My dear wife is a working mom: her full-time job is taking care of our two boys. She recently had an adventure at our local grocery store, HEB:

I had to run to the grocery store on an exceptionally busy day. I was trying to keep stress levels down by recognizing that the store would probably be busy, I would probably need to park a little farther away than I like, and I would probably need to wait in a long line, etc.

Once we got there, I started to feel pretty smug. I was maneuvering the extra long cart (yes, the one with the race car attachment so our oldest boy would stay in it) up and down the aisle with speed and agility! We were blowing through our list with amazing rapidity! We even found an efficient cashier who was moving her customers through so we had little time to wait in line. I could see I was going to make it under my budget allotment, and our son was just seconds away from getting his customary balloon (the only way I can get him to put his shoes on to go to the store in the first place!). It was turning out to be a great trip to the store.

Until I went to pay for the groceries. Yes, that’s right. In my haste to get shoes on, jackets on, boys loaded into car seats, remember the diaper bag, remember my grocery list, and find my keys, I had left my wallet on the counter. I had absolutely nothing with which I could pay for my groceries. Ughrrr… The efficient cashier assured me that this sort of thing happens all the time, told me I could go home and get my wallet and come back and pay for my groceries which would be sitting at cash register 12. Okay, minor setback. I could deal with this. It was a little inconvenient but at least they were nice about it!

We snagged a balloon on the way out and I hustled the boys out to the car and into their car seats. After all, we had milk and apple juice concentrate sitting in a cart in the store. Time was of the essence! Again, in my haste, I managed to knock the balloon out of my son’s hand. My little guy was frantically signing “Please, please, please!” as he pointed to the balloon (which was now getting smaller) and said over and over, “Bah, bah, bah!” I felt so badly that I wished for a moment I had my Super-Mom cape with me so I could blast off and rescue it.

Well, the story has a happy ending. I was able to get home, get my wallet, go back for my groceries, and get home again in under 15 minutes, and we even got another balloon.

What do you do when your customer can’t pay for your product? Do you know the circumstances behind this forgetfulness?

The grocery store cashier in this story did three great things:

1. Reassure the customer that this happens all the time. Forgetting to bring your wallet can be a very embarrassing experience. Don’t aggravate the situation. Be calm and understanding.
2. Explain what the customer should do. In the midst of an embarrassing and frustrating situation, the customer may not be able to suggest alternatives. Give the customer an escape route or options they can take.
3. Look out for your company. For the most part people are honest and trustworthy. However, you need to be sure you’re also protecting the interests of your company. If you know a customer and trust them, you can always let them come back and pay later. If not, then hold on to the merchandise and let them return with payment.

As a customer, have you ever forgotten the money or been unable to pay for something? How did the business respond?

As a business, how do you deal with situations where the customer forgets the necessary payment?

John Naisbitt’s Mind Set! is divided into two main parts tied together by his common theme of seeing the future. The first half of the book outlines eleven “mindsets that the author has identified to help him better forecast the future and identify opportunities.

Mindset #1

While many things change, most things remain constant

The news and media would have us believe that everything is changing. The biggest, brightest, most compelling stories make it to the forefront. However, life goes on for the majority of people and things are pretty constant.

Naisbitt counsels us to “distinguish between real and apparent change, basic shifts and fads, remembering that in the history of the world, most things remain constant.

Mindset #2

The future is embedded in the present

Looking back it is easy to see how historical events shaped the future. For us today, we need to keep our eyes open and filter out the constant noise to identify what current events will really indicate future direction.

Mindset #3

Focus on the score of the game

Use sports as the model for determining the outcome of business and politician decisions. Once a game is over, you know the score. It is final and the winner is identified. In politics and even business, people will try to distort the outcome to make them look favorable. Don’t get distracted by rhetoric.

Mindset #4

Understand how powerful it is not to have to be right

Imagine how much more open you’ll be to new ideas and opportunities when you stop being so proud and stubborn!

Mindset #5

See the future as a picture puzzle

Piecing together these mindset ideas will help you better identify future trends.

Mindset #6

Don’t get so far ahead of the parade that people don’t know you’re in it

If your great idea is so far out there that it is impossible for people to understand, you’ll have a very slow adoption. By leading efforts of innovation, you need to keep your ideas close enough to the present that people can easily make the jump.

Mindset #7

Resistance to change falls if benefits are real

Your job as the leader is to clearly communicate the benefits of change. Once your audience internalizes these concepts, they’ll drop their defenses and accept your ideas.

Mindset #8

Things that we expect to happen always happen more slowly

Our expectations always seem to outpace the implementation timeline of those great ideas. Naisbitt states: “almost all change is evolutionary, not revolutionary.

Mindset #9

You don’t get results by solving problems but by exploiting opportunities

Trying to solve the problem restricts your ability to think in the bigger picture. You’re stuck fixing the problems of the past instead of seeking the opportunities of tomorrow.

Mindset #10

Don’t add unless you can subtract

Determine what is really important and if new issues arise, drop other things on your plate. Failure to keep the proper load will lead to under-performance in all areas.

Mindset #11

Don’t forget the ecology of technology

New technologies should enable us. When something new is introduced, we should ask ourselves how things will improve or get worse. “What new opportunities does it present?

Part Two

The second half of the book uses these mindsets to look at the future direction of our society as a whole, and specific regions like China and Europe.

Niasbitt forecasts the continued rise of China and the “mutually assured decline in Europe. Throughout the book, the author includes both historical and current events to help define and prove his points.

Joe’s Recommendation

Buy a Copy – I particularly enjoyed the first half of Mind Set! where Naisbitt outlines his eleven mindsets. He artfully weaves personal stories and history together in discussing his points. I’d buy the book for his mindsets alone but if you like history and current events, the entire book is a relevant read as you look to the future.

Buy Mind Set! from Amazon.com.

On a recent business trip, my father ran into some trouble with his hotel room. On the first morning there during his shower, the water went from warm to freezing cold and never returned to normal.

After finishing in cold water and getting ready for the day, he notified the front desk of the problem. They reassured him it would be fixed.

The next day, all seemed fine in the shower but the temperature dropped suddenly. Once again he had to finish in freezing water.

Afterward, Dad went to the front desk and asked to speak to the manager. The clerk at the counter disappeared into the manager’s office. The manager then promptly came out of the office and invited my Dad in to speak with him.

Dad was a little shocked that he was so quickly greeted and even invited into the office. He retold his story of broken maintenance promises and freezing showers. He even told the manager that he wanted to be compensated for his troubles.

The manager didn’t miss a beat and agreed completely. He arranged to have the first few nights’ fees waived, the shower repair really made, and the remainder of his stay billed at a discounted rate.

This manager did a great job resolving my father’s concerns and refunding him for the problems. However, this was all set up by the fact that the manager was available and accessible.

Are you accessible to your customers?

If you’re the boss or owner of a business, how hard is it to reach you? Can customers request to speak with you in person? Via phone? What about posting your email address on your website?

The closer you are to the customer, the better you’ll be able to respond to customer needs as you guide the company’s direction.

Don’t isolate yourself or get too far removed from the people you serve: the customers.

• 20 Common Mistakes of Eager Leaders —
  Brand Autopsy shares a Business Week list of mistakes you better not be making as a leader. I particularly see too many managers and even entire departments break “#10 Failing to Give Proper Recognition.” If you want to break your employee’s morale, then lock them in a closet, hidden from others and without some praise.
• 10 Business Lessons From a Snarky Entrepreneur —
  Steve Pavlina provides an insightful list of lessons learned that any entrepreneur would be wise to follow. I like “#5 Fail your way forward.” Endless planning and trying to get the “perfect” solution will only delay any progress. Make a decision, try it, measure the results, and then repeat. If you fail, so what? You learned something and can move on smarter than you were before!

My most recent computer purchase was from Dell. I went through their online computer configurator and purchased a model number E520 with the E6400 Intel Dual Core processor.

I made the conscious decision to buy this processor over some older versions that Dell was also selling.

When my order arrived, I checked the packing slip and saw everything was in order except for this line describing the processor:

DIM E520, P4, E6400 (2.13GHZ),HT

As you can see, parts of the description matched what I had ordered:

DIM E520, P4, E6400 (2.13GHZ),HT

Great. But wait a minute. The other parts of the description used specific terms that identify older Intel processors:

DIM E520, P4, E6400 (2.13GHZ), HT

P4 could be a Pentium 4 which is a much older processor. The HT could be Intel’s older HyperThreading technology.

So there I sat staring at my packing slip wondering, “Did Dell trick me? Is this really an old processor or a new one? Why is part of the name what I ordered but part of it not?”

These are too many questions to be asking. I should have received my order, glanced at the packing slip and had no questions. I should have gone straight to opening the box.

Instead, I was worried. The excitement I felt upon my purchase arriving had completely faded, and now, I was faced with the possibility of returning a computer I didn’t order. Not only that, but it would probably be less of a hassle if I returned it unopened.

This story doesn’t end here. It expands to calls with customer service and even an online chat. Nevertheless, this story should never have even started.

The packing slip should have the same wording as the product ordered.

Use the same keywords, capitalization, and format whenever you mention the same products. Discrepancies lead to fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the customer. These feelings lead to customer service support that you, as the company, then have to fund.

Keep it simple. Avoid the post-sales support hassle by simply being consistent in your product naming and descriptions.

Do you think your automated phone system or website is smart enough to accurately identify your customers?

You may be able to identify the person (name, customer id, etc.) but you’ll have a much harder time guessing what they need.

Take, for example, my recent call with Dell. I called up tech support for help. Dell’s automated phone system some how automatically determined I wanted to talk about my Axim handheld.

Sure, I had bought an Axim from them before. However, my most recent purchase was a desktop computer.

How did I end up in the PDA support queue when I really had a problem with my desktop computer?

I found myself trapped without any option besides hanging up the phone.

Just because a person has previously purchased a product doesn’t mean that is what they want to talk to you about.

In customizing and personalizing our user’s experience we must be careful that we don’t go overboard.

Guessing the user’s next step is important but we need to be confident our decision will correctly match the customer the majority of the time.

Depending on your circumstance you may be able to be more or less strict on your accuracy. This is determined by the consequences of being wrong.

Always give your customer an escape route. If you’re making choices for them, make sure they can override you, take a step back, or even start over.

Lesson #1: Don’t guess wrong.

Lesson #2: If you guess wrong, make the recovery easy. Don’t trap the customer where they don’t want to be.

• Why ‘Free’ Will Blow Up In Your Face —
  Be careful what you give away for free because you may never get those customers to pay you later.
• The Art of Customer Service —
  Guy Kawasaki’s great two part series offers advice on bettering customer service at your company. The axiom that companies need to internalize is: “integrate customer service into the mainstream of the company and do not consider it profit-sucking”
• Marketing Wisdom Report —
  MarketingSherpa’s collection of real-world experiences and lessons learned from marketers like you.
• The (Entire) Customer Experience —
  Customer service must span the entire customer experience and not just when there are problems after the sale. Service Untitled highlights some ways you can examine your customers’ experience from their perspective.

Robin Sharma’s latest book The Greatness Guide offers 101 tips on making yourself great.

Sharma pulls together his own experiences and combines them with succinct quotes from others to illustrate numerous ways that you can better yourself or your company.

You may have heard a lot of his advice before. Some points will be new. Either way I found this book a great kick in the pants on some things I know I should be doing but haven’t been.

This book is a very quick read with short one or two page chapters. You may even want to read one a day to get your daily dose of inspiration.

Sharma touches on a little of everything: time management, family life, goal setting, determining what is really important, and more.

Some of my favorite quotes include the following:

Success isn’t sexy. It’s all about working the basics of excellence with a passionate consistency.

The urge to chase after “get rich quick” schemes must be tempered by reality. Most success doesn’t come from winning the lottery, it comes from consistently working at something over time.

Your schedule is the best barometer for what you truly value and believe to be important.

I caught myself thinking about my schedule. Are the things I claim to be important really taking up the majority of my time? While reading this book, I often was compelled to think about my situation and how I could make some positive changes.

Every time you say yes to something that is unimportant, you say no to something that is important.

Too often I let little things distract me from my bigger goals. Just because I’m busy doesn’t mean I’m making forward progress.

It’s never too late to become the person you have always dreamed of being.

We don’t have to procrastinate any longer. Make a simple change today and you’ll see the difference it can make.

Joe’s Recommendation

Buy a Copy – I truly felt uplifted and inspired by Robin Sharma’s The Greatness Guide. You’ll find at least one point that will help change your life or business for the better. After reading this book, you’ll just have to take that enthusiasm for change and act!

Buy The Greatness Guide from Amazon.com

I attended an Eagle Court of Honor this weekend. This event honors a young man when he achieves the rank of Eagle Scout, Boy Scouting’s highest rank.

I, too, am an Eagle Scout and greatly value the lessons learned in Scouting. Boy Scouts learn and recite the Scout Law, whose principles have direct applicability to your business.

Trustworthy

A Scout tells the truth. He keeps his promises. Honesty is part of his code of conduct. People can depend on him.

Honesty and integrity must be key components of your business. Customers need companies to be dependable. They need your products to be reliable and live up to your pre-sales marketing claims.

Loyal

A Scout is true to his family, Scout leaders, friends, school, and nation.

Your company has many stakeholders that deserve your loyalty. Stay true to your agreements and contracts, and in particular with customers, employees, shareholders, and suppliers.

Helpful

A Scout is concerned about other people. He does things willingly for others without pay or reward.

What noble cause is driving your business? It is easier to resonate with customers when you are trying to better their lives in some way. In business, we need to make money. If you join being sincerely helpful with your financial objectives, you’ll have a powerful combination.

Friendly

A Scout is a friend to all. He is a brother to other Scouts. He seeks to understand others. He respects those with ideas and customs other than his own.

Do you collaborate with your peers? What can you learn from other companies in your industry? The more you open up and share your expertise with others, the more respected you’ll become. Keeping all your knowledge to yourself will ultimately stagnate how much you can grow.

Courteous

A Scout is polite to everyone regardless of age or position. He knows good manners make it easier for people to get along together.

Courteous customer service is mandatory. Unfortunately, this is so uncommon today that even showing a few good manners will differentiate you from others.

Kind

A Scout understands there is strength in being gentle. He treats others as he wants to be treated.

The golden rule is so easy to say but often hard to live. In business, many of our objectives are often very selfish. We want to grow revenues. We want to look good for the boss. These motivations may sometimes put a dark shadow over our ability to be kind to others. Our customers may appear to be only a means to the end objectives. However, you must still treat them with kindness and respect.

Customers may be only numbers in your spreadsheets, but each one is an individual that has one-on-one interactions with you and your company. Treat them like real people and not numbers.

Obedient

A Scout follows the rules of his family, school, and troop. He obeys the laws of his community and country.

Are you following the laws of the land? The still fresh news stories of corporate corruption at places like Enron and WorldCom must not continue.

Cheerful

A Scout looks for the bright side of things. He cheerfully does tasks that come his way. He tries to make others happy.

Happy employees lead to happy customers. It is much easier to spend money when you are happy. Happy customers will buy from you and become return customers.

Thrifty

A Scout works to pay his way and to help others. He saves for unforeseen needs. He protects and conserves natural resources. He carefully uses time and property.

Avoid waste in any form. Responsible usage of your resources will reduce costs and increase efficiency. You never know when a surprise will catch your company off guard. Prepare contingencies for disasters. Try to finance your business from its cash flows and not outside debt. The shackles of debt will severely restrict you during hard times.

Brave

A Scout can face danger even if he is afraid. He has the courage to stand for what he thinks is right even if others laugh at or threaten him.

Your innovative ideas may sound very strange to others. You’ll probably have to take some risks to prove your ideas. People will mock you and others will scorn you. Do you have what it takes to endure this ridicule until your product finally proves its worth?

Clean

A Scout keeps his body and mind fit and clean. He goes around with those who believe in living by these same ideals. He helps keep his home and community clean.

Many people judge you and your business on first appearances. Keep your store clean. Dress professionally. Guard your vocabulary and speech. Cleanliness will allow customers to immediately feel comfortable doing business with you. Throw in a sprinkling of community service and people will realize you can’t be all bad if you’re a good neighbor and citizen.

Reverent

A Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others.

Despite the fact that society seems to be removing all references to God from public places, people still hold their respective religions very dear. Respect those beliefs and see how your business can allow employees and customers to worship, or not, as they see fit.

One of the Few

According to official Scout statistics, only approximately 5 percent of Scouts achieve the rank of Eagle Scout.

Living the principles discussed here will be readily apparent to your employees, customers, and peers. They will trust you, buy from you, and bring their friends to do business with you.

Can your business reach the elite status that will come through living the principles of the Scout Law?

• Unhappy Customers = No Bonus for Best Buy’s CEO —
  The bonus for Best Buy’s CEO "is determined by the customer-loyalty scores, employee turnover, and customer-centricity store revenue." This kind of feedback loop from the customer to upper management is brilliant.
• Elegant Solutions: Breakthrough Thinking the Toyota Way —
  Guy Kawasaki gives us a peak at the methods and logic behind Toyota’s famed innovative track record.
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  Quick tips on how to pull visitors into your site and get them to take action.