Living Outside of Maybe

We are about to start a new series on the Lean Mindset and Entrepreneurship when I read a press release announcing the book.

I haven't read it and still intend to cover the lean concepts of Muri (Purpose), Mura (Process), and Muda (People). Sometimes using another language to build a narrative makes sense and in the case of Japanese, it fits. These are not traditional definitions, but when I get done - even the lean experts will be in agreement.

However, let digress to my very long and eventful yesterday. Without the details, we were way off the mark on a deliverable and that created undue duress with a population we have been courting in the marketing process. Needless to say all the negative buzz has negated those efforts - but it also reminded us of some service truths.

First you learn about yourself, your company and your customers when things go wrong. Perfection isn't possible and defects are a way of life, especially in small and micro businesses. This doesn't provide permission for mistakes, rather opportunities to recover. Do you step up, own it, fix it, and turn it into something positive or batten down the hatches and hide?

When we built the customer service programs around Ken Blanchard's and Sheldon Bowles's book Raving Fans, the lesson was company's with a 98% deliver on promise rate and exceptional recovery on the 2% had higher service reputations than company's at 100%. Interesting how the mind works - how does the customer know you are a service driven company? When you make failure a positive for the customer.

Additionally, you learn something about your clients or prospects on how they treat you. If they get irrational and threatening, perhaps it is time to minimize their share of your revenue. You are looking for customers willing to engage in reciprocal relationships. If it is all about them, that will never change unless this is the specific market you targeted, a population best to avoid.

What does all of this have to with the title In Marketing & Sales Maybe is death. What can you do with a prospect after repeated attempts to entice them to move forward? Yesterday demonstrated to me that a crisis is a good place to start. I would suggest a sales book "On Getting to No", but that too has been written.