Customer Service Articles

Outbound Sales Calling: 4 Ways to Get More Prospects & More Leads by Using the Telephone

2008-09-03T17:49:00Z

By Rich Webb

Most small to medium sized companies actually limit the amount of business their customers do with them.

I know this sounds crazy, even unbelievable as no one in their right mind would restrict and limit customer purchases.

The problem, of course is that it happens unintentionally. In fact, I’ll bet it’s happening in your business right now. Here’s how:

Most businesses simply do not allow their prospects and customers enough opportunities to buy from them
Businesses don’t offer enough chances to expand and continue the customer relationship for the long-term.

One of the simplest and most immediate ways to turn this situation around is to find ways to stay in touch.

So, how do you get started?

Force Yourself to Create a Relentless, Yet Courteous and Helpful Outbound calling Program

Most companies fail to maximize their profit potential through the telephone. Even companies that strongly believe they stay in close contact with existing and past customers are usually surprised to discover how many customers they have missed when an actual survey is done.

Unless you hire personnel specifically for this task and make them accountable on a daily basis, many valuable customers will be left unattended. An outbound tele-services company may make it easier to uncover revenue you have missed by making more consistent contacts on your behalf

4 Ways to Effectively Use Outbound Telephone Calling

Consistently call to follow-up and qualify all your leads, bringing them closer to a closing decision. Research indicates that 78% of leads generated are never followed up with more than once. Research also shows that on the average it takes between 5 and 14 contacts to close a sale. Simple arithmetic tells you that you can immediately begin to make more money by increasing your number of follow-up contacts.
Maintain an accurate database. When businesses fail to maintain an accurate database, they tend to waste a lot of marketing dollars. For example, they’ll continually send information to a company executive that is no longer with the company. Your outbound telephone calls team should gather vital information, and sort leads according to where the prospect is in the buying process. This way, your sales team can focus on the “hot” prospects. You’ll stop wasting their time and your money. And, you’ll get more sales.
Prospect or cold call to generate new leads or set appointments. Typically salespeople hate to prospect and are not usually very good at it. Prospecting is the psychological opposite activity of sales and it is usually much more effective when done by non-sales people. A dedicated prospector or appointment setter is usually more effective at this task than a salesperson
Consistently contact existing and past customer base for new opportunities. Deliver more relevant information and offer desirable end results to your customers more consistently. They will feel like they have a stronger relationship with your company. Your company’s barriers to customer purchases will begin to disappear. They will buy from you more. They will make greater efforts to refer more customers to you. And, your sales will inevitably increase.

If you do not have the in-house capability to make these kinds of outbound calls, you should think about hiring an effective outbound tele-services company. Whatever method you use to get it done, there is no question that using your telephone the right way can be extremely profitable.

About the Author

Customer relationship marketing expert Rich Webb puts small businesses on auto-pilot with automatic contact services that follow-up, communicate, interact, and sell more products and services. Now, discover how to get MORE leads & sales every single week with this FREE Special Report “How You Can Instantly Improve Your Bottom Line Using Customer Relationship Marketing” at: http://www.winningedgemarketing.com/custmax.html

Simple Steps to Take Toward Accurate Case Resolution

2008-03-10T02:37:00Z

Comprehensive case data can provide a picture of the key elements of what problems, challenges, and areas of dissatisfaction your customers are experiencing, as well as the amount of time and effort your service staff spends providing service to those customers. By making even a simple customization to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0, such as adding relevant values to a list, you can provide customer service representative (CSR) management with an indication of how cases are resolved by creating searches, views, and worksheets.

For example, as your CSRs process cases, you can get a clearer picture of how each case is being resolved. By default, Microsoft CRM includes only one option to resolve a case, which is “Problem Resolved.” By using built-in customization features, you can expand the possible resolution type values to include other reasons for case closure, such as when a customer requests to close their case or when a CSR is unable to contact a customer after several attempts.

Some reasons why a case is resolved might include the following values:

Update Sent
Product Returned
Unable to Contact Customer
Customer Request to Close

To perform the following procedures, you must have either the System Administrator or System Customizer security role in Microsoft CRM. If you do not have one of these roles assigned, contact your system administrator or system customizer to make the customizations.

Add new status reasons to the Case entity
The following procedure uses the built-in customization features to add items to the resolution type for a case. To customize the Resolution Type list on the Resolve Case dialog box, follow these steps.

1. In the Microsoft CRM Web client, in the Navigation Pane, click Settings.
2. Under Settings, click Customization, and then click Customize Entities.
3. In the Customize Entities list, double-click Case.
4. Under Details, click Attributes, and then in the Display Name column double-click Status Reason.
5. In the Attribute: Status Reason of Case form, in the Type area, select Resolved in the State list. The following figure displays this form and list.

6. Click Add.
7. In the Add List Value dialog box, type a value, such as Unable to Contact Customer, and then click OK.
8. Repeat the previous step to add another value, such as Customer Request to Close.
9. After you have all the values that you want, click Save and Close to close the Attribute: Status Reason of Case form.
10. In the Entity: Case form, on the Actions menu, click Publish, and then click Save and Close.
11. To confirm that your new values were added, open an existing case or create a new case, and on the Actions menu, click Resolve Case.
12. In the Resolve Case dialog box, in the Resolution Type list, verify that the values that you added appear.

After you have completed the previous customization, you can also customize the Resolved Cases view, which displays all resolved cases. This customization adds the Status Reason column to the Resolved Cases view, so that the resolution type is displayed for each resolved case. Alternatively, you can customize the My Resolved Cases view, which displays only resolved cases that you own.

Add the Status Reason column to the Resolved Cases view
The following procedure uses the built-in customization features to add a column to the resolved cases view. After you complete the procedure, the Status Reason column will display the resolution type for each resolved case. To customize the Resolved Cases view, follow these steps.

1. In the Microsoft CRM Web client, in the Navigation Pane, click Settings.
2. In the Settings area, click Customization, and then click Customize Entities.
3. In the Customize Entities list, double-click Case.
4. Under Details, click Forms and Views, and then double-click Resolved Cases.
5. Under Common Tasks, click Add Columns.
6. In the Add Columns dialog box, select Status Reason, and then click OK.
7. Click Save and Close.
8. In the Entity: Case form, on the Actions menu, click Publish, and then click Save and Close.
9. To confirm that the column is displayed, in the Cases area, in the View list, select Resolved Cases. The Status Reason column should appear as a column in the list, displaying the resolution type values for closed cases.
10. Additionally, you can use the Case Summary Table report that displays case data including the Status Reason field to review how cases are resolved. To run the report, in the Cases area click and then click Case Summary Table.

Gaining a Competitive Edge

2008-03-10T02:07:00Z

By Jason Carter

    Today, more and more companies rely on the practice of Competitive Intelligence (CI). But just what is CI?
    The definition varies greatly from one company to the next. In large corporate settings, CI professionals are charged with legally and ethically collecting, analyzing, and applying information about the capabilities, vulnerabilities, and intentions of their competitors, and monitoring developments within the overall market environment. Good CI leads to actionable intelligence that drives strategy and helps a company gain a competitive edge.
    While it sounds like quite the operation, it doesn’t have to be. Partners can implement a few steps that – with a small time and financial investment – will help them become more effective in competitive sales situations.

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Study the Usual Suspects
    Competitors you frequently run into will know about you and probably have some perspective on how you are going to approach a sale. Are you accounting for that? (Pun intended!)
    Consider the example of a competitor that often accuses Microsoft® and Microsoft Dynamics Partners of selling technology for technology’s sake. When that competitor has the opportunity to talk to the prospect before you do, they downplay the importance of the latest technology and emphasize that they are more focused on solving real business issues, regardless of the technology that may be required to do so. If you come in after them and your first message is about the Microsoft technology stack (a truly compelling advantage for Microsoft Dynamics), you may be stepping into a trap. You should absolutely tell that story, but tell it in terms of the real business benefits it provides, and consider how to tailor that message to a nontechnical buyer.
    This is, of course, but one example of the tactics you’ll run into. Your organization can build knowledge of the primary tactics used by frequent competitors by implementing a system for analyzing wins and losses. At the very least this means having your sales team record their perspective on why they win and lose each sale, and any competitor messaging of which they were aware. Have them consider whether certain issues, questions, or sales objections come up more frequently or at different times in the sales cycle when a particular competitor is involved. If so, it may be an indicator of how that competitor is influencing the sales process to their advantage.
    If possible, get the customer’s perspective directly. What issues compelled them to make the choice they did? This information can sometimes be difficult to get from a deal you lost. Consider having prospective customers – ones that you won and lost – interviewed by a third party, either through the Microsoft Dynamics win/loss process or through your own vendor. Talking to a third party may make it easier for the prospective customer to open up and share the reasons why they did or did not choose the Microsoft Dynamics product and your organization as its provider.

Go Back to That Lost Customer
    You work hard to win business. Part of that work is establishing relationships with individuals within your prospective customer’s organization. The more you know them, the better you understand the issues they are trying to overcome, which in turn is reflected in your value proposition. Some of these contacts become internal coaches for you and your product, and are instrumental in securing a win. And should you not win the deal, keep in mind that these contacts could be quite valuable to you in the future.
    Does this situation sound familiar to you? You are on the short list in a highly competitive sales opportunity and the competitor has not only discounted the product but also seems to be coming in impossibly low on the services side. You know the implementation, customization, integration, and training needed to get the customer off on the right track and ensure a positive ROI cannot be achieved at that cost.
    Despite your best efforts, you do not win this deal. After the selection is made, talk to your internal coaches about the reasons you were not selected, and inform them you will be in touch again in the near future. A few months down the road, that customer may be feeling the effects of having only part of their data migrated, going over budget on integration work, or not having enough training to help their people effectively use the new system.
    Granted, things may be going fine (in which case you’ve got some thinking to do in terms of how you approach your services), but if the competitor cut corners on the implementation, things are likely not fine in the customer’s eyes. In that lost customer you may have just found a great reference. The next time your competitor uses the same tactic, your prospect will have someone to call who can share their experience with an implementation plan focused more on price than on success, and why they would not make the same choice again. Good for you, bad for them.

Research the Unknown Competitors
    Analysts have estimated that as many as 10,000 software companies globally offer products in the same category as Microsoft Dynamics. In a market that fragmented, you are sure to compete against companies of which you had never heard of prior to that sale. While you are unlikely to ever know one of those competitors as well as you know the usual suspects, knowing at least a couple of facts about them increases your chance for a win.
    There is no shortage of information and no valid excuse for flying blind into an opportunity. The problem lies in finding the information, and in allocating time to analyze it. In both cases you have to consider the opportunity cost. Is your time best spent digging up information on a competitor you may not see again, or in continuing your discovery process with the prospect?
    The easiest solution to this problem is to hire an expert. Let’s say that expert is me. In over seven years in a Market/Competitive Intelligence role at Great Plains and Microsoft, I received thousands of questions on over 500 different competitors, allowing me to establish best practices for finding and analyzing information on all of those “other” competitors that may cross your path. Be it once or a dozen times, knowledge is power in all situations.

Moving Forward with your CI Program
    You now have the steps necessary to start creating a CI program for your organization. Tailor these steps to work for you and your team and you will see results. Remember, the only companies that don’t need competitive intelligence are those with no competition.

About the Author

Jason Carter joins The Partner Channel after ten years of experience with the Microsoft Business Solutions, now Microsoft Dynamics and their competitive strategy team. During his tenure with Microsoft, Carter spent his first few years as a support technician. His curiosity about the market and competition soon took over and led him to his role of seven years as a competitive analyst, providing market updates and competitive deal support for Partners. Later the research became more strategic, providing deep analysis of a competitor's business model, market approach, financial drivers, and sales approach for the senior leadership team at Microsoft Business Solutions. Carter has now joined The Partner Channel to bring this information straight to the Partners, through the Market Intelligence Briefing and Competitive Research/Sales Support.

Capture and Share Your Team's Collective Knowledge

2008-03-10T02:07:00Z

On every customer service team there are those with "the knowledge." They know customer issues and solutions. They have tricks and tips to work more efficiently. Everyone goes to them for answers, which can mean frequent interruptions.

Your company may have information: product guides, data sheets, and schematics that everyone should have access to, but hard copies of these items are easily lost. As a CSR Manager, you can make critical knowledge available to everyone on your team by capturing it in knowledge base articles.

In Microsoft Dynamics CRM, the knowledge base can be a storehouse of useful information and resources. Articles can contain solutions to common problems, procedures, user guides, and other information that helps CSRs give your customers timely and accurate service.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM includes an automatic workflow for article publishing. As articles move through the process, Microsoft Dynamics CRM moves them to the correct folder: Drafts, Unapproved, and Published. Anyone with a CSR or CSR Manager security role can write and submit articles for approval, but only the CSR Manager security role can view the Unapproved to approve or reject articles. The Publish Article privilege, which is part of the CSR Manager security role, is the privilege to complete these tasks. When an article is rejected, the author can revise and resubmit it. When an article is approved, it is published to the knowledge base and available to your organization.

Best practices to consider before articles are written
If you want articles to be authored by multiple people, you can set up guidelines and best practices for your team beforehand, such as:

Set up subjects in the subject tree before articles are written. This will help organize the articles and help people find information quickly. You can find the subject tree in the Settings area.
Prepare your organization's article templates to encourage CSRs to write articles that include necessary information. For more information about templates, see the following section.
Add the contents of your product guides, instruction sheets, and instruction booklets to the knowledge base for fast access and searching. You cannot attach files to articles, but you can copy and paste the contents of the original files into articles.
Encourage all CSRs to enter corrections and additional information for articles on the Comments tab for articles they use. They can include suggestions for additional keywords to help with future searches.
Set up a regular schedule for you to review and approve new articles.
Track which articles are being used most often with the Top Knowledge Base Articles report.

Preparing article templates
Microsoft Dynamics CRM uses templates to determine the layout and formatting of an article. Templates are frameworks for articles and usually contain two or more sections, such as a question section and an answer section. Every article starts with an article template.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM includes several article templates. You can find them in the Settings area. You can make it easier for your CSRs to select the correct templates by deactivating templates that you do not want them to use.

To ensure that articles contain necessary information, you can customize existing templates with meaningful section headings, instructional text, and even boilerplate text that describes the information to include in each section. For example, if you want part numbers included in product articles, add a section for part numbers, and then give an example of the part numbers and the format to use. Instructions or examples displayed in a template will disappear once the author starts typing in the section.

Writing and publishing an article
This section describes a publishing cycle that includes a CSR as the author of the article, and you, the CSR Manager, as the approver of the article.

Create an article
You, as the CSR Manager, or any of your managers, can write an article. Articles must be submitted for approval once the writing is completed.

In the Navigation Pane, click Service, and then click Knowledge Base.
On the Actions toolbar, click New.
In the Article Template dialog box, select the template you want to use, and then click OK.
In the Title box, type a title for the article.
Next to the Subject box, click Lookup.
In the Subject Lookup dialog box, select the subject you want, and then click OK. If the subject you want does not appear in the list, contact your system administrator.
In the Keywords box, type the keywords that are relevant to this article and separate each keyword with a comma. To increase the likelihood that the words users search with will return the correct articles, include alternate spellings and terminology in the keywords, such as bike, bicycle, and trike.
To write the content, click in a section of the form and begin typing.
Use the editing tools on the Formatting toolbar to format your text. You cannot attach files to articles or include images in articles or change sections. (Sections are defined in the article template.) You cannot upload or import articles, but you can copy and paste text from Word and retain most of the formatting.
Click Save and Close.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM automatically puts the article in the Draft folder in the Knowledge Base area. You can reopen the article and continue working on it at any time.

Submit the article for approval
Before submitting the article for approval, if there are procedures in the article, it is a good practice to have another person use the procedure to complete the task and check for any errors or missing steps.

On the list, select Article Queues, and click the Draft folder to display the list of articles.
Select the article you want to submit for approval and publishing. You can double-click the article to open it, if you want to review it before submission.
On the Actions toolbar, click Submit.
In the confirmation message, click OK.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM moves the article to the Unapproved folder where it is ready to be reviewed.

You can review, and then approve or reject the article. When an article is rejected, the article is returned to the Draft folder. When an article is approved, it is automatically published to the knowledge base and is available to other users in Microsoft Dynamics CRM within about 15 minutes.

Reject the article
If an article is incomplete or incorrect, you can reject it.

On the list, select Article Queues, and click the Unapproved folder, and open an article that is pending approval.
After you have reviewed the article, in the Article form on the Actions toolbar, click Reject to reject the article.
In the Provide a Reason dialog box, type a comment or explanation to the author in the box, and then click OK.
Click Save and Close.
Rejected articles are returned to the Draft folder for revision.

Revise and resubmit a rejected article
Articles can be revised and resubmitted by anyone, not just the original author.

On the list, select Article Queues, and click the Drafts folder to display the list of articles.
Open the article that contains the content you want to change.
To view the comments, click the Comments tab, and double-click a comment to open it.
On the Details tab, make your changes.
On the Comments tab, delete any comments that you have addressed or add your comments back to the approver.
Click Save, and then click Submit.
Click Save and Close.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM moves the article to the Unapproved folder.

Approve and publish the article
When you approve an article, Microsoft Dynamics CRM automatically publishes it to the knowledge base.

On the list, select Article Queues, and click the Unapproved folder, and open an article that is pending approval.
After you have reviewed the article, on the Actions toolbar, click Approve, and then click Close.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM moves the approved article to the Published folder.

CSRs and other users can see the article after about 15 minutes.

As a final tip, articles are only as good as in the information in them. Encourage your CSRs to add comments regarding corrections and additions to articles as they use them. Set up a schedule to review new and existing articles to ensure articles will be useful to everyone. In the end, it is your customers who will benefit the most.

Update Service Calendars in Microsoft Dynamics CRM

2008-03-10T01:59:00Z

There are few things a scheduler dreads more than someone calling in sick when the service calendar is full of service activities. With the following steps, you can keep your business running smoothly:

• Block off the employee’s work day to prevent additional service activities from being scheduled.

• Find and reschedule existing service activities.

• Assign an activity to call the customer to let them know of the change.

The following scenario takes you through the steps to take care of that sick employee, at least at work.

As the scheduler for your organization, you receive a call from Terrance, a shop technician. He’s sick and will not be coming in today. In Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0, you view the schedule and see that Terrance has a day full of service activities that you are now going to have to reschedule.

Block the user’s schedule
First, you must block Terrance out of today’s work schedule.

1. In the Navigation Pane, click Service, and then click Service Calendar.

Tip: If you do not see Service Calendar in the Navigation Pane, make sure that you have the correct permissions. The Service Calendar is not available in Microsoft CRM Client for Outlook, unless your system has been customized.

2. To find Terrance’s schedule, enter the first few letters of his first name in the Look for box, select User in the Type list, and then click Find.

3. In the list, double-click the name to open Terrance’s user record.

4. Under Details, click Work Hours.

5. In the calendar, make sure that today’s date is selected.

6. On the Set Up menu, click Time Off.

7. In the Schedule Time Off dialog box, in the Reasons box type “Out Sick” or another explanation.

8. Make sure the All Day Event check box is selected.
If Terrance were going to be out for more than one day, in the Duration list, you could select the number of days.

9. Click OK. In the Calendar, a red color block displays the time off.

10. Click Save and Close to close the user record. The Service Calendar remains open.

In the Service Calendar, Terrance’s time slots will show that he is unavailable and his name will not be returned for any scheduling.

Note: Direct appointments and service activities can still be made for him, but an alert will be displayed that Terrance is being scheduled outside his work hours.

Keep Customers Coming Back with Follow-up Services

2008-03-10T01:54:00Z

Return customers are the heart of any business. It is a lot easier to keep a customer than find a new one. The best time to schedule a future service activity is while the customer is still face-to-face with you, before they leave your store or shop.

As part of your checkout process, you can create a follow-up service activity in Microsoft CRM for anytime in the future. For example, if your business just completed an oil change for a customer, you can create a new service activity for another oil change six months from today. Using the Pane Assistant, you can create a follow-up service activity without even leaving the current service activity form.

A follow-up service activity captures only the required information: subject, service, and dates. It does not specify a resource to perform the activity. At regular intervals, you should check your Service Calendar for service activities without resources scheduled, and then call your customers to confirm and complete their follow-up service activities.

Create a follow-up service activity
Before your customer leaves your business site, while you still have his or her service activity record open, you can create a follow-up service activity for him or her for a future date.

1. In the open service activity, on the Actions toolbar, click Follow Up. The Form Assistant pane opens.

2. In the Activity List, select Service Activity.

3. Enter a Subject, and then select a Service. You do not have to select the same service.

4. To select a Start Time in the future, click the Calendar button, and then click the Month heading. The Month control for the Service Calendar opens. Select the month you want, and then select the specific date. To change the year, click the arrows on either side of the year heading.

5. Enter a Start Time and End Time.

6. Assign the follow-up activity to the person who will make the confirmation calls.

7. Click Save. Microsoft CRM creates a follow-up service activity for this customer with the status Pending and without a resource selected. The Service Calendar displays the service activity, but until you select a resource, the time is not available in the Service Calendar.

Although this article is about creating a future service activity using the Pane Assistant after an on-site visit, you can use the same procedures to create quick follow-up tasks for cases, record a phone call to an account, or any other task related to a record.

Confirm and complete the follow-up service activity
Once or twice a month, check your Service Calendar for follow-up service activities without resources. Using the results of the search, you can contact the customer, confirm the service activity, and schedule a resource.

1. In the Service Calendar, in the Type list, select Service Activity, and then in the view list, select All Service Activities. The list displays all service activities.

2. In the Calendar pane, click the month and year heading, and then select the month you want to view, and then click Month to view the entire month.

3. On the Actions toolbar, click Show Conflicts. All of the service activities with issues, such as no resources selected or conflicts with another service activity or an appointment, are displayed in the Service Calendar with a bold, red outline.

4. Double-click a service activity to open it. If there are issues with the service activity, an alert at the top of the form explains the issue.

5. To view the customer record, double-click the name of the customer.

6. Click Schedule to open the Schedule Service Activity form.

7. Based on your conversation with the customer, you can select additional search criteria, and then click Find Available Times.

Tip: If you recorded your customer’s preferences in his or her customer record, you can view those preferences in the Form Assistant pane on the Administration tab.

8. Select an available time, and then click Schedule.

9. If you have an e-mail template set-up, click Send Direct E-mail and send a reminder e-mail.

10. Click Save and Close.

A timely follow-up can make sure you don’t lose important customer contact opportunities. It can also help you keep your Service Calendar full and your business successful.

Who Says You Can’t Wear Red Shoes to a Board Meeting - Unconventional Ways to Exceed Customer Expectations

2008-03-10T01:27:00Z

By Pam McGee

Research indicates that most technical companies don’t consider themselves to be creative. They describe themselves as good solid businesses, technical businesses, a good solid vertical business, and/or having a great product. It’s hard for businesses to describe themselves as creative because it seems so nebulous or so out of norm. There may also be the perception that creative businesses are for advertising firms, media companies, and art businesses. That’s an old argument that I won’t repeat here, but I think you get what I mean. After roughly third grade, we tell ourselves that we are not artists, we are not creative, and we are not writers. It gets knocked out of us because most of what we do in school is left to the scrutiny of someone else. Teachers themselves have been shackled with critiquing and grading, not empowering and inspiring. I once was in a pottery class in fifth grade, and most of the students were making clay dishes. I made a coffee mug with an elephant snout. Anyway, this isn’t a debate on the state of art education in America; it is however, the beginning of a great debate stating that anyone, any company, or any team can be creative if they want. Yes; anyone!

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Here are some guidelines for wearing red shoes in a board room. That is, guidelines for unconventional ways to exceed customer expectations:

Rule #1: All creativity needs to begin and end with the customer.
When I made my coffee mug with the elephant snout, I just knew my mother (the customer at that time) would love it because she loved elephants and she loved coffee. I was right. For 42 years, she displayed it prominently in her curio cabinet.

From a business sense, think about H&R Block®. They are scrambling because they have forgotten who their customer is. In 2006, more people filled out their tax returns online with TurboTax than went to H&R Block. In 2007, you see phony gimmicks like get $100 worth of groceries or an iPod if you go to H&R Block. That’s not creativity. It’s a scramble to do something because you’ve lost sight of who your customer is. Their customer is someone who is fairly computer literate, someone with a simple tax structure, and someone who could do their taxes themselves with a little online coaching. Had H&R block had the customer in mind, they would have realized that eventually their customer could enter information in an online form, just like their representatives were doing. They offered very little tax planning, financial planning, or even ways to save money on your taxes. Now they’re spending millions of marketing dollars on gimmicks that still don’t meet the customers’ needs. How in the world does an iPod or a $100 worth of groceries benefit a tax customer? See the point? Rule #1 for being a truly creative team is to have customer conversations about what the customer is telling you they need now and in the future. It also includes conversations on what they don’t even know they might need. The customer is always right; however, they might not always know what they need.

Rule #2: Dedicate time in each team gathering to be wild and starry eyed dreamers.
A common mistake made is that an idea comes up, and if there is no obvious implementation path, the idea gets lost. Leaders can win in the creativity department by simply asking the following questions often and without any clear implementation expectation:

What are our customers complaining about the most? How might we, in a perfect world, fix that?
What would you like to give a customer for free, and how might we do that?
Outside our business, what’s the best experience you’ve had as a customer? How could we translate that to our business?

Notice there is no mention of what the competition is doing. It is common that businesses want to beat their competition, but in creativity, what needs to be beaten is a customer expectation or pain point. Build the questions above into your weekly team meeting, your consultant project recap, and/or your 1:1s. Be creative; maybe the questions should be asked at lunch or maybe even over beers on Friday. Could you have your employees submit answers to the questions every time they board a plane or eat Chinese food? You decide.

Rule #3: NEVER EVER start a creative department.
This also goes hand in hand with starting a creative task force. Make it the expectation that everyone in the company is creative. I once worked with a small company that charged four committee members to come up with creative ideas to reinvent their product. The downside that may already be obvious is that a committee implies that there is some order to creativity. There isn’t. It just needs time and attention, and it will appear. It’s like saying that from 8 to 10 a.m. on Mondays, I’m going to be creative. It doesn’t’ work like that. Research actually has proven that when people say that an idea came to them in the shower, they are absolutely normal. Creativity comes to you when you let your mind wander and relax. It can’t be planned or charted or graphed. It needs to be fostered, experimented with, and enjoyed. Often an unexpected trip to the junk store will leave you with an idea of how to coach a problem employee. Maybe an afternoon gardening will leave you with an idea on how to market your business in another geography. I don’t mean to leave the impression that creativity is laissez-faire and you let it control you. What I’m trying to impress upon you is that creativity will happen if you are open to it and allow some downtime to just let your mind go where it needs to go. By assigning people and time to creativity, you may be spinning your wheels.

Rule #4: On a quarterly basis, review how creative you’ve been.
What changes have been made to an internal philosophy or practice? How have you added new customers? Solved an old problem? Invented a new marketing tag line? Tried something different? Whether it worked or not, the fact that there is accountability given to creativity goes a long way. Not every wild idea can be implemented, but every idea can be acknowledged. It will also help you surface an H&R Block problem, because if you are never reinventing something, you may not be in touch with your customers, and they may one day TurboTax you. Don’t let that happen.

Rule #5: Experiment with a little oddness in your company.
I bet if you did wear red shoes to a board room one day, it would subliminally help people think a little more out of the ordinary. Better yet, what if you didn’t wear any shoes at all? It would definitely imply non-mainstream thinking in the meeting. Clothes are a must, but shoes could be optional, right?

The point is that leadership can and should set the stage for creative thinking and set the limitless boundary rule that experimentation, thinking, and acting creatively are the norm, not the exceptions. Wearing red shoes in a board room won’t change your company immediately, but it is a step in the right direction.

About the Author

Pam McGee has been speaking publicly and consulting for over 15 years. She has delivered speeches, executive coaching and business consulting in over 22 countries for companies ranging in size from 10 people to 100's. Through her engaging and authentic discussions, she challenges her audiences to new thought processes, business trends, and people impact opportunities. Pam is a Business Consultant and principle of McGee & Co. that helps businesses with strategic planning, change management, leadership development and creating innovative environments. Pam is a member of the faculty at Minnesota State University - Moorhead where she teaches project management and leadership skills. Prior to forming her consulting firm, she worked for Microsoft in leadership development roles, business management roles, and organizational consulting roles. In her eight years at Microsoft, she was consistently praised for her ability to coach senior managers on a variety of business topics ranging from business and industry trends to personal leadership. Through these challenging times, Pam's main goal was always to keep these leaders working toward being great leaders and strategic thinkers. Most recently, she worked with the Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Marketing in the role of Business Manager. This role involved working side-by-side to manage the business management processes, global marketing activities, and all forms of communication for the Vice President. Prior to Pam's time at Microsoft, she assisted in the operation of - a trucking firm and a restaurant venture - as well worked for a Fortune 100 company as a sales manager. Pam has also been an Assistant Professor for the North Dakota University System. She lives in Fargo, ND with her husband, Scott and their two children, Isaac and Erika.

You're Going to Have Fun or ELSE!

2008-03-10T00:44:00Z

Natural ways to create a positive culture
By Tracy Faleide

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I used to be a lifeguard, which in my opinion, is the greatest job in the world. Where else could I get paid to get a tan, be in excellent shape from hours of lap-swimming, and twirl a whistle chain with my toes? Another great perk was I became invisible the moment I climbed into the lifeguard chair. I always knew which 13-year-old girl had a crush on which 13-year-old boy. I also got to observe parenting techniques while on watch in the baby pool. One cloudy, chilly day, the high school football coach brought his youngest son to swim. The kid was so cold his lips were blue. His father was determined they get their money’s worth. Exasperated, he barked “you’re going to get in that pool and have fun or ELSE!” I’ll never forget the look on that poor kid’s face as he stood in the water shivering.

Years later, I found myself sympathizing with that kid again as I waited in line for my turn to be blind-folded and spun around until I nearly puked. You guessed it—I was at a team-building event, wishing I were anywhere else. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not altogether denouncing the use of experiential learning devices or fun and games to encourage team-building. There are times and places where these activities are useful and effective. I’m simply suggesting there are many other natural, painless, and nearly free ways of supporting your culture-enhancement goals.

First, think about what you need. What’s the feel in your organization? Are people frazzled and stressed? Do people see each other frequently, or is everyone mostly on the road? Be sure to check in with a variety of team members to confirm your assessment. Leaders often project their feelings onto their teams and assume that if they’re stressed, everyone is. This can lead to situations like a team of people finding themselves on a bus to a ropes course not knowing if they’re being rewarded or punished.

In my experience, the simplest, most effective device for encouraging people to relax, connect, and share ideas is to make it easy for them to hang out and talk in a comfortable environment. Do you have an open area in your office where people can naturally congregate? Do you encourage impromptu discussions about current events or new ideas? Sometimes we get so caught up in being busy that we miss opportunities right in front of our faces. Allowing some breathing room for camaraderie and idea sharing sparks curiosity and creativity, and it bolsters both fun and productivity.

Another effective way to relieve stress and create a positive vibe is implementing silly cues to mark certain events or milestones. For example, when the Great Plains product development team was working crazy hours to release Dynamics, we used a stuffed animal (I think it was a Holstein cow) to indicate a code build was happening. A cow bell would ring out, and whoever was managing the build would put the stuffed cow on his/her monitor or sometimes his/her head. We’d all run around and cheer, even at three in the morning. When I was on the web site team, an E-mail that played a lick from “Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats signaled a new site was being compiled, and we deserved a break from testing for a few moments. On the Customer and Partner Experience team, we balanced the amount of bad news we heard by “ringing the bell” every time we heard something positive, just like a bar staff does when they get a good tip. (After lifeguarding, I landed the second best job in the world—bartending!)

The bottom line is you don’t need to lie on the floor with your head on your neighbor’s stomach to have fun at work. (If you haven’t had to suffer through this one, count yourself lucky. All I remember is my stomach rumbling loudly over some questionable Chinese food at lunch, and it was quite embarrassing!) Encouraging comfortable, thought-provoking conversation and silly stress relievers will go a long way toward creating a positive environment within your team. It’ll also help you stay tuned to the mood of your organization. There will be times when you need some “structured fun,” maybe to boost your innovation or problem-solving skills or help a new team gel. Starting with a group who is already comfortable hanging out, having fun, and working hard together puts you ahead of the game. And it helps you avoid inadvertently causing fear and loathing of blindfolds amongst your team. Now, start having fun, or I’m coming to find you!

About the Author

Tracy Faleide has twenty years of experience in communications, project and team management, strategy development and planning process, team-building, performance and career coaching and results-based execution. She is a novelist, freelance writer, professional coach and business consultant. Common threads across these focus areas include finding and telling stories of courage through transition, helping establish confidence of purpose and seeing things differently. Prior to going out on her own, she held several team and strategy leadership roles at Great Plains Software and Microsoft. In her most recent positions at Microsoft, she was responsible for Business Solutions' strategy development and planning processes and for setting and delivering on worldwide customer and partner experience and satisfaction strategies. Tracy has a B.S. degree in Mass Communications and Public Relations from Minnesota State University Moorhead. She and her husband, Dan, live in and lovingly renovate two old homes-one a 1907 four-square in Fargo, North Dakota; and the other a cottage on Lake Lizzie near Pelican Rapids, Minnesota.

Is Reaching for the Moon Possible Anymore?

2008-03-10T00:38:00Z

Developing a High Performing Workforce of the Future
By Pam McGee

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Remember when it was revolutionary to wear jeans to work? Remember when it was innovative to have a flexible work schedule so you could go to your son’s baseball games? Remember when it was extremely left-wing when employees were put in charge of their own schedules? Remember when it was completely irrational to have an employee work from home? Remember when it was almost impossible to allow employees to see company financial information because it was normally only shared with top management? Remember when it was a big thing to have a virtual team? Those are questions that shaped yesterday’s workforce. To remain competitive, there is a new set of questions to answer.

The questions of tomorrow are partially influenced by the fact that for the first time in 100 years, there are four generations in the workforce. With an aging population leaving a gap in leadership, succession planning is epidemic in nature. There is more software driving decisions, connecting people, and changing the way work is done. The latest estimate is that there is 10 times the software in the workforce than even two years ago. Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/) has become a common social networking expectation for some. There is an ever present drive to go global for everyone, not just the big corporations. Individuals can go global because of the flattening of the world. The growing new American population needs to find work and have their skill set developed. There are more women in the workforce than men. So as the complexity continues to build, how does a business owner create a workforce that is inspired, engaged, and highly productive? Is it even possible? Can you reach for the moon on this one?

Companies everywhere are adjusting to the new work environment. For example, the city of New York has developed a generations training program to help create awareness among it employees on the differences and similarities of fellow employees in the workforce. One company invited employees’ parents to its new employee orientation. The reason was that the 18 to 24-year-olds have a larger dependence on their parents than preceding generations. This generation also lives at home longer, so there may be another incentive for parents to be ultra involved in their job search. Another company utilized Facebook as its primary means of connecting virtual employees. The added benefit is that they had access to non-employees listed on individuals’ Facebook sites. Their pool of knowledge just expanded without the burden of payroll.

In addition to these examples, here are a few suggestions that business owners can consider as they pave the way for their future to engage and inspire their workforce:

Appreciate Similarities and Differences With the Four Generations
Recent research by The Robertson Company and pMcGee & Co. found that all generations predominately shared the same top five desires for their workplace; however, they had a different order of priority. Appreciating each other requires a paradigm shift and expectation that not everyone should work the way we do. “Shoulding” others should stop in the workplace.

Create a Respectful Work Environment
From the same research, the number one workforce expectation was to be respected. Focus groups were conducted to dig deeper into what “being respected” meant. Believing that most people don’t intentionally go to work with the motive of being disrespectful, the research indicated that disrespect came from having a double standard, having prejudices against each other, not respecting and valuing opinions from all age groups, and requiring people too great a workload. An example of having a double standard was when a manager told younger new employees that they had to earn respect, but then didn’t send the same message to older new employees. An example of prejudices is best seen when viewing popular media about the younger generation. They have them plagued as the “lazy” generation. They appear to be all pierced and “Ipod’d.” It is also a deep-seated prejudice that the “older” generation is non-technical. They are seen in pictures with their clipboards, outdated cell phones, and leather-bound date planners. Neither situation is entirely true. Prejudices run deep and wide. The most exasperated layer of disrespect is creating a work environment where everyone continually does “more with less.”

Redefine Team
Another key aspect of the workforce research was that different generations have different perceptions about team. The baby boomer era used teams as their social network. They invented the company softball team; they enjoyed company retreats. The majority of their social life came from their work life. The younger generation defines teams by the projects they work on. They connect with many teams based on their situation. One individual, when asked what she thought of her team, replied, “Which one? I am on 21 different teams.” They want teams to be a tool to get work done more quickly so they can move on to their next thing. Teams and team building need to take on a different focus and dimension.

Rethink Work Schedule
One of the most challenging aspects in the workforce is there are two huge groups of employees demanding a less than traditional schedule. This is beyond flexible scheduling – that was an assumption similar to an employee having a phone and a computer. The scheduling challenge is figuring out a more results-based culture that focused less on who was where, when and how much office time, client time, or E-mail time an employee had. For example, there may be an opportunity to tap into the almost retired work group. They may demand a work schedule that is “six months on and six months off.” A business owner may be saying, “That will never work with my business.” Remember, there were also some preliminary predictions that virtual teams would never work.

Engage and Inspire
There was a constant expectation from all ages to be included, engaged, and inspired. There was some unconventional thinking that businesses need to reverse. The thinking went like this – “when times are tough, companies dump employees (aka layoff, downsize).” In reverse thinking, employees have adopted that same thought pattern – “when times are tough, I dump you.” Creating an engaging and inspiring work environment does not have to be difficult, lofty, or programmatic. It’s about the little things a company does. Do they trust their employees or run them through the policy mill? Do they include them in discussions about the big picture of the company? Do they give them the tools to win in their job? Do they support them when they fail? Do they encourage personal fulfillment even if it doesn’t directly relate to the job?

Conduct Company Surveys
Staying on top of the workforce climate takes diligence, open mindedness, and follow through. Most companies wouldn’t dream of NOT surveying their customers. The same philosophy holds true about surveying your employees. There may be a belief that you have an open door policy and your employees talk to you. That is wonderful in the anecdotal sense. But there is some greater level of learning that occurs when a company routinely assesses their employees for what is working and what is not. The systemic approach allows the business to notice trends and patterns. It also creates a more objective approach to solving company problems. It certainly avoids the “squeaky wheel” syndrome.

Although the way has yet to be fully paved, there are a number of things you can do today to enhance your company’s ability to attract and retain the best employees. We are overworked, underfed, and “on” 24/7. Yet done correctly, you can expect more, maximize productivity, and improve loyalty in your workplace across all generations.

About the Author

Plain Language in Business

2008-03-10T00:23:00Z

By Roy Jacobsen

I’ve always believed the maxim “If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” But now I find myself telling you that there’s something simple you can do that will boost your bottom line. One fundamental, uncomplicated thing that will:

Streamline procedures and paperwork
Improve employee productivity and moral
Reduce training time
Boost customer satisfaction
Increase sales and improve your company’s position in the marketplace

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What is “it?”

“It” is using plain language. Plain language is a set of practices based on the idea that the audience—customers, business partners, or employees—should be able to understand a document the first time they read it. Think about all the documents your business produces: customer letters, employee manuals, financial disclosure documents, legal contracts and notices, or anything else, printed or electronic. All of them can be improved by following plain language guidelines.

The evidence is overwhelming: plain language can have a huge positive impact on business. Studies in businesses and government agencies have shown that plain language saves time and money, and it improves understanding. And most importantly, almost everybody prefers plain language.

Watch your Language!

Just think about the business communications you read or hear every day. This includes E-mail, presentations, whitepapers, reports, proposals, contracts, billing statements, license agreements—the list is endless. Was the message immediately clear? Or did you have to review it a few times, wading through the jargon, business-speak, and legalese, to figure out what they were trying to say? Did it have a warm, human, conversational tone? Or did it come across as something composed by the computer HAL 9000, from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey?

“Jargon, wordiness, and evasiveness are the active ingredients of modern business-speak,” according to the authors of Why Business People Speak Like Idiots. This is troubling because our ability to conduct business depends on our ability to communicate. Unclear, ineffective communication is to business what square wheels are to NASCAR.

Most people don’t use murky language deliberately. We usually fall into it because that’s what we see modeled all around us. “Everyone writes this way, so this must be how it’s done.”

Just because “everyone does it that way” doesn’t mean that you have to.

Benefits of Plain Language

Okay, plain language sounds good on the surface, but is it really that much better? Isn’t there a good reason for the traditional language of business? Well, there are many reasons why the traditional way of writing is the tradition. But “it works better” is not one of them. Researchers have recently started comparing plain language to traditional language, and in every case, plain language comes out the clear winner.

Many of the studies of the benefits of plain language examine it in one of two ways: the benefits to the company, or benefits to the reader. Let’s look at a few examples of each.

Both the United States Army and Navy have studied the effect of writing business memos in plain language, and both found that plain language is better. The Army found that people who receive memos written in plain language are twice as likely to comply with the memo on the day they receive it. The Navy found that plain language memos take 17% to 23% less time to read, with significantly greater comprehension. “Time is money” is a fundamental business axiom, and the Navy estimated that, if all memos were written in plain language, their yearly cost savings (in time saved) would range from $250 to $350 million.

The “Time = Money” equation shows up in other areas as well. In the early 90s, Federal Express (now known as FedEx) revised its operations manuals using plain language guidelines after finding that readers who used the old manuals took an average of five minutes to find information, and they found the correct information only 53% of the time. With the new manuals, the average search time was 3.6 minutes, with an 80% success rate. They estimated that this effort was worth $400,000 annually in time saved. And that doesn’t take into account the savings from employees getting the right answers the first time.

Here are more examples of plain language having a direct impact on a company’s bottom line:

In 1991, the Allan-Bradley Company (now a division of Rockwell Automation), rewrote their computer manuals in plain language. This reduced calls to their call center from more than 50 a day to less than two a month.
British Telecom revised their billing statements in 1997 and found that it reduced customer calls about phone bills by 25%. Furthermore, customers paid more promptly, improving cash flow and reducing collection costs.

Other studies have found similar savings, along with reduced error rates on business forms, improved retention for staff training, reduced paperwork, and increased efficiency. All of these will boost profit margins.

What about the audience? What benefits do they receive?

Some of the studies I already cited showed improved comprehension; the readers got the intended message the first time around. The Navy study, for example, found that readers understood the plain language memos better than those written in traditional “bureaucratic” language. Other studies have found this as well. For example, the Veterans Administration tested some of their form letters. Only 44% of the veterans who received the traditional versions understood them. When they rewrote them in plain language, that number rose to 89%. In addition, the average reading time went from eight minutes to six.

Researchers who have studied this have found that readers overwhelmingly prefer plain language. When the Ford Motor Company tested a plain language version of the owner’s manual for the Taurus, 85% of the respondents preferred it to the other version.

The preference for plain language carries over into specialized documents, such as financial disclosure documents and legal documents. For example, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission tested a plain language “profile prospectus” against the traditional model. Experienced investors overwhelmingly preferred the plain language version.

Joseph Kimble, a professor of legal writing at Thomas Cooley Law School in Michigan, and the author of Lifting the Fog of Legalese: Essays on Plain Language, has found that judges and attorneys prefer plain language to traditional “legalese.” Kimble points out legal language infiltrates business documents, such as contracts, licensing agreements, billing statements, and so on, even though it really isn’t necessary. “You can bet that many of those are influenced by the legal department, who won’t let this stuff get out to the public unless it’s written in legalese. And it just doesn’t have to be.” Plain language does the job more effectively.

Plain language doesn’t just help your company and your audience. It can help you in several ways as well.

First, trying to write clearly helps you think more clearly. Brian Fugere, one of the authors of Why Business People Speak Like Idiots, and a partner at Deloitte Consulting, says, “Clear language forces you to think harder about what you’re saying. A lot of what we see is the result of people not really getting clear in their own heads what they’re trying to say.” (I have found this to be true for my own writing. If my words are murky, it’s usually because I’m not sure exactly what I’m trying to say.)

It also gives you a wider audience. Fugere says, “If you start experimenting with clear language, you find that people pay attention.” He cited his own experiences as a consultant. The studies I already mentioned support that contention. People are more likely to read, and understand, messages delivered in plain language.

Studies have also shown that people who use plain language are viewed more positively. Most people think “straight talkers” are more likable, friendly, energetic, inspiring, and enthusiastic.

And the most important benefit comes back to the bottom line: People are more likely to take action when you use plain language. Plain language gets results.

Plain Language Principles

Plain language isn’t a set of rules or a list of words to use or not use. It’s a set of principles for writing to convey our ideas clearly, accurately, and economically.

Start with your readers’ needs in mind. Tell them what they need to know, using the words they use, but don’t bog them down in extraneous details.
Use familiar words—ones that are simple, direct, and human. Call a shovel a shovel, not a human-powered excavation implement. This doesn’t mean you can’t use specialized language or jargon. If there is a clear and well-known term that best expresses your idea, and your audience knows that term, then go ahead and use it.
Express actions with verbs; don’t convert them into abstract nouns. Don’t utilize things, and for pity’s sake, don’t write about their utilization; use them. William Zinsser, in On Writing Well, advises us to “…remember that readers identify with people, not with abstractions like ‘profitability’ or with Latinate nouns like ‘utilization’ and ‘implementation,’ or with inert constructions in which nobody can be visualized doing something: ‘pre-feasibility studies are in the paperwork stage.’”
Use active voice more. Write sentences that describe actors performing actions (rather than states of being). “A foolproof method for roadrunners to be captured by hungry coyotes has been developed by Acme researchers” is passive. “Acme researchers have developed a foolproof method for hungry coyotes to capture roadrunners” is active.
Relentlessly cut unnecessary words. At this point in time is just a long-winded way of saying now or currently, and there are hundreds of other bits of baggage cluttering business communication. Not only do they waste your audience’s time, they sap your message of its power. It took only 270 words to deliver one of the most powerful speeches in American history: Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
Don’t be afraid to use personal pronouns. Address your reader as “you,” especially if you’re writing instructions. A sentence like “The completed form must be submitted before the application can be processed” doesn’t say who is supposed to do what. “You must complete the form and submit it to us before we can process your application” is clear and direct.
Simplify. Break long, complex sentences into shorter, simpler ones. Aim for more short paragraphs than long ones. This doesn’t mean that you have to write in a “See *** run” style. It means you should be sure you’re not trying to cram too many ideas into a single sentence or paragraph.
Give your document a logical structure, and make that structure visible. Divide things into short sections, with lots of headings (and subheadings, if necessary). Put an executive summary, purpose statement, or table of contents at the beginning. People will often skim a document for its key points before reading it, so make them stand out.

These ideas will get you off to a good start. There are also tools that can help. For example, if you struggle with business buzzwords, you can install Bullfighter, a free tool for Microsoft® Office Word 2003 and PowerPoint® 2003. It scans your document for offending words and offers plain language alternatives. It also calculates a readability score for your document, using the method invented by the late Dr. Rudolph Flesch, a pioneer in readability research. You can download Bullfighter from www.fightthebull.com.

(Full disclosure time: I scanned an early draft of this article with Bullfighter. My document’s “Bull Index” was 98—not quite bull-free because I had one instance of utilize—with a Flesch Readability score of 52. Bullfighter said that my writing is “mostly clear, with some unnecessarily long words and sentences. You get to the point, although with an occasional detour. Most educated readers will navigate the text with no difficulty. Longer words and sentences appear occasionally.”)

Plain language doesn’t have the cachet of the latest business fad being promoted by someone trying to push his book up the business bestseller list. But it does have reams of evidence that prove its worth to your company, your customers, and to you. And it doesn’t take an army of high-priced consultants to apply to your business, either. All it takes is the will to spend some time and effort, and the willingness to learn how to use words well.

About the Author

Roy Jacobsen is a freelance writer and editor with more than 20 years experience in a variety of fields, including a 13 year career with Microsoft Business Solutions. He’s also a contributing editor for The Editorial Eye, a resource for writers, editors, designers, project managers, communications specialists, “and everyone else who cares about contemporary publishing practices.” Roy’s weblog, Writing, Clear and Simple, is at http://rmjacobsen.squarespace.com/.