Ready, Set, Go - It's Cyber Monday!

Nearly 1 in 3 of us will be doing holiday shopping online today. I do a good portion of my shopping online these days, and have my own list of success factors for online purveyors, based on personal experience. First and foremost, a website must be robust (fast), appealing, and easy to navigate. Buttons for “Add to Cart” and “Checkout Now” should be clearly and boldly displayed. Surprisingly, I have used web sites that make it difficult to figure out how to actually buy something. That’s not good. Providing multiple search options to find an item is critical. I may want to go directly to a specific product via an item number. Other times, I may need to search by size, color, price range, gender, or other category. Creativity in search options provided can be a competitive differentiator. Availability of inventory makes or breaks the success of an online store. I have abandoned some websites that seem to always be out of whatever I need. This is a particular challenge this year as we are recovering from a recession. Retail has been hit hard, and some companies have cut their inventory. Those who can consistently fill order requests will get and keep customers in the long term. I find it easier to keep track of clearance sales online than I do in brick and mortar stores. If I have a particular item on my radar screen, but want it at a discount, I’ll just keep an eye on it online. For my favorite retailers, I have provided my email address to receive notifications of special sales events. That’s much easier than going back to a store again and again. If multiple vendors offer the same item at the same price, from whom do I order? The deciding factor is usually a comparison of shipping charges and return policies. Nothing makes me happier than a sale price, free shipping and free returns. Oh, and tax-free purchases add the icing on the cake. Recently, several retailers have delighted me with unexpectedly superior online customer service. Providing a live “Click to Chat” option, well staffed with knowledgeable representatives, is an impressive service.

Obviously, I must have confidence in the security of my information on any retail website. This requirement keeps me shopping only with established retailers - no mom and pop operations.

Finally, there are bell and whistles that bring me back to specific online retailers. For example, I love using My Virtual Model to “try on” clothes. That feature has influenced my buying decision on several occasions. This sort of creativity in retailing makes online shopping more interactive and satisfying for cyber shoppers. Shoppers and vendors – get out there and make Cyber Monday 2009 successful.

Shifting Tides of Communication

I’ve been around long enough to remember the impact the introduction of email had in the workplace, and in our private lives. As people came to rely on email, business practices shifted over time. Paper letters and memos almost completely disappeared from communication. Fewer phone calls and meetings are initiated, because simple subjects can be addressed in email. Instead of faxing or mailing large documents, they are digitized and emailed. This shift began in the early to mid-80’s; about 25 years ago! Fast forward to late 2009. Although email is still a major factor in business communication, more recent additions to the technology scene continue to change the tides of the vast sea of communication. Today we find ourselves navigating unpredictable currents the impact of which may not settle in the near future. My 17-year-old nephew tells me, “Email is completely dead as a means of basic conversation.” His brother, a college junior, adds “I don’t think I have emailed any friends my age in years; in fact, I don’t think I know any of their email addresses.” Both, however, concede they still use email for school-related information – sending school work and communicating with teachers. Texting is the preferred and primary mode of communication among Generation Y-ers. I had to laugh when I read, “Texting has many wonders.” Among them, the ability to carry on a “conversation” over a period of time and/or in a noisy locale. Multiple people can be texted at the same time (that one was news to me; I’ll have to look at my phone again), and it’s easy to stay in frequent contact with your friends. According to my college-student nephew, “I see my phone as a texting device first, and a calling device second.” He uses Skype when calling his long distance friends; reserving use of his cell phone minutes for calling his parents or his brother. Voice mail is apparently just an annoyance. Why make someone press all those additional keys on their phone to retrieve a voice mail when a text is so much easier? My question is what does all this mean in light of the much-hyped social media revolution? Businesses are tying themselves into knots, "Tweeting" and trying to create an alluring presence on Facebook. Will this be effective when targeting the Gen-Y demographic? The Gen-Y’ers I interviewed (via a Facebook message BTW) all use Facebook to one extent or another. From another college student interviewed, “I usually use Facebook messaging…because everyone I know checks their Facebook almost daily and it’s a crapshoot when sending an email”. Two mentioned Facebook being an effective means of setting up group events. Two also admitted that how they and their friends use Facebook is evolving. LinkedIn is another consideration – not yet on these students radar screens – but increasingly important to business. All three of my young interviewees recognized the generational difference in communication preferences, and tend to modify their behavior accordingly. What will it mean to brand domination when marketers figure out how best to engage this demographic as they come into their salary-earning years? The possibilities are exciting. This shift in the tides of communication is affecting business practices – just as email did 25 years ago. The challenge is how to harness and harmonize use of the multiple technologies available to springboard past the competition.

Global Economy, Sure - but American Isolationalism?

On a recent European trip, to Italy, Greece, and Turkey, I was impressed with how easy it was to interact with our local hosts and service providers. Most people with whom we came in contact spoke English, many menus had English translations for every item, and English signage made getting around easy. Granted, our travels took us to tourist destinations, where this is not that surprising. But it made me think about how foreign visitors to the U.S. manage in our Anglo-centric culture. Only somewhere between 10 and 25 percent of Americans are able to converse in a second language. In Europe, this same statistic appears to be 50 percent, or slightly more. Multi-lingual signage in big cities appears to be directed more toward our residents from foreign countries than it does to visitors. (At Home Depot in Chicago, they have signs in English, Spanish and Polish.) Service personnel who speak a language in addition to English more often than not do so because they originally came from another country, where that was their first language. Although the United States is a melting pot of many cultures, we still have a somewhat isolationist culture. If we respected, explored, and embraced our diversity more enthusiastically, we would gain a perspective that would serve us better globally – both politically and economically. It’s a big mistake to be so arrogant as to think that our way is the only way. It’s not even always the best way. There are many global issues that should interest us, if for no other reason than they WILL impact our lives in some way in the future. Watch CNN World, BBC World News, or other sources of international news reports. Open your eyes to important stories developing around the globe and think about their impact. Will Turkey be admitted to the European Union? What will be the long term impact of the overvaluation of the Chinese Yuan? How do unemployment rates in the US compare to statistics in other countries? What will happen if democracy doesn’t take hold in Afghanistan? These issues, and many others, should be of more interest to us if we expect to retain a leadership position in the global economy. Education and experience is the answer to addressing our isolationist leanings in the U.S. Study world history and news, travel, learn another language, appreciate foreign music and art of different cultures, and open your eyes and heart to extraordinary experiences. We are part of a great, wide world, and we can’t continue to be successful as a country or as individuals without understanding where we fit in our world culture.

Pausing to Recap

From the day I posted a placeholder for this blog on April 30th to this posting, I have posted 29 weekly blog entries on behalf of Haropulos Bailey Consulting. So I thought I would take a deep breath, recap what has been posted so far, and provide easy shortcuts to subjects you may have missed or would like to revisit. Thank you for your continued interest. About Us: Who is Haropulos Bailey Consulting and why are we blogging? Our Guiding Principles: How Haropulos Bailey Consulting does business and interacts with clients. Why Consulting?: Why we ventured into the world of consulting. Help From A Pro: Everyone needs expert assistance every once in a while. Reinventing Your Career: Ideas for how to examine a change in direction. LinkedIn - A Networking Must: Why you really shouldn’t ignore being active on LinkedIn. 10 Ways to Screw-Up Your LinkedIn Presence: How you can do more harm than good with LinkedIn. Customer Service at Retail Stores-Dying or Already Dead?: A rant about the state of customer service. Employees Want "More Communication": How do you know what employees want and need? Prove It or Lose It: Don’t rest on your laurels, or you will find yourself becoming irrelevant. When It's Time To Go: Sometimes, you just have to move on. What are the signs? Weak Ties - Strong Benefits: Your closest acquaintances often aren’t the ones who can help you most. Email Etiquette Revisited: We have all sinned. Repent and be reminded. Regroup, Refuel, Recharge: Be good to yourself if you want to perform at your full potential. Managing Up, Long Distance: You are here, your boss is there. How do you make it work? Advice for Newly Hired Graduates: What I wish someone had told me 30 years ago. Leaders Need Trusted Advisors Too: Believe it or not, even good leaders don’t have all the answers. Creative Juices: Ideas on how to summon innovative thoughts. Relationships Make the Difference: No man is an island. You need to build strong ties to others. Bridges: Essential to getting around, and to get back to places you may want to revisit. An Old Fashioned "Thank You": How to express appreciation effectively in writing. When Presenting, Know Your Audience: Don’t you dare touch PowerPoint until you start here. An Acquisition Fable: Just a little harmless, made-up story. Uncommon Courtesy: A little courtesy goes a long way. Why is it so often absent? Expectations Upfront: New hires and transfers need clarity to get them started on the right foot. Leadership is a Balancing Act: Bad times will change back to good times. Leaders should smooth out the highs and lows. Know Your Stuff: Customer service starts with competence. As always, I welcome your suggestions for future topics. I live in fear of running out of ideas.

Know Your Stuff

There are many fine points to providing good customer service, including the application of empathy, listening and communication skills, and follow up. With the aim of improving the care we provide to our customers, we receive individual coaching, work as a team to develop strategies and procedures, and go to endless learning sessions du jour designed to improve specific skills that contribute to our service abilities. That’s all important – very important. But I maintain that the foundation of good customer service is for people to be extremely competent at their jobs. Yes, just Know Your Stuff. Think about times you have been disappointed with service you have received. How often has the root of the issue been a service provider who doesn’t know what they are doing? For example: Long lines at the register at a store because the clerk doesn’t know the computer functions. Hotel checkout takes longer than it should because the agent doesn’t know how to correct the charges added to a bill in error. Empty your grocery bags at home and find the poor defenseless raspberries crushed under a jug of orange juice. Waiters put dishes down in front of the wrong guest because they didn’t note who ordered what. Any of these scenarios result in customer DIS-satisfaction as a result of incompetence on the job. Sweet smiles, hollow apologies, and thanks rarely take the stink off a customer encounter badly botched. “Sorry you had to wait” or “Thank you for being patient” are well-intentioned, but I’m sorrier than you that I had to wait! And I’m not patient! I beseech companies to collect and examine their customer feedback data and get to the root of their customer complaints. Take time and spend money first on preparing your employees to do their jobs efficiently and effectively. Then layer the finer points of customer service on top of competency. Show that you Know Your Stuff, and your enterprise and its representatives will both be more successful.

Leadership is a Balancing Act

I’m observing, with interest, the shift in management practices that has occurred as good times have changed to bad times for business. Back when times were good, signing bonuses were a common practice, job-hopping was a legitimate way to advance a career, job benefits were plentiful and even considered an entitlement, and companies were obsessed with measuring and enhancing employee loyalty. Similarly to the entire marketplace, the situation was a little out of balance. But who’s going to complain when there’s plenty of money to go around? Then the recession hit hard. With the major downturn in the economy came widespread restructuring, layoffs, and struggles to stay solvent until business levels recover. Suddenly, instead of courting employee loyalty, corporate management demanded that their people accomplish more with less. Said or unsaid, the message has been, “Be happy you still have a job.” People have responded, but are driven by fear and uncertainty more often than they are inspired by a common purpose. Once again, a lack of balance is evident. The pendulum will swing back to better times. Lessons can and should be learned to help strike a healthy balance between common practices in good times versus bad. We should always be grateful to have good job opportunities. Corporate management should always appreciate employees who contribute effectively to corporate goals. There will always be ups and downs in the cycle of economy and business. Successful companies with strong leadership don’t blow wildly in the wind. They consistently apply good business practices and adjust them with consideration and care when the environment changes, and they keep their team members informed. Internal corporate communications can make a valuable contribution toward achieving a balance between good times and bad. Leaders who communicate corporate philosophies, strategies, and values build trust and gain buy-in from their employees. Fear and uncertainty is fed by a lack of information. Open and honest interaction nurtures uplifting loyalty and cooperation through tough times. Unity and strength of purpose come from successfully overcoming a challenge together. It’s a balancing act in which every leader should be fully engaged.

Expectations Upfront

Many misunderstandings and disappointments with new employees can be proactively avoided by clearly setting expectations upfront. This is Management 101, but over the years I have been stunned by my observations of issues that could have easily been avoided by following a few simple procedures as part of the orientation of a new hire. REVIEW THE POSITION DESCRIPTION TOGETHER Hopefully the employee saw the Position Description as part of the interview and hiring process. I recommend you go over it again, and include a verbal elaboration of the responsibilities. This document should be a touchstone for the employee and for management when evaluating performance. EXPLAIN YOUR MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHY Tell the employee how you operate as a manager. This might include statements like, “I’m very hands on”, “I’ll provide the goals, but you have leeway in how to accomplish them”, “I’m always available when you need help or advice”, or “Part of my job is to clear the path for you”. BE CLEAR ABOUT REPORTING REQUIREMENTS This is the time to explain how you want to be kept informed of what’s going on. You may require a weekly or monthly status report in writing. The employee might need to be prepared to provide a verbal update in a weekly team meeting. If there is an accepted format or methodology for reporting, provide it now. CLARIFY POLICIES In a corporate environment, official policies are documented, and team members read them and acknowledge their receipt. Some require additional emphasis. Discuss work hours, harassment policies, travel and expense accounts – whatever you think warrants discussion. CONFESS PET PEEVES The first thing on my personal list was to communicate my ‘zero tolerance’ policy for gum chewing in the workplace. If you have a peeve that sets you off, don’t wait for the poor unsuspecting newbie to make the mistake and be embarrassed – lay it on the line. GETTING STARTED Finally, be clear about how the new hire will get up to speed, what their priorities are, and how they will be incorporated into the existing team. Talk about what’s going on in the department, and time frames for goals. The first few weeks of a team member’s employment are a key to healthy long-term relationships. As management, you need to make the effort to set clear expectations upfront.