products Archives - Dennis E. Gilbert

18
Jan 21
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Targeted Work Is Always Better Than None At All

Tags : audience niche products satisfy work

Do you do targeted work? Meaning work that is for a specific audience or customer. What if you did nothing because you couldn’t satisfy everyone?

It happens often. The quest to please everyone is often stronger than the quest to please a few. Many people struggle with trying to please.

Is it a sticking point for you?

A chocolate frosted donut won’t please everyone. Should you have no donuts on offer at all?

The same is true for pink cell phone cases, orange pickup trucks, and black coffee. Not everyone wants those things. Should you not offer any at all?

It is a simple case really. For every niche or specialty, you’ll find someone not satisfied. They don’t like or appreciate what is on offer. They would sooner refuse the offer and walk away than take it as is.

You don’t have to satisfy everyone. The cost of trying to do so often makes people retract which leads to satisfying no one. It’s a cost you shouldn’t bear.

Targeted Work

In the workplace it is true for the products and services you provide. It is true for how you communicate with the team.

When you provide training or give a talk. You provide too much information or details for some, and not enough for others. Your sense of charm or humor will entice some, and turn off others.

It likely doesn’t mean that your products and services are without value. It doesn’t mean that the training or pep talk shouldn’t be given.

Being a contributor requires risk. The reward is that you’ll satisfy someone.

It seems like a far better outcome when compared with satisfying no one.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

18
Jun 20
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Service Value Is Always Determined By The Customer

Tags : opportunity products services value

What is your product or service worth? Service value is not easily defined by the provider, no matter how hard you try.

When you live in a urban area and someone offers you a free lawnmower, or a goat, it probably is not of much value. The same may be true for gasoline engine powered hedge trimmers, a weed whacker, or a rototiller.

None of it really matters, it may be deemed not useful or of very little value.

The same may be true about two plane tickets to Montana via the Dawson Community Airport.

It is true about certain foods, books, or other resources. If there is no connection, there really is no value.

Free sauerkraut and hot dogs do not interest me. Yet, it may interest someone.

A twenty-year-old car in great condition may not seem to be worth much, but replacing it is expensive.

This concept is critically important as you face the challenge of serving your customers. What you offer isn’t always what is viewed as attractive or valuable.

Service Value

The trick for anything or everything depends on its perceived value.

Who would have ever thought that there would be a toilet paper crisis?

American Pickers look for rusty gold. Many people see nothing but junk.

The real opportunity is for the business to see everything through the lens of the customer and not through the lens of the innovator. Sometimes, yes, it could be appropriate for both. Yet, more often it is weighted in favor of the customer view.

An invention with no use is really just a floppy disk.

Or perhaps, a boiled egg squarer.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

13
Sep 18
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World Of Mouth, Is It Working For You?

Tags : connection economy jobs products services word of mouth

Many business leaders will share with you that the face of business is changing. They may not be able to put their finger on which direction, but they recognize a shift. It is the age of a service and connection economy which leads to World of mouth.

How are you navigating?

The CEO needs a plan. So does the employee. Learning how to navigate a connection economy is likely not found in books or other resources produced prior to 2005. Perhaps prior to 2010 or 2015.

Working For You

How does marketing and advertising work? The best marketers are building a connection.

How do you get more sales in an overwhelmed digital world? The strongest sales growth comes through connections.

So many people claim to be suffering from information overload. Many regress to making fewer decisions based on their own research and instead lazily rely on their network.

This is true for the retailer, the E-comm, and nearly every business sector. It is also true for who gets hired or promoted. It is a connection economy and connections matter.

This is precisely why commodity products compete only for price. They are available everywhere and without any additional value. Their supplemental value is perhaps only in the convenience and ease of the (service) purchase and delivery.

Commodity products are tough. Amazon, eBay, and the carriers (UPS, FedEx, etc.) are winning. Good for them.

Average, similar, mainstream, and available anywhere means getting selected is tough. True for the job you just applied for, and true for the products or services your organization provides.

World Of Mouth

The great equalizer comes through the connection economy. Average sells when it is recommended by a friend. Similar works if a friend has tried it. Mainstream can be trendy if everyone in your community is on board.

Consider that the question may become, “What is it about what you are offering that makes it special enough to become a discussion item?”

Word of mouth is powerful. World of mouth is mind blowing. Connections drive both.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

20
Feb 18
2

What Customers Want, They Get

Tags : change customers Digital products

Every day there is someone selling something. It is an exchange of what someone else has for what someone else wants. Do customers get what customers want?

Your landscaping is fabulous, who does it for you?

Your car is so shiny, who details it?

Those shoes look awesome, what brand are they and where did you get them?

People Want More

When people see something that they love they want to know more. They want to know who can help them achieve a similar result or how they can get started.

The same is true with what we see on the internet. The posts, the pictures, and the videos. What people love, they want to share, and they want more of it.

What happens when they don’t?

The answer is actually easy. If it isn’t for them, they’ll walk [scroll] away, or else they’ll give it a thumbs down. If they are really unhappy and you’ve touched their emotions they may even fire back.

Digital World

This is our digital world, the digital age. Being polite is often thrown out the window and rudeness has an appeal to some.

Your customers will always let you know too. They may not post something digital, but they might. They may jump on your website, your social media page, or give you a review on Yelp.

Certainly, there will circumstances and situations where there is a misunderstanding, the product features are not understood, or your value proposition isn’t the right message. Some of those are easily fixed, some may linger or spark redesign.

What Customers Want

Customers who let you know what they want, or don’t want, are actually doing you a favor. They are telling you that they are not your market or that what you market needs some work.

If they haven’t digitally defamed you. You should probably thank them. Now you can find the customers who love your product or service, or you can change things making you one-step closer to doing something that really matters.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a five-time author and some of his work includes, #CustServ The Customer Service Culture, and Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

03
Oct 17
-

Understanding of Customer Needs and Needing Customers

Tags : margin marketing products sales value

Unfortunately, it is common that something we love changes. Despite the seemingly popular love for a product or service, it is suddenly taken away or changed. Do you know a product or service that should be more understanding of customer needs, instead of chasing things because they believe they need more customers?

There is a lot of push in our society, and I’m a firm believer that we need more pull.

Bigger or Changed?

Here is a great example. How often do you go to the supermarket, places like Wegmans, Weis, or Kroger, only to find it is being rearranged, remodeled, or in some cases rebranded? This is mostly about profit, not about loyal customer convenience.

Interested in some more examples?

There is the website the changes its login, your account information tab, or easy reorder features or location and colors. Not because it doesn’t care about you, but because instead it wants to focus on new traffic.

Have you considered the small restaurant, the mom and pop, that had fantastic food and excellent service until it doubled its seating capacity?

Let’s not forget about the technical sensation at work who gave up the technical job to become the manager instead. Now he or she is trying to understand why the motivation is gone and the work fills meaningless.

All of these scenarios signal the same type of thinking. As people, we often chase what we feel we need. In business, many businesses chase what they believe that they need in order to become bigger, stronger, and better. Does it all work out?

The best answer is probably, “sometimes.”

Understanding of Customer Needs

Here is what is most important, getting bigger, rearranging for more margin, or changing it up to capture new customers doesn’t guarantee anything. If fact, it may create a loss of exactly what brought people in the door in the first place.

Just because change seems warranted, just because someone didn’t like something, or just because it seems like the coolest new trend doesn’t mean it will make anything better.

Remember where you came from and how, follow that lead.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a five-time author and some of his work includes, #CustServ The Customer Service Culture, and Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

21
Jul 17
-

This Is Why We Are All In Sales

Tags : career products sales services

Professionally holding a position in sales is an admirable career. However, many people suggest that the sales role is not for them. They might scoff at the idea of a position in sales, yet they are often envious of the paycheck. Are we all in sales?

Nearly thirty years ago, I held a position in information technology. I wrote code, fixed program bugs, and served as an expert with voice and data communications. That was a long time ago. Although it might not seem apparent, I was also in sales.

Not formally perhaps, but I had to sell my ideas, sell software enhancements and sell hardware upgrades. The type of business I worked for was known as a mail order company. Today it might be a dot com and as such, selling was important.

Commission, not salary, compensated formal sales positions and it was challenging but often rewarding work.

Perceptions of Job Roles

I can still recall a conversation with one of the top salespersons who challenged me one day in the hallway. He approached me about some problem or difficulty he was having and we had a very mild difference of opinion. As our short conversation was winding down he said, “Why am I asking you. You don’t know anything about sales.”

It wasn’t intended to be polite. The intention was a direct hit. The concept was to knock me down, push me back, and insult me professionally. It didn’t work.

My simple response was, “I sell every day.” He came back with, “Yeah, how?”

We Are All In Sales

Recently I had convinced the board of investors to make this business unit the data center for the six other business units they operated. Just a few days earlier, they had announced this change at an all company meeting.

The investment in computer hardware upgrades exceeded $400k and the opportunity that this brought to our location was huge.

Therefore, my response was, “Well, I just sold a $400,000 computer system to our investors.”

Unsure of what to say next, my assailant just huffed and walked away.

Most of us are in sales, not always formally, often informally. We still sell ourselves, sell our ideas, and sometimes actually sell products or services.

Do you think we’re all in sales?

What are you selling?

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a four-time author and some of his work includes, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce and Pivot and Accelerate, The Next Move Is Yours! Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

17
Jul 17
2

customer service ethics appreciative strategies

What Are Your Customer Service Ethics?

Tags : customer service ethics habits products reputation

Ethics can be a controversial subject. What seems perfectly fine to one person might be extremely wrong to another. Do you think much about customer service ethics?

People sometimes believe it is okay if it is a small thing. It might be the little white lie or the dirt swept under the carpet. In other cases, it might be connected to the concept of a baker’s dozen or getting a take home container after having a full meal at the buffet.

What do you think, are people and businesses ethically challenged?

Observed Ethical Challenges

Make a cake and you might hide the imperfections with extra icing, seems sweet enough.

What about the chicken nuggets left over from the lunchtime rush? Did the cook notice or simply not care? Perhaps it is about profit, no nuggets wasted.

The same might be true for the aged lettuce tossed into your salad or cleverly hidden under your sandwich bun. A few pieces here and there, no one will notice.

Ethics exist in customer service. Sometimes they are cleverly disguised in the sale. Other times there is hope that it simply goes unnoticed. Besides, if discovered there is an apology to make things right.

Is this the food you want to eat? Is it the product you thought you were buying, or what you expect to find inside the brown box on your doorstep? No customer wants this surprise.

You Are What You Build

In life, you are the product of your habits repeated over and over again. The same is true for your business reputation. You are the product of what you deliver over and over again.

You might sweeten the cake sometimes and get away with it since icing seems like an extra. Few would probably find fault or feel short-changed.

Cold nuggets and brown lettuce are never a good idea. Some might complain, but many others will just go somewhere else the next time.

Customer Service Ethics

What you try to hide or pretend to not notice might get you through the day. After all, if no one says anything did it really happen?

The successful shop, the one that cares and is ethical, is not sweeping anything under the carpet.

They are not building it for today. They are building it for today and tomorrow.

Their customers come back and refer others.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a four-time author and some of his work includes, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce and Pivot and Accelerate, The Next Move Is Yours! Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

Tag Archives: products

Jan 21

-

Targeted Work

Jun 20

-

Service Value

Sep 18

-

Working For You

World Of Mouth

Feb 18

People Want More

Digital World

What Customers Want

Oct 17

-

Bigger or Changed?

Understanding of Customer Needs

Jul 17

-

Perceptions of Job Roles

We Are All In Sales

Jul 17

Observed Ethical Challenges

You Are What You Build

Customer Service Ethics

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