with returns being realised sooner. A full time commitment during initial training contributes to the learning process through early application of skills learnt. A study conducted by one mining company in Australia during 2002, reported that bottom line returns were significantly greater for full time project team leaders than part time team leaders. In fact, the results showed a tenfold increase in reported benefits.

Other practices to consider

Reward, Recognise and Celebrate Short Term Successes

The establishment of short-term goals provides a foundation for achievement, recognition, reward and celebration. Whilst the longer-term aspects of a business are critical, leaders must also think about the short term aspects of their business, and the essence of momentum.

Train Members of the Board

By training board members as you would project champions, Lean Six Sigma can continue beyond the tenure of the current CEO. It reduces the risk of Lean Six Sigma disappearing when new business leaders take over and implement new initiatives as a part of their desire to change the organisation.

Establish a System of Mentoring

The ideal mentor is a full time Lean Six Sigma professional at the Master Black Belt level, who focuses on providing coaching for:

• Project team leaders
• Project Champions
• Business leaders

Involve Finance People

Finance people can be involved in helping team leaders establish baselines and identify improvement benefits in financial terms. They can also take a significant role in validating claimed financial benefits. The upfront involvement of financial people ensures the credibility of claimed financial benefits, and ultimately the credibility of the initiative.

Link Variable Remuneration with Improvement Results

By tying in the variable component of remuneration with improvement results, a much higher level of motivation exists for middle and senior managers to give continual improvement the focus it deserves. Some organisations have linked as much as 40 percent of variable remuneration to the results of Six Sigma or business improvement. These types of incentives can also exist at the workforce level, again a great source of motivation to continually improve.

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George Lee Sye is widely recognised as a leader in the field of Lean Six Sigma. To read more about the comprehensive body of knowledge contained in George’s bestselling Process Mastery text book, click here – http://www.soarent.com.au/blog/lean-six-sigma-text-book

Soarent Vision’s MOST EFFECTIVE LEADER ON THE PLANET (MELP) seminar is confirmed for February 28 to March 1, 2011 in Perth.

http://www.soarent.com.au/most-effective-leader-on-the-planet

This unique event has continued to evolve over the past 5 years.

In its current form it is proving to be a most significant platform for greater business performance in companies such as Rio Tinto and Western Power.

Here are 11 reasons why MELP is so effective as a growth platform for growth companies.

1. Time Expansion – participants leave with a mindset and system that causes them to have more discretionary time, and at the same time achieve more where it matters most
2. Outcome Focused – participants leave with greater focus directed to outcomes and results as a basis for action, rather than just doing things
3. Continual Improvement – it causes participants to unconsciously recognise important areas that are not moving forward and bring them back into focus BEFORE they become a problem
4. Seeking Positive Change – participants are more prepared for, open to and engaged in the change process that all organisations must go through to survive and thrive
5. Breadth of Focus – it causes participants to have greater focus across all of the important elements of their professional AND personal lives
6. Financial Understanding – the importance of positive cash flow and wealth accumulation in both personal and professional environments is reinforced and strategies are provided for achieving these outcomes
7. Less Stress, More Energy – participants will understand how stress is created if they use traditional organising systems in the modern environment, and leave with both the desire and ability to massively minimise stress and increase levels of physical energy
8. Weight Loss – while MELP is not a weight loss program, one of the most significant outcomes of the event is weight loss as participants find themselves less stressed, more focused and with a better understanding of how to best look after their bodies
9. Goal Achievement – it causes participants to be more effective in achieving goals and objectives
10. Leadership – participants leave with a much greater understanding of performance psychology and associated language, they become better coaches of their peers, employees and families as a result
11. Business Growth – participants are given a 4th generation self organization system that is uniquely linked to the business planning system

Read more here …. http://www.soarent.com.au/business-leadership/academy-business-leadership

How To Enrol

Places are still available and you can enrol in a number of ways.

• Contact your business improvement team if you are a Soarent Vision client, or
• Register online here - http://bit.ly/hivL4o

For more information, call our office on (07) 3279 3070.

We look forward to seeing you there.

George Lee Sye Delivering MELP

Business success is always built on a platform of courage. The most successful business owners in the world today are those with the drive and tenacity to do something that has uncertainty about its outcome. The most successful business leaders on the planet are those who have the guts to lead and not follow.

by George Lee Sye

I remember the conversation as if it were yesterday

I had just explained how the company could simplify its approach to business execution so it was more effective in getting targeted business results.

I’d stepped through a strategy for how the foundations could be built around new thinking patterns and greater personal effectiveness of individuals in the organisation, and doing it in such a way that it positively impacted both their working and personal lives.

He asked “What other airline of similar size to ours has taken this approach?”

When I told him that none had, but companies such as Rio Tinto and HBOS had, he said “Well … when you’ve done it with a similar sized airline, come back and we’ll talk about it.”

That was my conversation with the executive of a multiple billion dollar airline. Come on … did he really want me to do my best in helping his company’s competitors achieve greater business success?

We have a problem in business today

One of the major problems today in big business is that a cost cutting mindset and risk averse culture prevents business leaders from doing things that are not tried and tested.

When Bill Gates and Paul Allen originally sold their operating system idea to IBM, the software was untested, in fact it was not even developed.

When Fred smith started the first overnight express delivery company in the world, Fedex, the concept was untested. In fact he was told by a university professor that it was not a workable idea.

When Apple’s Steve Jobs rolled out iTunes and the series of iPod devices linked to the software, the concept were untested.

When Google hit the ground running with a free online search engine, the idea was untested.

When Richard Branson started virgin records, the business was untested.

Always Remember ….

It takes courage to do something new and innovative, just ask any successful business owner who put it on the line and started from scratch with nothing but an untested idea.

It takes courage to give people (who work for you) the freedom and space to try new and untested ways.

It takes courage to allow people to ‘fail’ and learn from experience.

The bottom line …… it takes guts to lead the way and do something nobody else has done.

I take my hat off to those who have the guts.

‘Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.’

Ambrose Redmoon

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With 37 years of working experience behind him, George Lee Sye is now a highly sought after speaker, performance coach and mentor to business leaders in organisations of all sizes and all industries. To read more about his approach to business leadership and business execution visit his website here – http://www.soarent.com.au/business-leadership/academy-business-leadership

by George Lee Sye

“Sorry I can’t be of more help.”

As I leave the Telstra store with those words reverberating in my head, feelings of dissatisfaction surging through my body, I find myself drawn to the Optus store directly across the mall.

I am a customer who spends quite a lot of money per month with the company for 7 phones and 3 internet accounts. Even a mammoth company like Telstra cannot afford to say sorry and send the customer on his way when they are unable to deliver the service the customer paid for in the first place.

When I purchased the $89 per month mobile wireless pack a few weeks ago, I expected to be able to continuously access the internet. Obviously I got it wrong.

With the device faulty from day one, I also expected that my custom would be valued enough that I could go in and convert my problem into a solution without much fuss. Hmmm … another crazy notion that I need to rethink.

What’s worse is I am a customer who is prepared to pay a premium for a product, all I want is good service. Oh yeah …. I also have a couple of blog sites and I speak to thousands of people in seminars each year.

What have I learnt from this?

1. Return Customers are Your Life Blood

When a platinum member deals with Qantas they treat them like a VIP. Do platinum members continue to willingly pay a premium for the service they receive? They sure do!

When I stay at the Radisson Resort on the Gold Coast they proactively go out of their way to make me feel special. Do I continue to give custom to them, you bet I do.

Repeat business is vital to every organisation today. I’ve heard that it costs 4 to 5 times as much to get a new customer as it does to retain an existing one. While there may be a small outlay to retain a customer, the hidden losses experienced when they leave can be enormous.

2. Sorry is Not Good Enough

The needs of the customer must be met. If you claim your service or product will do something, then you better make sure it does exactly that.

If that customer need is not being met, do whatever it takes to meet it.

3. The Organisation is the Problem

SAS Airlines recognised that there were 5 moments of truth in a transaction with a customer where that customer could form an opinion about that company. So they empowered the employees who interacted with customers during those moments to be able to make decisions and take action to enhance the customer experience.

When the employee says “I can’t help you”, that is an organisational problem, not an employee problem. Fix the organisation!

3. Customers Talk

When a customer receives treatment that is remarkably good, they might talk about it to their friends because it’s memorable, it stands out in their minds. That’s the experience I want to create for customers.

But let’s be brutally honest here. When a customer gets really pissed off, they are way more likely to speak up and vent their frustration to the world. Some of them might even be public speakers or write blogs so be cautious.

4. Make Yourself Visible to Your Competitor’s Customers

How ironic that Optus store is directly opposite the Telstra store. Maybe it was on purpose. If it was, what a great strategy for positioning yourself where your competitor’s unsatisfied customers can see you.

Bugger, now I have to retype this as the internet cut off before I hit SAVE DRAFT.

Just kidding