Make it your Happy New Year

BRIAN H MEREDITH SHARES A PRE- CHRISTMAS BRAIN DUMP AROUND SOME OF THE ABSOLUTE ESSENTIALS OF MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING.

AT THE TIME of writing this it’s just three weeks until Christmas. When you read this, Christmas will have been and gone. Happy New Year! In deciding what to write and share, I thought I’d do something of a brain dump to clear my head of stuff ahead of the Christmas break and, at the same time, offer my thoughts on some key stuff relating to business and marketing.

Throughout my career, I’ve continued to believe that the concept of business and marketing is remarkably poorly understood and even more poorly implemented. For those of you who regularly read my column, you will already know the extent of my whinging on these and related issues.

I experienced the latest example in just the past two days. My wife and I stayed at one of Auckland’s five-star hotels over the weekend and had dinner with long standing friends on Saturday night at a very well-known and highly-rated restaurant nearby.

The hotel experience was, at best, ordinary and a room service experience was absolutely dreadful.

At dinner with our friends, we were at a restaurant that is constantly rated highly by the media (and by itself), described as a “Fine Dining Restaurant” and yet the experience was way below par, including the service, presentation and food content, quality and flavours.

The restaurant owner has this to say on their website:

“I'm sure you'll feel cosseted and invigorated after a meal of discovery, complemented by our deliciously creative cocktails and an evolving and eclectic wine list.”

No, sorry. Did not feel cosseted and invigorated. Felt disappointed and grumpy.

In my humble opinion, the concept of business is simple and the concept of marketing is equally so. So why is it not understood or, if it is, why is it lost in the midst of operating a business in the way in which it should be?

A business exists to make a profit based on understanding and delivering the needs and wants of its chosen customer base. And that’s it. Everything that it does should be directed at that because, as I have mentioned more than a few times, customers are the only place the money comes from.

And yet the way in which too many businesses structure and function is well wide of the mark.

From the CEO (why do so many CEOs never connect with their customer base?) to the front-line staff (why are so many front-line staff not be recruited, trained, nourished and nurtured to function as the “mini marketing directors” that they all are?), every element of structure, planning and operation must be targeted at that single source of income.

Here is my random brain dump – I hope it proves to be a worthwhile read:

• Businesses are People. Not entities.

• People do business with people. Entities do not do business with entities.

• Businesses are Human. Not organisations.

• Understand needs and wants. Don’t try to flog something that suits the business.

• Talk in human language. Not corporate waffle.

• Develop brands that are human. Not cold and selfish.

• Communications are two-way. Not speeches.

• CEOs are not Gods. They are people.

• Organisational structures are too often top to bottom with the bottom level being where the customer relationships exist and are managed.

• CEOs too often concentrate on just about anything and everything except customer relationships.

• CEOs must be on the front line.

Not in the back room.

• Customers all too often can’t get past call centres, which are a barrier to the rest of the organisation and its people.

• Organisational cultures must be human cultures.

• Logos have a role but human faces more so.

• Call centre staff often may not provide their names. Bad.

• Call centre staff often don’t record client contacts. Bad.

• Call centres can take up to two or more hours to answer. Bad.

• Whether you are buying a loaf of bread or several passenger aircraft, you are a person doing business with a person. And that’s what your experience should be.

As we head into 2017, take some time to sit back, close your eyes and think carefully of your business, why it exists and how well it is doing in manifesting that existence.

The result will be happier customers, happier management, happier staff and happier profits.