The Tour de France just finished this past weekend.  We saw the return of Lance Armstrong along with several amazingly strong cycling teams this year.  What an fantastic race!  The Tour is truly a one of a kind event.  The phrase “One for All and All for One” comes to mind.  Yes, I know that was attributed to The Four Musketeers, but, it could easily apply to each team racing in the tour every year.  Only one man can wear the yellow jersey.  There is a winning team, but only one stands on top of the podium and gets to claim the overall victory.  ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_france)

The strategy is created by the coach of each team.  They review the overall strategy as a team, with tactical briefings at the beginning of the day as well as throughout the day (they have headsets and radio that link everyone together).  Teamwork comes in during each stage.  Each teammember has a role to play.  Again, there can be only one leader.  The team members take on roles known as “domestiques” to do whatever they can to make sure the team captain is in yellow.  Courage comes into play each day during the 23 days of the race.  There are races within the race itself as well as winning an overall stage (day) of the race.  The courage to even show up and declare yourself as a contender for such an honor in such a race.

Each one of these components must be present, plus a few more, to create success and claim victory.  How are we doing everyday in our day to day dealings with our customers.  Are we executing well against our strategies?  Are we working well as a team?  Do we have the courage to stay the course or change as the environment changes?  And how does each decision make a difference to our customers?

A short post this week, but something to think about.  The Tour lasts for 23 days.  How long does our / your commitment to the customer’s experience last?

M

Posted under Customers, Employees, Leadership, Shareholder Value

This is the second time I’ve received a personal phone call from my credit card company.  And it wasn’t about selling me additional protection coverage.  It was about what I had just purchased.  Okaaaaayyyyy……..a little bit creepy,  or at least that’s what I thought the first time they called.

It reminded me of “1984″ by George Orwell…”Posters of the ruling Party’s leader, “Big Brother“, bearing the caption BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, dominate the city landscapes, while two-way television (the telescreen) dominates the “private” and public spaces of the populace. ”

This was a few years back when I received my first “credit card” phone call.  It went something like this – (paraphrasing and taking great creative liberty):

Credit Card Co:  “Hi there, Ms. Gardner.  This is your credit card company.  Did you know you’ve been making some “suspicious” purchases?

Me: “Suspicious, no. Out of the ordinary, perhaps. Is there something wrong?”

Credit Card Co:  “We wanted to make sure the card had not been stolen.  Your purchase history indicates this is not a normal buying pattern.  Can you confirm some of the recent purchases?”

Now, truth be told, I did go on a “shopping spree” in order to attend a wedding.  Dresses, suits, etc.  And my most recent experience was around my trip to Montana.  So, yes, the purchases were a bit out of the ordinary.  (This tells me I need to buy more high-end clothes and go on vacation more often.  Note to self…)

As I said earlier – a bit creepy.  But then I had to step back and admit – actually, very clever and useful.  Had the card actually been lost or stolen, their actions would have prevented me from being charged for things I hadn’t truly purchased.  It dawned on me just how much information they actually had on me and my lifestyle.  Wow!

Ultimately, I applauded them for having a sophisticated enough system to trigger alarms to take action on my behalf.

Take a look at Harrah’s, working with IBM, to see how they redefined their customer’s experience using the same type of in depth purchasing history:

Redefining the Customer Experience

Harrah’s is focused on building loyalty and value with its customers through a unique combination of great service, excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence, and technology leadership.

The Challenge

In the highly competitive gaming market, the need to attract and retain customers is critical to business success, as customer loyalty and satisfaction can make or break a company.  Customer data is collected via the Harrah’s Total Rewards Card, which records guest activities, from restaurants to gaming tables, and delivers rewards and customer incentives. The challenge was to understand, analyze, and leverage that raw data to maximize the lifetime value of the customer.

The Solution

With Teradata as its single enterprise data warehouse, Harrah’s expanded its use of IBM Cognos business intelligence software to drill further and deeper into customer data.

The company can now segment customers into numerous profiles and use this segmentation data to develop targeted campaigns to drive desired customer behavior. For example, Harrah’s might reach out to customers who haven’t visited in more than six months and offer an incentive to bring them back to their favorite property. Or it might promote a new game that is a known affinity to the customer’s favorite gaming choice. In addition, with the detailed reporting and analysis capabilities of IBM Cognos business intelligence solutions, Harrah’s is also able to measure the effectiveness of these new campaigns against control groups.

Results

The total solution resulted in smarter, more focused communication with customers and the ability to maximize each customer relationship. “With Cognos, we are able to evaluate how well we are satisfying guest requests and provide the right kind of predictive recommendations for the customer experience,” states Tim Stanley, SVP Innovation, Gaming & Technology and CIO at Harrah’s.  Since the deployment of the system, customers’ discretionary spending with Harrah’s versus its competitors jumped from 30 percent to nearly 50 percent more.

(http://www-01.ibm.com/software/success/cssdb.nsf/CS/LWIS-7PNLEC?OpenDocument&Site=default&cty=en_us)

I call that, Simply Great Customer Service….What have you experienced?

M

Posted under Business & Process Innovation, Customers, General, Shareholder Value, Value Proposition

Welcome!

By way of introduction, let me first say, I love the outdoors.  I am a product of the mid-west, then by way of Florida, found myself in the beautiful state of Colorado.  Most recently, I have just returned from a camping trip to the Big Sky state of Montana.  It’s nick-name suits it well.

Being so fond of the outdoors, you can surmise, I’m open to new experiences and adventures…and camping.  But I’ll get to that in a minute.

My other experiences and adventures surround my professional background.  Leading up to my current role as the Avnet Customer Loyalty Leader, I’ve enjoyed working directly with our customer base, in the field and internally, as the Services Sales Director for our Sun Solutions Group.  Working hand in hand with our customers taught me a great deal about what matters, both long term and short term, as we developed partnerships to meet year over year growth objectives.  People and Processes played a major role in meeting those goals.

My next step was to have a stronger appreciation and understanding of how tying these two elements together has an effect on improving the quality of the customer’s experience and performance.  As part of our Quality department, I became a certified GE Six Sigma Blackbelt with an understanding of DMAIC and Lean principles.  I’ve since added Michael Hammer’s Process Mastery approach to process improvement to my tool belt.  One major area of focus has been on the voice of the customer and how we approach our business in order to become a stronger partner.

Now I find myself noticing and looking for – almost unconsciously – those little standout moments where process and people influence and even create the customer’s experience.  Even at a campground…

West Glacier KOA

Now back to camping….As I said earlier, we’ve just come back from a trip to Glacier National Park in Montana where we stayed at the West Glacier KOA.  While in the office picking up a bag of ice, I witnessed one of the attendants assisting two other campers who had been driving since 6am – it was now 8pm.  They didn’t have a space and were at wit’s end.  Our campsite was completely full.  After several phone calls to surrounding campsites, negotiations and near tears from the campers, the attendant was able to procure a couple of sites at nearby campgrounds.  Vacation saved thanks to the diligence and commitment of our KOA team to create a great customer experience even if it wasn’t going to be at our campground.  That’s what it’s all about!

So please join me as we explore and adventure into what it means to create great customer experiences in order to develop Happy Campers…..or Customers….by any other name…

M

Posted under Customers, General, Value Proposition

Roy Vallee leading the Charge!

I had the pleasure of hearing Roy Vallee speak for the first time in 2000 when he hosted an integration meeting for the acquisition of Savior.  I must admit he was very impressive that day and as a new comer to the company he made you feel pretty good we were at the right place with the right leader and right vision for the future.  He was very impressive then and I have to admit he is even better today.  He spent the day in San Antonio last week and I looked up some interesting facts about Roy to share with the team.    Roy Vallee has been Avnet’s Chairman and CEO for 11 years and he has some interesting stats that I would like to highlight:

1998       Fortune 500 Ranking 290 Sales $5.3B

2009       Fortune 500Ranking 144 Sales $17.9B

2007 Inducted to Channel Reseller News Hall of Fame

2008 Presented National Electronics Distribution Association Gail S. Carter Award

2009 Fortune’s 20 Most Profitable Technology Companies (only distributor)

2009 Fortune’s Worlds Most Admired Company, Ranked #1 in Wholesalers: Electronics

There are many more awards and accolades that Roy has received over the years and they are noteworthy to say the least.  However, Roy greatest gift is his humility as leader.  He is quick to give credit to the team for victories and even quicker to accept criticisms in defeat.  In my mind, Roy has achieved what Jim Collins refers to as “Level 5 Leadership” in his book Good to Great.

Level 5 Leader

Roy continues his journey with Avnet’s vision of “Avnet will deliver the highest value to our customers, suppliers, employees and shareholders as the premier technology marketing, distribution and services company, globally.  His culture changing initiatives include:  Driving Value, Employee Engagement, Operational Excellence, Customer Loyalty and now Organic Growth lead by COO Rick Hamada.

When we were acquired back in 2000 it was a pretty impressive company and leadership team at the helm at Avnet.  As part of an acquisition, you have the thoughts of whether the words and the actions of a leader will match.  As you can see, given Roy’s leadership and the company’s accomplishments during his tenure we have lived the dream.  During tough times (or anytime) this is one serious Hombre I have no problem following as he leads the charge.

Posted under Customers, Employees, General, Leadership, Shareholder Value, Value Proposition