THE SPARK Shampa's Blog

Embracing UNCERTAINTY

We know that Business-as-usual does not work anymore. So, what can we do about it?

In a world where Disruption has become normal, how do we prepare for it?

How do we prepare to be DISRUPTED?

By building dynamic systems that don’t avoid uncertainty but actually expect them and are prepared for them.

The key is in not putting our head down and waiting for the turbulence to pass, but instead expecting the turbulence, treating it as normal and developing the necessary skills so that we can forge ahead despite the turbulence.

Corporate systems and processes are usually built around:
Analyzing…
Predicting…
Planning…
Controlling…

Such systems worked very well in stable times, like navigating a big ship in good weather.

In today’s environment, organizations are like rafts in white water.

The systems and skills we need to navigate are completely different.

Using old Systems and Skills we will not be able to keep our head above water, let alone reaching our destination.

The first thing we need to get rid of is the sense of control.

We need to accept that we cannot predict the future at all.

Therefore, we cannot plan for it.

Instead, we learn the skills to respond quickly to any change that happens, knowing fully well that change will happen.

What we need is the resilience to remain undisturbed by change.

And the agility to adapt and respond quickly to change.

Here are some principles that will help us build dynamic systems and be more prepared to deal with disruptions:

1. Zooming out – Traditional organization approach always looked to narrow down to the root cause of any problem. But today it is more important to look at the bigger picture and understand any challenge based on the wider perspective.
2. Get deeper insights – Most businesses listen to the powerful voices of their customers and investors. But these mostly provide common short-term opinions. But to build dynamic systems we need to keep the big long-term goals in mind and listen to the whole system, including communities who don’t have a voice.
3. No silver bullet – Traditionally, executives simplify solutions and look for actions that will have the greatest impact. But now, instead of building one strong solution with the greatest impact, it is important to build a portfolio of strategies.
4. Embrace contradictions – As corporate environments become more and more chaotic, executives are facing contradictory choices every day. Should you grow or downsize? Should you compete or partner? Should you spend on research or marketing? Sometimes it may be a matter of choosing between two opposing positions. Sometimes it may be about innovating so that we can do both. Always, it is about keeping an open mind and embracing paradoxes.

Meanwhile, if you would like to know more about how ConvergeHub can help you build systems that help your organization get ready for future disruptions without increasing the cost,talk to us.

Or, if you would like to check it out yourself, go ahead and create a free ConvergeHub account here.

Preparing for DISRUPTION

2020 turned our world upside down. In the beginning of that year, many businesses expected some technological and economic upheaval and had started planning for it. But what happened in the coming months caught everyone by surprise.

And when business leaders caught their breath… and looked around…

The business world had turned upside down…

Business-as-usual didn’t work any longer…

Covid made it very very clear that businesses cannot work in silo… all businesses are a part of the large eco-system… and no organization can remain “un-disrupted” by the changes happening around them.

Looking around us now, we know that 2020 wasn’t an exception.

The world is becoming more dynamic by nature…
Change is becoming the name of the game…
Disruption is becoming the norm…

• Political changes…
• Economic uncertainty…
• Technology upheavals…

How do we prepare for this??

I think the only way for businesses to be prepared for systemic disruptions is to become dynamic organizations.

So far, the corporate name of the game has been to build systems that focus on…
Analyzing…
Predicting…
Planning…
Controlling…

These systems have worked very well in the past.

I doubt they will work so well in the future.

Systems that help navigate a big ship in good weather are VERY DIFFERENT from the systems you need to navigate a raft in white water.

They just don’t work in the same way.

• We need new systems.
• We need systems that work well in uncertainty and turbulence.
• We need new skills and mindset to develop these systems.

What kind of mindset should we adopt?

What do YOU think?

I’ll talk more about it in my next post 😊

Meanwhile, if you would like to know more about how ConvergeHub can help you build systems that help your organization get ready for future disruptions without increasing the cost, talk to us.

Or, if you would like to check it out yourself, go ahead and create a free ConvergeHub account here.

Quality: The Unfair Advantage

When you talk about the quality of your product or service, what comes to mind? Usually, we tend to think about product engineering or manufacturing processes or skills of the person delivering the service… rarely do we think about customer service…

But, for almost all types of businesses, Quality and Customer Service are very closely linked.

The greater the attention to Quality in production, the better the product performance after sales.

The greater the product performance, the lower the demand on customer service operations to correct any problems.

In my last post, one of the questions I had posed was – How important is Quality after the sale?

One of the comments I received on LinkedIn (shoutout to Erik Gross) said:

“I think that the quality of your delivery after the sale is probably the most important area to concentrate on – if you consistently deliver more than was expected, your prosperity is assured.”

And I couldn’t agree more!

I think Quality processes form a connection between Sales and Service teams, which when done correctly can be converted into a huge competitive advantage for any business.

Here are a few use cases:

• Customer Service acts as an early warning system – detecting bugs, defects, issues before they become a crisis.
• Outreach to existing customers – discourages switching to other vendors, reduces churn
• Strong word of mouth from customers generates new sales leads
• Reinforces partner loyalty – affiliates/dealer/channel partners always appreciate strong customer service programs
• Brand created through the focus on quality influences purchase decisions.

So, if your focus on Quality has taken a hit, in an effort to lower costs, especially after the massive layoffs this year, it may be worth taking another look at it.

Meanwhile, if you would like to know more about how ConvergeHub can help you improve the Quality of the products and services in your organization without increasing the cost, talk to us.

Or, if you would like to check it out yourself, go ahead and create a free ConvergeHub account here.

Quality: Its about more than a good product

Have you noticed that the perception of Quality is changing?

In fact, studies indicate that there is often a big gap between what organization executives view as ‘good quality’ of their products and what their customers think.

This gap in perception of product quality is not new.

More than 40 years ago, in a Gallup survey carried out in 1981 (source: Wall Street Journal), only 13% of the CEOs of the nation’s largest 1300 companies said that quality is declining. In the same year, in a separate study of 7000 consumers, 49% said that it has declined and 59% expected it to stay down or decline further.

Fast forward four decades and nothing seems to have changed 😊

This gap in perception of Quality between company executives who are in charge of driving product engineering and quality and the users of the product show that in most organizations the concept of Quality is production-driven and not customer-driven.

For organizations looking to improve the Quality of their products or services and making it more customer-centric, there are two basic questions to be asked:

1. How do their customers define Quality? What does Quality mean to them?
2. How important is Quality after the sale?

How does a customer define Quality?

Quality could mean different things to different customers – design, reliability, durability, ease of use, user experience, value for money, and so on.

Perception of Quality also changes as customers go through the different stages of the customer journey.

Before the purchase, Quality can mean…
the company’s brand and image
product’s reputation
published comparative test results
opinion of friends

At the point of purchase, the meaning of Quality can be…
manuals and specs
user experience during sales
price to performance value
terms of the contract and warranties

After the purchase, the meaning of Quality can change to…
ease of setup process
usability
reliability
effectiveness of customer service
comparative performance.

Once a company understands what their customers are looking for when they ask for ‘good quality’, they are in a much better position to provide it.

Let’s discuss the second question in my next post… 😊

Meanwhile, if you would like to know more about how ConvergeHub can help you improve the Quality of the products and services in your organization without increasing the cost, talk to us.

Or, if you would like to check it out yourself, go ahead and create a free ConvergeHub account here.

great questions

If you are a leader in your organization, it’s easy to assume that people look to you for answers… that you should have all the answers… and having all the answers is the only way to build people’s trust in your competence.

But in this day and age, when the world is changing so fast and so much is uncertain… having all the answers is absolutely impossible… and pretending do so fools no one and completely erodes trust…

I think in today’s world it is not necessary for leaders to have all the answers.
Instead, it is necessary for leaders to ask great questions.

Leaders today should ask bold inspiring questions.
Then convey that they don’t have all the answers.
And ask for help to find the right answers.

Asking these kinds of questions means admitting that you don’t know everything.

And that can make you feel vulnerable.

But that is exactly what makes people trust you and connect with you.

If done right, this can spark innovative thinking within the organization.

So, what makes a great question?

Well, that’s a great question 😊

Here are some characteristics of great questions:

1. Broad and Bold – Broad questions about new opportunities or emerging technologies or customer’s unmet needs communicate a sense of ambition and long-term thinking which bolsters confidence in the organization.
2. Involves others – Bold futuristic questions invite collaboration within the company, and often with customers and partners. It also inspires people to reach out for help when they need it.
3. Encourages exploration – Instead of expecting full-formed complete answers, the question should encourage exploration and insights. These small moves build excitement as people begin to see progress.
4. Contributes to learning – As early answers emerge, they should be shared and discussed. The purpose of these types of questions is not to find ground-breaking world-changing answers, but to make progress and generate new insights. This helps foster a culture of learning.

If you would like to know more about how ConvergeHub can help you drive innovation in your organization by tracking the right data and asking the right questions, talk to us.

Or, if you would like to check it out yourself, go ahead and create a free ConvergeHub account here.

Using BEANs to drive Innovation

How does innovation work in your company? Is there a set budget for it? Are there guidelines and projects and status meetings around it? How about results?

If your organization has spent a mini fortune on innovation and has seen zero results… well, you are not alone.

Across industries, one survey after another has found the same thing: Despite all their spending on innovation, businesses just aren’t getting the impact they want.

Why?

It’s mostly because every organization has certain day-to-day routines. And usually, these small routines and rituals stifle innovation.

This is a major challenge in most organizations, and BEANs are one way to hack this problem.

What’s a BEAN?

According to the Harvard Business Review article ‘Breaking Down the Barriers to Innovation’, a BEAN is shorthand for behavior enablers, artifacts, and nudges.

Basically, BEANs are tools, processes and interventions that help people change their behavior and reinforce new behaviors.

So, if your organization is struggling with innovation, change or digital transformation, try creating these little interventions or BEANs that will serve as constant reminders to implement the desired behavior.

Successful BEANs typically are:

1. Simple – behaviors that are easy to adopt
2. Trackable – can be monitored and measured
3. Practical – doesn’t require major changes
4. Reinforced – has reminders built in
5. Fun – if it is engaging socially, people are more likely to do it
6. Consistent – should be in tune with organization’s goals

In the coming weeks, we will continue discussing innovation and behaviors that encourage innovation in the organization.

Meanwhile, if you would like to know more about how ConvergeHub can help you drive innovation in your organization without increasing the cost,talk to us.

Or, if you would like to check it out yourself, go ahead and create a free ConvergeHub account here.

How to Fix Damaged Customer Relationships

In my last post, we had discussed about the dilemma that most businesses have to go through at some stage of their lifecycle…

The dilemma between customer satisfaction and cost efficiency.

Spend too much… and it leads to reduced profitability.

Spend too little… and it leads to low satisfaction and the risk of customer loss.

Often this boils down to Scale vs. Service dilemma.

To grow a business needs to adopt customer service that is scalable, but that may result in losing the personal touch which is the real competitive advantage.

Although each organization needs to solve this dilemma in its own unique way, here are a few strategies that can be adopted:

• Understand who you are to your customers – Get clear about who you want to be to your customers. This will help you create a strategy where proactive attention meets automated efficiency.
• Understand customer’s paint points – What are your customers looking for? Different customers may be looking for different types of service. Some may need hand-holding whereas others may be happy with self-service. It would be better to meet them at their channel of choice and offer them what they are looking for.
• Understand and use Technology – Technology today is transforming Customer Relationship Management. Used well, technology can give an organization the edge they need by giving deeper customer insights to improve customer loyalty and lifetime value.

If you would like to know more about how ConvergeHub can help you get closer to your customers without increasing the cost, talk to us.

Or, if you would like to check it out yourself, go ahead and create a free ConvergeHub account here.

Using BEANs to drive Innovation

Have you noticed that customers are getting angrier?

The world itself seems to have become more uncivil, and customers are much more dissatisfied.

That is actually putting it mildly. Customers are not just dissatisfied… they are plain angry.

In a recent study by Arizona State University W.P. Carey School of Business survey of customer rage found that last year 74% of customers said that they have experienced problems with a product or a service. And they are definitely not shy about expressing their rage.

What were their main frustrations?

In most studies the top frustration is not being able to talk to a person when they have a problem.

The second most common complaint is that they can’t find out how to contact the company.

Technically, these are not difficult problems to fix.

So, it’s easy to blame the organization.

Organizations just don’t care, right?

But there’s a flip side to the coin.

When it comes to serving customers, companies have to do a balancing act between quality of service and its cost.

Spending too much on customer service might lead to reduced profitability, especially if it doesn’t lead to the customer loyalty that the business is looking for.

On the other hand, spending too little on customer service leads to low customer satisfaction and the risk of losing them in the long run.

So how do companies resolve this dilemma between customer satisfaction and cost efficiency?

Let’s talk about it in my next post.

Meanwhile, if you would like to know more about how ConvergeHub can help you get closer to your customers without increasing the cost, talk to us.

Or, if you would like to check it out yourself, go ahead and create a free ConvergeHub account here.

Is anyone listening?

Ever heard a company say that they don’t ‘put customers first’? Probably not 😊

Pretty much EVERY business says that they put their customers first.

And they probably mean it.

But do you know how many people believe it?

12%

According to a HubSpot survey, only 12% of people believe company messaging that says it puts “customer first”.

So, what’s going on here?

In an age when businesses pitch jargons such as “personalization”, “1:1 customer engagement”, “customer-centricity” to anyone willing to listen… why don’t most people believe them?

Because businesses will be able to deliver these things only if they truly listen to their customers.

Not through some half-baked survey asking the wrong questions.

Or a lame we-value-your-feedback form on the website.

For a business, listening is all about data.

Listening is the ability to capture and analyze all structured and unstructured data across all customer touchpoints.

Listening is also about training your customer-facing staff on empathy.

And taking action on what they hear.

By communicating better.

Giving out information that customers and prospects are really looking for.

Not always easy.

But without that we risk making assumptions about what our customers and prospects are looking for.

And that guessing game is dangerous for any business.

If you would like to know more about how ConvergeHub can help you communicate better with your prospects and customers, talk to us.

Or, if you would like to check it out yourself, go ahead and create a free ConvergeHub account here.

Fear, Chaos, Uncertainty, Doubt… and Hope

2023 is shaping up to be a year of challenges.

As collectively we begin to emerge from Covid… battered and scarred… we face a new set of challenges staring at us…

Rising costs
Diminishing budgets of our customers… both business and consumer
Shrinking resource pool to hire from
Uncertain economy

The list of challenges is long
And the result is Fear, Chaos, Uncertainty, Doubt…

So, what do we do about it?

Which way do we turn?

Often during such challenging times leaders instinctively turn to solutions like:
Budget cuts
Reduction in headcounts
Curtailing employee benefits
Minimizing Customer Service

But instead of going with these obvious short-term solutions, which in the longer-term create more challenges than they solve, this is the time for business leaders to look for less obvious solutions, which may take more work to implement but will yield long term benefits for the company as well as the individuals working in it.

These long-term solutions could include:

Increasing efficiency – Looking for ways to increase efficiency in how we market, sell and serve our customers. This could include using data to identify and remove bottlenecks, introducing customer self-service, changing operating hours or mode of operation, and so on.

Automation – Using chatbots, automated emails or texts, voice-bots, etc. to preempt customer questions and provide them with the answers they need. Providing sales agents with reminders and information just when they need it. Automation takes on different forms with many benefits.

Customer Retention – As every product and service is becoming more and more commoditized, businesses need to look beyond their base product or service offering to differentiate themselves from competition. Although customers are increasingly focusing on costs, the true value of a product or service depends on how much and for how long customers are able to use the product/service to realize its benefits.

Data Analytics – Instead of focusing on cost efficiencies, businesses can use data to create better offers that appeal to their market segment, use automation to improve their outreach, better personalize their services to retain customers, not to mention improve their processes and increase productivity.

If you would like to know more about creating sales processes and how ConvergeHub can help you get through these challenging times by enabling you to implement these long-term solutions, talk to us.

Or, if you would like to check it out yourself, go ahead and create a free ConvergeHub account here.