While you can’t compete with the millions of dollars mega organizations spend on advertising and public relations you can know what your customers want, need, and desire better than the ‘big guys’ and build stronger relationships. You can focus your budget with laser like precision and get much more from what you spend. What are your results like today?

One of the ways to increase positive effects is to centralize all you do around the use of your logo which should be a symbol that strongly identifies your company. Examples would be the Texaco star or the golden arches of McDonalds. Does your logo appear on your emails, business cards, website, blog, letterhead, signs, company vehicles and social media? Every message should appeal directly to what your customer wants, contain your logo and be used with:

• Promotional materials telling customers what they should do.
  

• Special events that bring the right people to you and win them over.
  

• Strategies and affiliations that can match the large players in your market.

Focus your marketing campaign on what your customer or prospect wants and speak directly to them using plain language. Clearly communicate what’s in it for them. A ‘big spender’s’ ad may promise a lot but contain asterisks referencing exceptions in the fine print. Your organization can take advantage of this with a campaign that counters, “There are no asterisks.”

Free marketing money: Determine if some or all of your marketing qualifies for co-op advertising. The Cooperative Advertising Information System reports that although some $25 billion in co-op money is available, each year only 60 percent is claimed. Take advantage of these free matching funds.

When it’s time to add pizzazz to you promotion, consult with advertising and public relations agencies, writers, graphic artists, photographers, videographers, web designers, social media experts and media buyers. You may also want to establish an internal ad agency and thus receive a 15% discount when buying media.

To compete with the huge advertising budget of the mega players, think about niches where you can excel and consider using special events. By definition a niche market is comprised of customers and prospects that all have similar interest or something in common such as golf, a specific type of music or the same heritage.

In  Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Noah Goldstein, Steve Martin, and Robert Cialdini they state, “Social proof can have a major impact in your business. Invite current and potential customers to a special event and make it easy for them to mingle and discuss the advantages of your organization. The authors point out that, “We feel obligated to return favors performed for us, and social proof guides our behavior.”

Direct mail: As consumers’ inboxes become increasingly crowded, many marketers are rediscovering the value of mail. It has long been an effective and efficient way to market products and services and, according to research by the Direct Marketing Association, delivers an ROI of $12.57 for every dollar invested. “Customers like getting mail and, according to our research, 79 percent of all households read or scan the direct mail they receive, even younger adults.”

Mail can do things that no other medium can. From delivering a sample of your product, which ensures that prospects get a full marketing experience that can include touch, feel, sound, smell, perhaps even taste, not just a digital message…to rewarding a loyal customer with a gift that provides instant gratification and helps intensify his or her loyalty. Done right, databases can target and locate new direct mail customers and tell your old customers that you remember them.

If you offer products, consider a frequent buyer program to encourage customers to buy more from you and although you can’t purchase as well as Staples, Home Depot, Wal-Mart or Best Buy, you can chip away their clout by joining a buying group and pooling the needs of many small businesses into larger orders with major suppliers and pass the savings on to your customers.

Use variable-pricing strategies to match the large discounter’s prices on items with the highest visibility. If you’re selling the same brand of toilet tissue for $1.29 versus 97 cents, you’re charging 33% more. Customers will come to believe that you’re 33% higher on everything. Don’t lower prices on your entire inventory, just those items that are exactly the same as your competitors. Increase the mark up on the other 80% to get your overall gross profit margin back up.

As a service provider, while you may not be able to offer the same depth of expertise as an international consulting firm like McKinsey or a regional medical center, you can affiliate with other specialized high quality providers and prevent your patient, customer, client or prospect leaving because you were unable to offer a complete solution to solve their problems.

Yes…all successful marketing and public relations efforts are successful because they offer the best and most complete solution for solving the problems that their customers are facing. The best marketing that can be done to beat the big spenders starts by knowing the problems that the people in your marketplace are facing…better than anyone else. It ends by delivering the products or services they need in a superior way and your logo becomes the symbol that tells the world what you do.

Questions for discussion:

How well do we know our customers most important wants, needs and desires?

Do we communicate an understanding of their problems and deliver the best solution?

At the beginning of the 21^st Century, if you had asked any industry guru how the Internet would transform on-line purchasing and sales, the answer undoubtedly would have included a reference to electronic marketplaces and on-line auctions. And so Amazon, eBay and hundreds of others digital exchanges have come to pass.

Just a dozen years later we live in a world where the Internet is playing a dominant role in all purchasing and sales decisions. Although speed and agility are now essential to success, most organizations still respond to new developments at a snail’s pace. Today’s world is digitized and markets change quickly. With GPS enabled smart phone capability now emerging, what does the ‘guru’ say is next?

• Technology will widen your range of suppliers and customers.
• Technology will allow deepening of relationships by knowing your customer.
• If you’re not recommended by others you won’t get the business.

Three years ago, Don Tapscott, author of Grown Up Digital, described how the “Net Generation,” born between 1977 and 1997, were changing our world. Today, regardless of when we were born, we are living with much of what this guru described. Has there been a significant values shift for everyone…facilitated by technology?

“Net Geners are beginning to use remarkable digital tools that put power in the hands of individuals,” said Tapscott. “Now, we have an unparalleled opportunity to learn from this new generation.” Employers are finding a demand for flexibility and collaboration in the workplace which is forcing the disintegration of the rigid hierarchy and mandating organizations to rethink how they compensate, supervise, develop, and recruit talent.

As consumers, Net Geners want to be “prosumers,” co-inventing products and services with producers. They are forcing a change in education to a tailored student-focused model based on collaboration. In family life, they demand a balance with work and as citizens they are demanding responsiveness thru their civic activity and social activism.

Net Geners demand freedom in everything they do and leverage the power of technology to change jobs, express themselves and personalize everything. According to Tapscott, “Whether it’s their desktop, Web site, ring tone, screen saver, or news source, they want it when they want it, and they want to be able to change it.” Regardless of your age…don’t you want and aren’t you doing the same things?

David Meerman Scott, author of Real-Time Marketing & PR may prove to be another guru as he points out that, “The narrative of your business now unfolds, minute by minute, in real time. It’s no longer guided by the mass media your ad budget can buy.  Instead, it’s driven by your customers, talking among themselves. In the emerging real-time business environment, size is no longer a decisive advantage. Speed and agility win.”

Technology has changed the pace of business forever. Suddenly millions of people join a conversation about an event or person and public opinion is formed. How tuned in are you to what your customers are saying to each other on social media? How quick and nimble are you to respond and make changes as a result?

Scott, author of Real-Time Marketing & PR emailed the media relations department of the top 100 companies on the Fortune 500 list asking each to describe how it had adapted to the new realities of real-time communication. He included a link to his website, blog, and Twitter ID in case people wanted to find out more about him. He heard back from just 28 of the companies,

Would he have heard back from you? What would your response have been? If people can’t contact you or your company and get a response, doesn’t something need to change in your real-time communications process? Scott asks, “Why are so few companies up to speed with real-time communications?  Fear: fear of the unknown; fear of losing control.”

And that’s the point. Business is no longer in control and has not been for a very long time…the customer, armed with technology like Google, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and an ever increasing range of social media is in command. Organizations must know what the customer is saying in real time, fix what needs to be fixed and deliver what the customer wants…when they want it.

We are just entering the next exciting step for consumers and business due to GPS enabled smart phones. Imagine that it’s lunch time, you’re in an unfamiliar city, and technology is aware that you like Thai food. Suddenly your phone alerts you that you are only a block away from a Thai Restaurant and attached is a menu along with a coupon for 10% off.

For retail and service providers this technology allows you to contact consumers at the precise moment they’re near you and ready to buy exactly what you sell. Millions of times a day, people are using programs like foursquare to share where they are and commenting to friends on the new restaurant their checking out or the salon or clothing boutique they just discovered.

Although technology is giving your customer even greater control and the ability to influence their friends in real-time, organizations that take the time to quickly discover and deliver what their customer wants and when and how their customer wants it will thrive. People trust the opinions of their friends, other people who are just like them. Technology is enabling a word of mouth sales force, a sales force that impacts every decision.

Questions for discussion:

How can we increase our responsiveness adding technological speed and agility?

Are we aware of what real-time communicators are saying about our organization?

The business lifecycle of products and services grows shorter every day. A computer beats the world chess champion using artificial intelligence and good paying human jobs are being displaced by robots. At a time when change is so rapid, why is getting people to embrace the concept of lifelong learning so difficult to accomplish?

The answer may lie in everything from outright complacency and an attitude of ‘we are the leader, why should we change,’ to recent advances and insights from neuroscience claiming, ‘science has the discovered the cause’ of our unwillingness. What we do know is that failure of businesses and people to change and become permanent students, causes great pain and hardship. In the 21st century:

• Mission and job skill requirements must be upgraded constantly
• Learning throughout life is an essential tool, not an occasional endeavor
• Lifelong learning, to thrive, must become an obsessive compulsive behavior

Lifelong learning must be embraced on two fronts. The business must learn to change in order to exploit the new marketing opportunities that always arise as customer needs and desires change. Because a business is nothing more than a limp idea until people breathe life into it, people must change and upgrade or acquire fresh skills in order to be the best solution for the customers emerging needs and desires.

The CEO of a large IT company learned of the need for change when he discovered that his son installed a wireless network in the family’s home. ”I assume you used Cisco products,” said John Chambers. His son answered no, he couldn’t find any home-networking devices made by Cisco at consumer electronics stores.

According to an article titled Cisco’s Virtual Management Lab by Inder Sidhu a turning point in Cisco’s history occurred that day. Chambers knew there was a $20 billion global market for home and small office networking products and that it was projected to grow to $74 billion in a few short years. He also knew that Cisco’s products were too expensive and technically advanced for those emerging markets’ needs.

Sidhu says that up until then, “Cisco had generated the bulk of its profits by producing high-value, high-margin networking products sold to corporate customers. Gross margins were over 60 percent.” The consumer electronics market demanded high quantity, low prices, and margins of about 30 percent.

A limp idea is born: Cisco needed to build a new business model for the consumer segment and get it running quickly so they wouldn’t be too late to meet this new customer demand. They found a great business already pursuing this model and bought Linksys…the maker of the equipment that Chambers’s son had purchased for the family home.

A new business idea is only as good as the people who wholeheartedly support it. If people don’t buy in, it is doomed for failure. When leaders implement a change program, they know that they can’t change people’s behavior simply by telling them to change. How, then, does change really happen? It has to become a lifelong learning experience.

In the Spring 2011 issue of Strategy +Business in an article titled That’s the Way We (Used to) Do Things Around Here, neuroscientists and authors Schwartz, Gaito and Lennick offer some helpful suggestions based on studies of parts of the brain performing functions that, like driving a car, are often not consciously done.

“At work, being forced to try something new can trigger fear and anger, the urge to flee, or exhaustion,” according to Schwartz, Gaito and Lennick. “In the grip of such emotions, people resist change. The solution is to prepare for organizational change in advance. The first step is to point out why change is needed and the long term benefits of it as well as the painful consequences of failure to do so.

Obsessive-compulsive behavior: Perhaps we all have a touch of it. Don’t we all resist change and want to keep doing the same thing over and over again even though it is not good for us and keeps us from engaging in other, better and more productive behavior? Everyone must be given honest information and asked to reflect on it as well as reminded that they are capable of making the required changes and embracing the new paradigm of being a lifetime learner.

Part of the honest information presented by the neuroscientist is that, “A person with OCD may think, ”I have to wash my hands to make sure they’re clean. An individual with OCD can override those impulses with the knowledge that they are merely thoughts: ”Here comes that urge again, but it is simply a thought that my OCD condition produces.”

In the same way lifelong learners can learn to identify the thoughts running thru their heads that keeps them resisting required change. We, like people with severe OCD can be trained to catch ourselves with those thoughts of resistance and say, “here comes those thoughts again.” and replace them with thoughts of how the change will lead to a better future.

Business leaders and decision makers must learn to change in order to capitalize on new opportunities arising as customer wants and needs change. Everyone in the organization must learn to change and upgrade or acquire fresh skills in order to continue to be the best solution for the customer. Obsessive compulsive behavior about satisfying our customer…should always be the priority of the day

Questions for discussion:

To what extent have we embraced and communicated a culture of change and the need to be lifelong learners?

Have we explained to everyone the importance of their buy in, the pain associated with not doing so and the bright future for everyone…with their support?

According to Edward B. Keller author of The Influentials there is a group who tell their neighbors what to buy, which politicians to support and where to vacation. Their opinions often make the difference between success and failure for ideas, marketing campaigns, and entire companies.

These people are not necessarily who you would expect. They are not the wealthiest, but rather those most engaged in their local communities. They not only wield an enormous amount of influence within those communities, but they also shape the opinions and trends throughout our country and the world. Be aware:

• Influentials are leading indicators of what people will be buying.
  

• Social media has dramatically increased the power of their influence.
  

• Positioning your product or service will win the favor of these influential people.
  

For over 30 years, RoperASW has tracked an elite group of Americans whose opinions and recommendations influence the buying behavior of others. Roper calls them the “Influential Americans” and they make up only about ten percent of the population, but if your business earns their respect, they represent a powerful and free sales force.

Magazine Publishers of America, MPA says “When you’re advertising effectivelyreaches Influentials, your message goes further. Influentials are twice as likely to be sought out for their opinions, and twice as likely to make recommendations about a host of products and services.”

Influentials are both socially and politically active, their views are seen as unbiased and  they are well-informed and trusted. Because of their position in our communities, our workplaces, and our society, their opinions are heard by many people and drive the decisions of many other potential customers.

For the past five decades Influentials have been viewed as market multipliers and were the first to:

• Drive energy-efficient cars in the 1970′s .
  

• Own computers in the 1980′s .
  

• Open 401(k) s and IRA in the 1990′s .
  

• Go green, use digital technology and smart phones today.

Every organization has long known the value of word-of-mouth recommendations. According to Roper’s research, people today are far more likely to turn to friends, family, and other personal experts than to use traditional media for ideas and information on a wide range of topics.

It’s based on a conversation: When people make a decision today, it’s frequently based on a conversation. Before they buy, they talk and they listen. The Internet and the widespread use of social media has broadened the conversation, allowing people to research purchases, post questions to companies and other consumers, as well as communicate with their friends.

As people are talking more among themselves and are more confident about what they hear from their friends, family, and personal experts, they are growing more selective about when and where they will be influenced by the “official” voices of society. Tuning out your advertising has become a part of daily life.

The greatest authority in the world is no longer the traditional media of television, radio or print advertising. Nor is it the newer medium of the Web. Instead, individual…person-to-person communication is the driving force behind most of today’s consumer buying decisions.

RoperASW’s research suggests that the net effect of all of the changes in recent years is a significant increase in the value of “Influential Americans.” If word of mouth is like a radio signal broadcasting over the country, the “Influentials” are strategically placed transmitters that amplify the signal, increasing the number of people who hear it.

But will they transmit your marketing messages? For organizations, getting through to the Influentials is not easy.

• They are among the most critical citizens and consumers in our society.
  

• They hold organizations to higher standards, are harder to persuade.
  

• They drive a harder bargain than the average individual.
  

• They see through hype more easily.

So who’s formed your opinion? Who will form the opinions of your potential customers? Those who take the time to understand the “Influentials,” the most trusted people in the marketplace, will be rewarded with current success and insights about the longer-range perspective of where we are going.

Questions for discussion:

Who among our existing customers is an “Influential” and what can we learn from them that would encourage their support of our organization?

How can our existing marketing budget be directed to target “Influentials” who, in turn will spread the word?

What are the needs, wants, stereotypes and emotions of your customers? For instance, Disney knows that their customers “need” a vacation and accurate information. They “want” happiness and memories lasting a lifetime. Insider information, like a great place to be to watch the parade or fireworks…makes them feel special.

All businesses have customer expectations or stereotypes to both overcome and live up to, what are yours? For Disney, the negative “stereotypes” to overcome were: Disney is for kids, there are long lines and it’s very expensive. Their positive “stereotypes” to be lived up to included: clean facilities, a friendly atmosphere and fun for everyone.

• Know your top business values and prioritize them.
• Identify the stereotypes must you overcome or live up to.
• Know your purpose, it makes exceeding expectations easy.

Disney knows that to be recognized for customer service, they must constantly exceed guest expectations. They do it by paying attention to details. Here’s how to constantly exceed customer expectations in your business.

Ask what emotions do your customers experience during their full cycle of using your product or service? The “emotions” at Disney run from: unbounded excitement on entering the park to tired feet at the end of the day and from the adrenalin rush of Space Mountain to the heart warming tenderness of a character hugging a child.

Know your customer: You’ve heard this before, but it bears repeating. Know and understand your customer. Disney knows that 47 percent fly and the rest often drive days before arriving. They know the average family has saved two years to get there and that the first and last impressions are most important. How can you create a WOW first and last impression?

If you’ve never been to a Disney theme park, it would be worth a visit just to have the first hand experience of how they create a “knock your socks off” first impression. The entrances are spectacular with views of some of the most prominent attractions and the grounds are complimented with gorgeous landscaping to greet their “guests.”

But Disney discovered that when many guests arrive and park their cars they are so excited that, in spite of being repeatedly reminded of where they parked while riding the tram to the park entrance, some forget that little tidbit of information by the end of an exhausting day. Disney knew that the hassle of locating a lost car was not creating a WOW last impression.

Although it was not the actions of Disney Cast Members that were responsible for the lost car and the tram crews were doing the best they could to remind guest to remember where they parked…more had to be done. So management asked the Parking Cast Members to develop a cure. The remedy was to keep a time log of when they were filling various parking areas each morning.

At the end of the day, when an exhausted and frustrated guest reported troubled finding their car, the Cast Members asked what time they arrived. Then they simply checked that morning’s time log and delivered their weary customers directly to their car, creating a last impression of WOW.

What’s your purpose? Isn’t it to keep your customers coming back for more and telling all of their friends about you? Disney’s is to create happiness by providing the finest in entertainment for people everywhere. Purpose always takes precedence over the job. A Custodial Cast Members purpose is to create happiness by assisting guest. The job is to make sure the park is immaculate.

What are your business values and what priority do they take? Disney’s values, in order of priority include:

• Safety

• Courtesy

• Efficiency

• Show

When a child does not meet the 40-inch height rule and complains, safety prevails. However, the next highest value, courtesy, mandates that the child and family be given a “go to the front of the line pass” to be used when the height requirement is met in the future.

Efficiency moves 2,000 guests per hour thru the Haunted House, but when a handicapped person approaches, courtesy, a higher value than efficiency, dictates that the ride stops.

Disney’s over 50,000 Cast Members exceed customer expectations because they know their purpose and the priority of values…those are the tools that make consistently surpassing expectations possible. Your organization can deliver knock your socks off service too! To exceed your customer’s expectations, all your people really have to know is their purpose and the hierarchy of your organizations values.

Questions for discussion:

Have we clearly defined our purpose so everyone working for and with us understands what we do and how it helps people?

What are our values and how can we prioritize them so that when conflicts arise, good decisions are always made?

While you may be thinking that value equates with the best products or services at the lowest cost, proper training will help you and your people recognize that what customers want most is personal reinforcement of their values. According to a recent Cap Gemini Ernst & Young CEO position paper, “The expectations of consumers have changed radically in recent years.”

Titled Consumer Relevancy, Connecting with the 21^st Century Market, the Cap Gemini paper said, “Consumer relevancy means the ability to see business through the customer’s eyes and conduct business on terms that the customer finds personally meaningful.” People are searching for meaning in their lives, and their buying decisions are one of the few ways in which they feel they are in control. Train your people to understand that:

• People need to feel validated and a connection with others.
  

• Customers are more stressed than previous generation.
  

• Transactions with customers must offer a safe haven.

All people in your organization must understand that values have changed. The Kaiser Family Foundation reported that seldom do families eat together, and even when they do, they barely talk to each other. Quality time between fathers and children has fallen to six minutes a day, down from an average of 45 minutes in the 1960’s.

The business opportunity lies in you and your people knowing that customers need to feel authenticated and desire a relationship with others. That their feelings of alienation have increased along with the pace of their lives. As everything is moving faster, more and more people, including customers, suppliers, employees, consultants and outside vendors …feel that they can’t keep up.

Workforce stressed: According to a recent Research and Markets survey U.S. suicide rates now top murder rates, annual sales of anti-depressant drugs top ten billion dollars and depression is our second largest medical problem exceeded only by heart disease. Our workforce is far more stressed than previous generations and needs training in order to cope and serve customers well.

Well trained employees will know that consumers are deluged by intrusive ads and information they don’t need or want and understand why there is so much consumer cynicism and confusion. People are besieged by an incomprehensible and dangerous world. In this chaotic environment, when a customer needs a product or service, they want their values respected and crave: clarity, ease, certainty, and trust.

Train your people to ask; “How can we deliver products and services consistent with the values of our customer that help them perform a job faster, better, or less expensively than before?” Anthony W. Ulwick, author of What Customers Want says, “To do this, companies must know what outcomes customers are striving to achieve and figure out which technologies, products, and features will best satisfy the important outcomes that are currently underserved.”

If giving customers what they want is so fundamental as to seem self-evident, why can’t more companies do it? The answer lies in lack of training and ignorance of what the customer values. One thing customers want is a basic level of competence that often seems to be lacking. What good is it to have a coffee shop in a bookstore if untrained employees have never heard of the title you’re looking for?

What do consumers want? They’d like to know that somebody in the company is thinking, and thinking of them. Take the way airline tickets are sold. The most valuable customer is the business traveler who may travel 100,000 miles a year. The family vacationer, by contrast, usually travels infrequently.

Logic would dictate that the business traveler deserves the best treatment. Although the business traveler may gain admittance to a comfortable lounge and preferred seating, the vacation traveler, who has bought a ticket in advance, often receives an 80% discount for the same flight. The best customer is actually punished by paying the highest price.

The same is true in grocery stores where the casual shopper, with only a few items, is given a short line and the serious, repeat customer, with a huge cart full of groceries, is made to wait in line for up to half an hour. If the message is we respect our customer and their values…how can we demonstrate more of that to our best customers?

We must start by taking the time to get to know our best customer and what they truly value. Next we must make everyone in the organization aware of those values and train them to constantly ask, “How can we add more value, from our customer’s point of view?” Consumer relevancy is the ability to see business through the customer’s eyes and conduct business on terms that they find personally meaningful.

Questions for discussion:

How can we immediately add more value, from our customer’s point of view?

Can our training be improved so our customers feel validated and connected with us?

What do Southwest Airlines, Capital One, Wal-Mart, Toyota and smart phones have in common? In addition to the obvious successes they have all attained, each has successfully addressed the complexity question.

There are only a few strategies for doing this. Supply a low level of complexity to your markets by offering products or services with few options, target customers who are willing to pay a premium for higher complexity, or simplify what would otherwise be tremendously complex using digital technology.

• Henry Ford saw a need of “transportation for the masses” and built the the ultimate in product simplicity.

• Alfred Sloane of General Motors’, knew when buyers wanted more than just simplicity and were willing to pay a little more to get it.

• Learn the lesson of vigilance. Sloane’s strategy worked, Ford’s cut prices but by 1928, the Model T no longer dominated the market.

In 1908, when cars were the “toys of the rich,” Henry Ford saw a need for “transportation for the masses” and built the Model T, the ultimate in product simplicity. As a result, Ford controlled 65 percent of the low-cost market by 1921.

That same year, Alfred Sloane, General Motors’ new president, saw that buyers of new cars wanted more than just simplicity and basic transportation. They wanted a choice of colors, power and looks, and they were willing to pay a little more to get it.

Reduced complexity: Sloane first reduced some of GM’s complexity by eliminating 15 of its 20 brands and, with the remaining five, offered different options at different prices. Sloane’s strategy worked. As Ford’s volume began slipping, it cut prices, but by 1928, the Model T no longer dominated the market.

Like Sloan, organizations must eliminate complexity that customers won’t pay for, and only implement complexity that is in demand. Too frequently, organizations offer more products and services than their customers actually want. Getting rid of that complexity can lead to a competitive advantage.

• Southwest Airlines flies only 737s.

• American Airlines uses as many as 14 types of aircraft.

• American needs 14 kinds of mechanics and pilots.

• American filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2011

Conversely, organizations must still be ready to realize and exploit the complexity customers will pay for. Conquering complexity doesn’t always mean eliminating it. Capital One noticed that most credit cards had an interest rate of 19.8 percent regardless of the customer’s creditworthiness.

Customers with good credit were paying a higher rate to support deadbeats. By building a database of credit information, Capital One offered a significantly lower rate for lower-risk candidates. Its investment in technology resulted in a low-cost means of offering high levels of complexity, and great success in a mature market. Unlike Capital One, Bank of America may carry too much complexity, it offers over 150 different credit cards.

Recent share of trouble: Although Toyota recently has had its share of trouble, it is another good example of the elimination of complexity and builds its entire variety of cars and trucks on 13 platforms from a book of standardized designs that can easily be customized. Toyota’s lower cost basis has allowed the company’s market share to grow while GM and Chrysler had lost ground until 2011 when the effects of the federal bailout seems to have turned things around for them.

The poster child of the internal application of standardization is Wal-Mart. Every grocery distribution center is a carbon copy of every other distribution center. Rogue systems, unique to a region, are not tolerated. Thus, the effort can be expected to yield continuing gains. Wal-Mart has reduced its internal complexity, while providing customers the external complexity of thousands of products at low prices.

While standardization is the engine that has allowed Wal-Mart to continue to reduce lead times and grow inventories at half the rate of sales growth…other organizations can follow the lead of Southwest Airlines, Capital One, and Toyota, and solve the problem of complexity.

Digital complexity: In the March 2010 issue of the McKinsey Quarterly, in an article titled The Internet of Things it was stated that there may be the 50 billion Internet Devices by 2020. Chetan Sharma assures us the devices will make everyday experiences much better and the friction free.

“Consider how, even though cars have gotten more sophisticated and certainly more complicated to repair, no more knowledge or experience is needed to drive them. The added technology works seamlessly in the background as we drive. So it will be with the 50 billion connected devices as we go about our daily lives.”

Wouldn’t it be nice for our refrigerators to keep tabs on their contents and text items that need restocking or to be discarded? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if hospital patients no longer needed sensors attached to their bodies because beds and hospital garments were outfitted with so much instrumentation? Successful digital complexity, like the cars we drive, will make life safer and better…not more complex.

Eliminate complexity with fewer options as does Southwest or with technology as does Wal-Mart using internal controls. Can smart phones and other devices using digital technology serve your customer better or, as Sloan recognized at GM, is your customer willing to pay more for more choices. All of these options will eliminate complexity while paving a path to future success and profitability.

Questions for discussion:

What can immediately eliminate to reduce complexity in our organization?

Are there options our customers would like us to add and be willing to pay more for?

Ask a three-year-old to draw a dog biscuit and they will draw a Milk-Bone. Where does that come from? Etched deeply in our memories are stories from our ancestors and first loves, our dreams, both realized and unfulfilled. Successful branding is accomplished by incorporating these unconscious but deepest memories and longings.

The best brands strike a deep nerve or reveal a timeless truth. To create such appeal, organizations must identify the most appropriate and effective single archetype to market “their brand” to. Margaret Mark and Carol Pearson, authors of The Hero and the Outlaw say that nicknames can develop such as ‘the Mac,’ ‘Coke’ and ‘the Bug.’ “Customers relate to a product as if it were alive in some way.”

• Identify the customer archetype to market ‘your brand’ to.

• The best brands strike a deep nerve or reveal a timeless truth.

• Succeed by incorporating unconscious but deep memories and longings.

What might be some deep memories and longings? In Medieval times, people built walls around their villages and moats around castles. We still have a deeply rooted desire for security and order. The more chaotic life becomes, the more we crave a sense of stability.

Many feel that life is more chaotic today than ever. The “Ruler” archetype has a deep and profound desire for control and places a high premium on responsibility and leadership. A Ruler’s goal is to create a prosperous and successful:

• Family

• Company

• Community

Ruler brands would include mothers, the IRS, Brooks Brothers, Microsoft, IBM, American Express, banks, insurance companies, and high-status law and investment firms. Do you offer products or services that would appeal to this type of buyer?

Yet another is the “Caregiver” who feels a heightened awareness for human vulnerability, and is preoccupied with resolving other people’s problems. Think of Mother Theresa and Albert Schweitzer. Caregiver brands include Campbell’s soup, AT&T, and Sesame Street.

Although AT&T’s brand was built on the Caregiver archetype, in recent ads it has shown how it can help mothers who fit the “Ruler” personality by allowing them to take their kids to the beach and use a cell phone to keep in touch with the office, text customers and be more in charge of their time.

Customers with high Ruler archetype tendencies are concerned with issues of image, status and prestige. More people want to be Rulers than ever before and technology is empowering them to do so. We all crave to have no delays in lines and no concerns.

Do you know your customer? Do you know their archetypes? There are particular events, situations, or transition points in life that make an archetype particularly potent.

• First-time parents are learning how to be Caregivers

• Young people are just breaking free of their parents and primed to be Rulers.

There are many archetypes including the “Jester” who has existed since those medieval times mentioned earlier. When tobacco products were more widely advertised, we saw Joe Camel as the “Jester.” Marlboro, however, succeeded with a serious “Hero” ad campaign. Pepsi has built another kind of “Jester” brand, poking fun at Coke’s “Innocent” identity. Starbucks transformed coffee from a “Caregiver” product into an “Explorer.”

Remember the story of Cinderella? It is a good story to tell for a “Lover” brand. If your brand has a function similar to that of the Fairy Godmother, then this story could be used by a “Magician” brand. If your brand has a “Hero” or “Explorer” identity, you would focus on the role of the Prince.

Ronald McDonald, the Jolly Green Giant, and the Nike swoosh are just a few of the symbols that endure while most others end up in oblivion after just a few weeks. When done well, people don’t tire of the archetypal ideas after years or even decades of being exposed to them. The others are like old soldiers in the words of Douglas McArthur, they just fade away.

Any businesses can be favorably remembered, avoid chaos and gain a position of standing head-and-shoulders above competitors. Although everything is changing, archetypes are eternal. We are anchored in permanence, even as the products and services we supply to our properly categorized ‘archetype’ customers change.

Questions for discussion:

What is the primary customer archetype that our product or service can make strong subconscious emotional connections with?

How can we focus and re-direct all of our marketing efforts to be appeal to and bring about that connection with our customer?

Grocery stores may ‘appear’ to be the model of one price for all customers. Although they post one price, they charge another to shoppers with coupons and a third to those with frequent-shopper cards that allow stores to collect detailed data on buying habits. Information technology facilitates airline seats or hotel rooms to have over 30 prices.

In the 21st century, only those organizations using IT properly will be able to know their customers or targeted customers and be in a position to give them what they want. Those that don’t know precisely what their patrons want will eventually lose them to information intensive competitors. You can learn how to:

• Discover what customers will be demanding.

• Gather information and keep ahead in customer retention.

• Create relevant customer content and grow your business.

Information technology can help those companies who are truly focused on serving their customers by relentlessly collecting and analyzing information about them and using it to deliver what they want. What attracts them to your company?  What retains their loyalty? What causes them to leave?

According to the winter 2011 issue of Strategy+Business, Booz & Company “Business-to-consumer companies are striving to build customer-centric businesses but many are unable to derive real value from their effort.” Start by defining the qualities that characterize loyal, profitable customers.

Although everyone is using information technology, few companies have optimized their success. Booz & Company states that the small number includes;  Charles Schwab with investments, Capital One with credit cards and Caesars Entertainment with gaming.”

Competitive advantage using Information technology can be created in many ways and has allowed Federal Express to become the ‘standard’ of overnight delivery. It knows exactly where every customer’s shipment is at any point, and if delivery preference is with or without a signature. Information technology has kept prices flexible (overnight, next day or three day delivery) and competitive.

Grocery chains that automatically produce diaper coupons when a frequent shopper buys baby food but not diapers are presenting relevant customer content. When a book purchase is made on Amazon, IT instantly delivers a listing of other popular materials on the same or similar subject…that customers have recommended.

Information technology enables targeted customers to get offers for things they want from great buys on a pedicure, office supplies, new wardrobe, health club membership or a Caribbean cruise? Behind the scenes IT has collected information about what your preferences, interest and buying habits are. Before long, the only people paying the full retail or the “insult” price, will be people who prize their privacy so much they are willing to pay extra for it.

Technology allows businesses to take advantage of every clue; every business transaction, every phone call, every bill, and every complaint contains relevant information. Has the customer responded in the past to e-mails, to personalized letters, or to telephone calls? Does the customer have a history of ignoring mass mailings?

The mere collection of data is useless unless it can be used to ultimately capture the hearts and minds of the consumer. The Strategy +Business article said that market segmentation is key. “The most important question is, what is the purpose of segmentation?  Schwab’s approach segments investors by assets and their desired level of relationships support.”

In Crafting Best-in-Class Business Intelligence, authors Campbell, Kurtzman and Michaels said, “The first step in designing a successful business intelligence strategy is to choose the right metrics.  They should be closely aligned with the company’s strategy and capabilities including both internal and external inputs.” What do your customers want that you have the capability of delivering better than anyone else?

Data about each customer can allow you to identify them and treat each individually.  How does that customer like to receive information?  How long has that customer been with you and what have their purchases been in the past? Based on their purchasing history, what other products or services might they be interested in?

Utilizing such knowledge gives companies like Schwab, Capital One and Caesars major competitive advantages. It can result in major cost savings and stimulate targeted marketing programs that produce eye-popping returns.

Those organizations that know their customers better than the competition, and act on that knowledge will gain consumer loyalty and an even greater share of their purchases and accelerate customer relationships which always lead to increasing profits.

Questions for discussion:

Are we utilizing information technology or just collecting information?

How could we segment our customer base and make more relevant content offers?

Although the June 2011 report published by the McKinsey Global Institute states that the recession has caused a decline of seven million U.S. jobs since December of 2007 as well as a drop of 23% in the rate of new business formulation we face a shortage of qualified workers.

Quoting the McKinsey report, “In our survey 64% of companies reported having positions for which they often cannot find qualified applicants, with management, scientist and computer engineers topping the list.” More than ever, the skills of job seekers don’t fit the demands of job openings.

• Skilled-worker shortages are limiting competiveness, growth and profits.

• Help qualified employees develop commitment to stay with your company.

• People who feel connected are motivated to maintain the connection.

Many companies not needing scientific and computer engineering skills have become complacent and are taking their workforce for granted. For them, competing to retain and attract good workers is only a faint memory of the past.  But as boomers retire, GEN X and GEN Y workers will replace them and successful businesses will have to address their new demands and expectations.

In an article by Natasha Lomas that appeared in Silicon.com she states that, “For GEN Y, work time and ‘my time’ will be intermingled. Companies tuned to the new ways people connect and collaborate will allow workers the freedom to leverage these dynamics. Successful businesses will have to address new demands and expectations, new types of working and new ways of motivating people. The new workers will be upset if they can’t use their own personal communication devices.”

Rapid adoption of information technology has created a shortage of technically skilled people and a surplus of unskilled people.  After cutting payrolls to the bone, companies have increased productivity by asking remaining workers to do more.  Employees have accepted this great workload simply because their happy to still have a job.

The attitude of, I don’t care if my people are happy, I just want them to get the work sets the stage for a mass exodus when the economy and employment options improve.  Repeated studies done in stores, factory’s and sales offices all conclude that the happier people are with their jobs the more the organization benefits through higher retention, increased customer loyalty and improve financial outcomes.

Companies need to be prepared for the coming change which will be the dawn of a new workforce. An article titled Rethinking the War for Talent, the summer 2008 MIT Sloan Management Review stated, “The cost of hiring and training a new worker can be 150% of the cost of the parting employee’s salary.” Retaining quality people, high skilled or low, translates directly into higher productivity and greater profitability.

The Journal of Experimental Psychology reported that research involving more than 2000 office workers concluded that simply by giving people control over designing their working space increases productivity.  A study by the University of Exeter in England found allowing employees to personalize the design and layout of their work space can increase productivity by up to 32%.

In 2005 Best Buy implemented a ‘Result Only Work Environment’ or ROWE. Everyone was told to focus only on producing measurable results. Employees routinely telecommute, change when and where they work and don’t have to get permission or even inform a manager.

In an article titled Changing Workplaces to Reduce Work Family Conflict, published in the American Sociological Review in April of 2011 researchers Kelly and Moen found that ROWE reduced family-work conflicts and improved job satisfaction.  It also reduced turnover by turnover by 45%.

What will the new workplace look like? Rob Carter, chief information officer at FedEx suggests observing the online game World of Warcraft. “It takes exactly the same skill set and people will need more and more of in the future to collaborate on work projects, and kids are already doing it.”

Carter continues, “In the game, teams embark on quests which are a fast paced, complicated series of obstacles. The team leader is the one who contributes the most.  When someone else steps up to contribute more, he or she becomes the leader. It is intensely collaborative, constantly demanding, and often surprising.

New workers place great emphasis on being happy in their jobs. The traditional path of spending years working one’s way up the corporate ladder is over. How, from where and when the job is accomplished will attract the best workers in the future. Respect, collaboration, flexibility and telecommuting will continue to boost both productivity and motivation as it gives our new workforce what they want most.

Fortune recently reported that 74% of all jobs created in America between today and 2020 will require 123 million highly skilled workers and that there are only 50 million qualified. Companies like Boeing, Google, Genentech, Cisco Systems and Ernst and Young all have jobs open for highly skilled people in specific areas that they can’t fill.

Businesses must change and learn that the secret to success in the new economy rests on an old-fashioned idea: Help your employees to get what they want and they will give you what they want. In an age in which business success relies on people and their talents and knowledge, commitment is of paramount importance in securing the future of any organization.

To capture quality talent over the long term, employers must change and provide opportunities for growth and self-expression…an environment that is clean and safe, both physically and psychologically…and clear evidence of caring. If these goals sound too “personal” for your business, then you’re likely to experience a quality employee shortage.

Questions for discussion:

Have we become complacent and uncaring about how happy the people who work for and with us are? How could we do better?

Are we focused on creating the flexible and collaborative environment that workers in the 21^st century demand?