Functional Hope Can Maximize Meaningful Benefits & Inspire Customers

People's sensory reception & perceptions of the same stimuli are different. Since mental states vary, your ads might be missed, processed or partially received.

Since people process meaningful messages, let's evaluate meaningfulness: Do your offers connect people's current or recent experiences to their goals? Do you help people settle issues that aren't fully resolved or could recur?

Describe relief of health &/or property problems because people: 1) don't want to believe troubles still exist or could recur & might reject warnings; 2) might ignore vague symptoms because old information & cheap products fail to bring relief.

Ad repetition reinforces offers while experiences confirm needs still exist.

Example: To overcome success delusion, advertisers can describe indicators of pest incursions. People figure traps solved pest problems because indicators diminished. Wishful thinking blocks contrary thoughts, so homeowners don't consider how pests enter. Homeowners should compare pests' sizes & abilities with house construction to find potential entries. Material inspections & knowledge reveal necessary replacements & patches.

Stress crowds-out positivity. Functional hope renews freedom from people's actions to escape stressors.

Functional hope opens mental space to plan for uncomfortable possibilities because functionality inspires hope of overcoming new & recurring problems.

Watch For Reasons Consumers Should Watch You.

By monitoring local people's triumphs & struggles, you can find & connect resources for converting struggles into triumphs then extending or renewing triumphs.

Whether it's typical pessimism or pride, people misinterpret options because failures make success seem impossible or reserved for privileged people. To describe formulas or projects, use product specifications, testimonials & case studies to explain how & why success becomes probable in local conditions.

Offer to explore why product versions & attempted methods were insufficient. Persistence brings progress as people learn improved techniques for using high-quality products, possibly by adapting observed successes.

With teamwork, you with your customer group can invest money, insightful knowledge, effort & persistence into personal & group advantages. As customers report problems & progress, all can learn to build results into benefits then combine those into advantages.

Without confidence to explore & expand knowledge, people might suffer problems even with optimal products. Case studies can supplement skill-building tutorials, so people learn what's practical plus how to implement suggestions.

Since low expectations can seem logical, customers might stop short of personal & product potentials. Because of risks, hesitation feels safe. During implementation, seemingly safe practices can fall short of long-term safety & practicality.

Since June 2022 without human stereotypes, we're anthropomorphizing bears & salmon plus extending Marshall Goldsmith's analogy to avoid success delusion.

Analogy: When conditions support predators, fish need more than swimming techniques. People rely on experience in new conditions. People, who feel "made for this", take to problems like fish to water. Fish & bears are "made for this". Bears grab ignorant fish.

Advise investing for current circumstances because previous successful efforts might be outdated. Practical examples imply insightful knowledge even if you don't recommend specific techniques to avoid liability.

Interrupt Bad Things. Expand Good Things.

Negatives seem bigger & positives seem smaller than reality.

Reinforce attention-to-detail with updated information because it's important for choosing offers & completing projects. People are distracted by perceptions, expectations, predictions or conclusions of failure & success.

Because of experiences & observations, people might expect contextual threats & miss benefits. After experiencing &/or observing problems & solutions, people are distracted also by concerns of future problems. Immediate problems can distract people from warnings or evidence of impending serious problems. Other times, public scandals & distant disasters hold attention, so people are less apt to notice advertising.

Let's expand on Al Ries & Jack Trout books. In "Positioning", they wrote about "The Assault on the Mind" & minds have positions for information bits.

Unfamiliar threats seemingly suck mental energy away from information processing & upstage typical personal & public priorities.

"The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" details importance of categories. Customers' problem categorizations & prioritizations influence purchases.

Despite daily sensory deluges, if you pound messages into brains, Top-of-Mind-Awareness can associate your products/services with opportunities & problems. Does Top-of-Mind-Awareness compare advantages & help people choose optimally? Instead, offer advantageous reasons so people position you in their minds. Induce people to keep you in a prioritized category position as their specific advantage source.

Mental Traffic

Analogy: It's a minor inconvenience for me to let you go ahead in traffic. I could miss appointments by letting everybody go ahead. When people consciously let sensory traffic in, they could miss better value.

While dealing with mental & physical traffic, people need to get 'THERE'. Offer advantages for getting 'THERE', so people let you in ahead of others.

Imagine if all mental "vehicles" were trucks signaling value with product signs & drivers determine which trucks to let through. Sign messages plus truck sizes would hint about value people would expect. Do consumers have enough space to let your truck/messages enter? Your job includes explaining value to justify their costs of yielding to you.

Optimal interactions (including persuasion) happen in environments of norms. Laws & social norms influence behavior. Learn what society seems to enforce plus what niche members do for personal satisfaction & social allegiance.

Make advantage offers according to social rules-of-the-road as you drive value into personal spaces.

Attention, Interest, & Desire either diverge or merge like highway lanes as people become aware of optional Actions. Either way, success depends on being prioritized above others since your lane could be closed or rerouted as mental (memories & reminders) &/or physical (ability) access changes.

As excessive options merge into commoditization, differentiation is more important to separate offers while people can buy plus use products.

Induce Consumers To Let Your Offers Into Their Life Traffic.

Retailers are surprised when consumers aren't impressed enough by offers to fulfill AIDA. If people aren't aware of problems or opportunities, why pay Attention to Product-X $89?

Even if people are aware of problem severity or opportunity benefits, Product-X $89 doesn't explain how to improve anything or describe relief.

If people are aware of problems & opportunities, awareness might attract Attention, Interest & Desire. Inquiries & purchasing Actions come after information integrates Attention to, Interest in & Desire for problem solutions & opportunity fulfillment with Attention to, Interest in & Desire for product/service benefits.

Develop advantage offers to create awareness of problems, solutions, opportunities & fulfillment. Build AIDA to induce purchases.

What do you need to understand about people's life traffic? Humans have stimuli coming at them from almost all directions. It's almost like people need air traffic controllers to bring order.

Explain why people should let your offers in. If people have any available capacity to let your messages in, what makes your offers worthy of invitations?

High-traffic cities have carpool/bus lanes. Develop offers into valuable content "buses", so consumers prioritize them with dedicated lanes.

When your advantage offers integrate into people's needs & desires, promoted ideas can be like co-workers on employer-chartered buses arriving to create specific value. They're expected & allowed entry. When they're cleared by security, they're granted access after earning trust.

Offer coordinated products & methods to be like trusted co-workers on buses. Make them worthy of trust & invitation, by learning niche members' needs, desires & standards.

People might trust you with money via purchases after they trust you with time to offer value. When you provide advantages, you give reasons for putting other things (including overwhelming feelings & exhaustion) aside because people are eager for value.

We won't know all circumstantial factors affecting whether people expend mental energy & time on advertising.

People seem to have limits for some factors & combinations. Some limits might depend on brain regions. Very verbal people might have high maximums when conversing at work & home. Others seem to run out of words & need to zone out.

Visual people might have available mental energy & want more input but have tired eyes. Exhausted people can get second winds when interesting activities are available. Second winds are more than breath & require mental motivation.

Priorities Establish Right-Of-Way

Though subconscious minds involuntarily receive sensory impressions, advertisers are more successful when they gain access according to conscious priorities. Sensory traffic favorably passes based on personal right-of-way rules.

Loud, flashy interruptive advertising is like bigger vehicle drivers implying threat of force & size to push other drivers to yield.

Big (long) ads get through based on value, not gimmicks. Which facts & insights are worth immediate attention or research? Make your offers more valuable & worthy of attention than other things vying for niche members' attention.

Sensory impressions & priorities collide with others when right-of-way rules are disregarded. Establish value to avoid collisions.

Reticular activating systems are like mental receptionists responding based on ability to pay attention plus importance to people's lives.

Whether ads are logically or emotionally evaluated, reception depends on previous & current experiences. Do your best to make customer experiences fulfilling, so customers will figure you offer value for current &/or future opportunities.

Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.

Copyright 2023 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.

When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here- https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/

Client Relationships Are Destinations In The Customer Integration Journey.

Customer integration shows your commitment to be a personal resource & move beyond share-of-wallet tactics to strategic client relationships. It means helping clients choose & implement personal optimizations to establish your loyalty to them. Until then, don’t expect customer loyalty.

Customer integration offers are: ‘Here’s what you need to __.’ Client relationship offers are: ‘This is how we’ll __ together.’

Blog readers vary in knowledge, so we're reinforcing customer integration while setting our vision to explore horizons. You should set customers’ visions to find new advantages.

To some extent, you can optimize current methods but when you’re close to peak performance, further advancement is limited.

As you optimize a marketing offer & method, you’ll need other offers & methods to appeal to other consumers. You’re more apt to increase profits with sales to customers who respond to additional offers & methods. Until you explore beyond your current reach, you won’t know how much more success is available or how to achieve it.

Since I’m proposing what’s unfamiliar to you, you think about risk because you haven’t implemented customer integration. Consider consumers’ risk perceptions. If you refuse to integrate your store into their lives to make offers less risky & more fulfilling for them, how can you expect them to initiate integration?

If you refuse to reach out further to consumers, don’t expect them to reach further to you. Customer integration shows you’re reaching out to help them instead of grabbing their wallets.

After you implement & optimize customer integration, you’ll transition beyond reaching out. You’ll stand out where customers want to be & they’ll join you. When you’re standing with customers, you can form client relationships.

Since June 2022, we've used Marshall Goldsmith’s bear salmon analogy to avoid success delusion. Goldsmith uses personal coaching to explore successful causes & effects.

Quotes From WHAT GOT YOU HERE WON'T GET YOU THERE:

“Successful people have a unique distaste for feeling controlled or manipulated. Even when I’ve gotten the greatest advance build-up as someone who can help people change for the better - in other words, I’m effective at helping - I still meet resistance. I have now made peace with the fact that I cannot make people change. I can only help them get better at what they choose to change.”

“People will do something - including changing their behavior - only if it can be demonstrated that doing so is in their own best interests as defined by their own values.”

Which Advantages Do People Value?

Let’s explore how client relationships build advantages on the customer integration foundation. Both models increase retailers' understanding of consumers' current 'HERE’ plus help customers realize why 'THERE’ is a more advantageous destination.

Retailers can be like students' guidance counselors by building insights to create & reach destinations. Help clients learn how to maintain progress while expanding horizons.

Consumers want benefits others enjoy but impractically deplete resources trying to get ‘there’. Help customers understand when somebody else’s ‘there’ isn’t suitable. Advantage offers include reviewing goals & conditions to develop a personal advantageous ‘THERE’ so costs are justified with increased positives &/or decreased negatives.

It includes describing how clients should fully own/maintain advantages of being 'THERE'.

'Client' implies relationship since clients have relationships preferably with fiduciary-like providers who serve based first on creating client advantages.

By relating to advantages, people form 'relationships' when things are gained, so losses are felt physically & emotionally.

Though healthy interpersonal relationships include sacrifices, advantages can equal or exceed sacrifice costs. Insightful information gives people perspectives for perceiving & comparing advantages & costs.

Insightful AIDA offers bring Awareness/Attention leading to Interest, building to Desire & inspiring purchase Actions. Client relationships justify purchases with guidance for productive actions.

Short-term Goals Long-term Costs

Salmon sacrifice themselves to spawn 'THERE' because they relate to actions & locations but not to results of hatchlings surviving & swimming to oceans/lakes. Adult salmons' struggles seem to indicate dedication to offspring but suffering is detrimental.

By equalizing sacrifices & self-preservation, adults could survive to warn offspring about those dammed rivers & bears. Warnings & workarounds strengthen individuals plus their relationships. Client relationships form bonds of interdependent help because each contribution makes advantages for all involved.

Discounters relate to profitable sales, so there's little dedication to customers because service is considered a cost. Discounters may claim to serve customers, but how do they define “service”? Investors grab profits instead of reinvesting in product & service quality.

Customer integration service includes matching products & actions with goals.

Example: Toddlers’ parents build adaptable recreation rooms to last long enough for teenagers to enjoy. Buildings should be top quality. Furniture & equipment should be safe even if units wear out in a few years because children will want age-appropriate units. Teenagers will probably reject formerly-favorite kiddy-size furniture & toys. Temporary decorations would fit teenagers’ evolving ‘relationship’ with their long-lasting 'clubhouse'.

Are customers’ desires for change & consistency realistic based on evolving product technology & probable developments? If customers’ desire & priority fulfillments require cooperation, which explanations could create understanding with those who can add resources & share benefits? How can you help customers persuade others to cooperate?

Relationships are based on similar priorities even if members don't prioritize equally.

Example: Greenhouse operators' dedication to beautifying cities might be a #2 priority, but citizen volunteers might prioritize public flowers at #8. Retailers could sell plants & materials at cost for civic projects & hope people pay full price for home projects. If volunteers are too tired to maintain civic & home projects, declining quality could discourage participation. Volunteers could share dedication to goal achievement but not commitment to maintenance.

Client relationships should include knowledge for realistic prioritization according to requirements & resources. Do your best to help clients preserve advantages as worthwhile investments.

If priorities & desires change, what do those changes indicate about goal achievements that established value? Do life changes or personal resource shortages force clients to abandon achievements? Do clients want to reduce activities but preserve property & equipment value? What do clients need for transitioning to other advantages? If people can't store & maintain equipment, do you offer maintenance, storage or rentals?

It's easy to start enthusiastically when people realize what their commitments can bring, but would requirements be too burdensome?

Consultation Example: 'You can start with in-stock products. Step #3 requires ordering (products). Rainy weather might strike anytime after (products) arrive. You'd have to dedicate time &energy to rush through remaining steps. I'll place the order if you're sure you can make it work.'

Consultations show your attention-to-detail.

Retailers' inattention or attention-to-detail indicates to consumers whether relationships or transactions are worthwhile.

Relationships Should Be More Valuable Than Transactions for Retailers & Clients.

I agree with Jay Abraham about serving clients instead of attracting tactical, transactional customers, especially if transactions are reactive instead of preventative & progressive. Relationships involve interactions, not just transactions.

Ideally, prevention & progress are planned. If you want clients more than customers, justify your role in clients' planning.

Jay used The Greek Parthenon analogy for supporting businesses with multiple pillars/methods. Customer integration builds powerful pillars.

Pillar & relationship combinations require architecture/planning to build & position pillars advantageously.

We can add "Positioning" by Al Ries & Jack Trout because you should position your business in people's minds & solidly position it in people's lives. If your advantageous business is removed, people's lives won't be complete & could be unsteady.

People happily think problems are over even if relief is temporary. It's important to differentiate preliminary & long-term results so customers don't stop too soon. Which analogies & comparisons demonstrate importance of next level results?

Offer Example: 'After last month's storm, (Store) has filled orders for (benefits). Since major damage & risks are reduced, it's time to finish with customized repairs. Stopping now would be like relying on temporary spare tires for your car. You need full-size replacements. At (Store), let's personalize product & method choices for your current & emerging needs so you'll avoid stresses of searching for & comparing important information plus deciding on options under pressure of approaching problems.'

Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.

Copyright 2023 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.

When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here- https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/

Positioning Your Store for Maximum Customer Satisfaction

Let’s add power to “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind” by Al Ries & Jack Trout. Go beyond positioning your store among competitors.

Integrate your store with results & experiences people want to start or improve. Your store is positioned as a necessity when it’s an integral resource for people’s results & experiences.

Products are just ingredients. Product & method combinations make results & experiences special. Since people want benefits, promote your ability to produce & maintain benefits with optimal combinations.

Analogy: Meals can be more than food. Though cooks prepare practical meals, chefs are honored for creating meal experiences. Chefs study nutrition to maximize meal benefits. Be a chef of people’s results & experiences.

Ask customers what completes results & experiences for the most satisfaction & least dissatisfaction. Customers might be satisfied with some factors & dissatisfied with others.

Assemble composites of similar experiences & results, so you can determine what worked. When people are dissatisfied, use composites to determine what’s missing or went wrong.

People might be dissatisfied because they didn’t receive every expected benefit. Ask which benefits people want & what they want to avoid. Ask how they gained benefits & avoided problems. Ask which products fit conditions & people’s desires.

Example: Skiers want well-insulated, flexible clothes to stay warm without restricting movements.

Comparisons can help: What made/would make __ better? Specific insights are better: What was less than you expected? What can we change to create what you expected?

Maximize Fulfillment Of Customers’ Priorities.

Market share concepts are share of mind or wallet. Share of life is also a matter of customers’ priorities. When you have a share of people’s lives, your store is a priority.

Share of life is consumers’ time percentage they benefit from your offers. Make those times as easy as possible, especially if products are used for unpleasant tasks.

If using products is an unavoidable need, ask about needs & how customers use products so you can recommend the easiest, most effective & efficient products & methods. Effectiveness & efficiency can increase satisfaction & offset some unpleasantness by reducing time & energy burdens.

If products are enjoyable, ask how customers maximize enjoyment so you can share tips with customers.

When you shape people's results & experiences, there are standards & compatibility issues. Rationalize changes if your offers aren’t compatible with standards indicated by what people have & want. If customers want to maintain results with current products & methods, present benefits to justify energy, time & money needed to make changes.

People’s current resources affect what they recognize & know how to use. As you monitor supplier offers, ask consumers about their knowledge & comfort with current & new innovations.

Analogy: Appliances are prepared to use (recognize) the right electricity (power).

Establish a powerful position for your outlet by offering precise benefits in local circumstances. Big retailers have inventory for multiple cities, so emphasize your local specialization.

Help people recognize what they need & offer information with products customers need to use for results & experiences.

Offer Example: ‘Several problems come up in (season). When you notice problem symptoms, bring descriptions & pictures to (store). Let’s identify problems & choose the best products & plan effective methods for those problems. Get service you deserve from (store) & get product solutions you deserve.’

In advertising, describe consumers’ current & desired conditions enough to resonate with desires & frustrations. Describe how you’ll increase satisfaction & decrease dissatisfaction.

Example: ‘With previous (product) versions, it was hard to __ & you couldn’t __ until now! You can use Version X to __ & __ even in local soil conditions when you use instructions available from (store). Tutorials focus on using Version X especially for local needs, so you can grow (plant). Many people want (benefits) of (plant), but are frustrated because (reasons). Let’s eliminate those reasons & reduce your frustrations.’

Increase Your Success By Increasing Customers’ Successes.

Make your store a superior resource by adopting an investigator's attention to detail to find what's important for customers' results & experiences. Make results & experiences special by asking about consumer preferences & learning about product options.

Consultation Examples: “Since money is one of your priorities, it’s important to consider long-term expenses. In this area, (problem) can build up each year; use (product) to eliminate it instead of buying cheap stuff each year to reduce it. How long has __ been happening? I recommend either __ or __.’

‘I understand you were disappointed because (product & task) didn’t prevent/solve (problem). Let’s review what did & didn’t happen, so we can diagnose & solve current conditions.’

‘While you enjoy (experience), imagine you could add (product benefit). How would you feel about that? Should we try that option or something else?’

‘When you told me about (result), you were enthusiastic about (benefit). Would you like it to last longer?’

Information in these consultations would improve customer service & advertising offers.

Explain how offers specifically produce benefits people want to gain or maintain.

Example: ‘When you use (product 1) to remove damage & apply (product 2), window frames will last longer & keep cold air out.’

Bridges to Benefits

Consider your position to be an evolving destination, not stationary.

Consumers’ personal positions consist of changing conditions, needs & desires. As consumers search for up-to-date satisfaction, you should arrive a bit ahead of them & bridge their gaps. You can do it by communicating with customers & suppliers.

Position your store, products & services as bridges for people to connect with benefits & rise above restrictions & problems.

Customer’s Current Position >> VVV Restrictions & Problems VVV>> Aspirational Position

Customer’s Current Position >> ^^^ Bridge ^^^ >> Aspirational Position

Help customers understand how they can avoid or eliminate restrictions. Help customers understand how they can solve or at least reduce problems. Help customers prepare for conditions & mitigate what can’t be prevented.

Decades ago, a breath mint was positioned as two mints in one. Since it’s hard to people to smell their breath, commercials emphasized inhaling through their mouths to test it. Users could taste & feel the effects. That test assured users the bridge (to positive effects) was working.

Users wanted good first impressions & to not negate good impressions. Instead of encouraging people to keep popping mints, the implied message was ‘This mint is so good, you can be confident. You’ll know when you’ll need another.’ Users probably didn’t have that confidence in competing products.

After you attain abilities, positioning is achieved in people’s minds & established in their lives. Promote your abilities in terms of resources. Link your resources with things people already know or can confirm.

Example: ‘Many people hope to have (result/experience). Convert your hope into confidence with (products) & guidance from (store). When you notice people enjoying (result/experience), you know it’s possible for you to have it. Observe the variety of options & you’ll know what’s available. Bring pictures, samples & descriptions to (store) & together we’ll explore ways to achieve your goals. Whether you want to select products fitting your ideas or want help with plans or project kits, (store) has your level of help.’

People don’t want to miss out on results & experiences, but they don’t always know how to avoid missing out. Establish your position by defining their desired results/experiences & removing barriers.

Consultation Example: ‘When you tried to__, how did you do it? Did you use (product) like this? (Demonstrate action.) How often do you wish you could __? When do you want to do it? If we add (product) & you use it like this (Demonstrate action.), you could __. Would that fit your goal?’

People might be disappointed in their results & experiences because of inadequate products &/or methods. After defining their desired results & experiences, you can help people determine what fits their expectations & make adjustments. Was there a lack of quality or quantity? Did they want it to last longer? Was anything unexpected? Which benefits would they add?

Customer Integration strengthens your position by integrating your added value into customers’ results.

Your added value includes being a conductor to connect people with resources including knowledge for producing & maintaining results.

Conductors are conduits for resources &/or people who coordinate inputs from multiple sources.

Bridge crossing can represent permanent changes or brief trips. Help people choose products & methods based on the levels & lengths of their needs. Even if you don’t offer everything necessary, your product, service & information can be bridges between consumers & other merchants’ offers.

Consultation Question: ‘When you think about results & experiences, which benefits would make your project complete?’ If you don’t offer products for those benefits, consult with customers & other retailers about what would fit the project & customers' expectations.

Each merchant should have a database of customers’ results & experiences. Multiple merchants can build value & competitive strength by combining that knowledge & product offers.

Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.

Copyright 2020 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.

When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here- https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/

Help Consumers Win Daily Battles.

I’m still expanding the Customer Intimacy concept from “The Discipline of Market Leaders” by Michael Treacy & Fred Wiersema. I’m describing ways to integrate businesses with consumers’ lives.

Consumers think prices are the only differences between stores if retailers don’t produce enough value. Some retailers say consumers are fickle, as if consumers aren’t entitled to superior values. Don’t blame consumers for choosing competitors. You’re responsible for explaining why your offers are superior values.

Customer intimate consultations define superior values & why specific products matter. Consultations help you & customers understand & agree how to use products & tasks to improve conditions.

With that understanding, you can build a reputation of consistently helping people create & maintain improvements.

In “Bottom-Up Marketing”, Al Ries & Jack Trout recommend going down to the battle front (consumers’ minds). Consultations are good for confronting consumers’ beliefs about products & retailers, plus learning about changing needs & desires. Adjust advertising & in-store efforts based on customers’ current beliefs, needs & desires.

In physical wars, each side might promise better conditions for civilians, but trust is built by listening before telling.

The battle metaphor fits retailing because consumers cooperate with the side that provides what they need. You need to provide peace of mind by helping consumers win daily battles (solving & preventing problems).

Consumers need allies for their daily battles. To be a retail ally, make shopping easy with informative advertising & in-store product advice. To win their battles, consumers need reliable supply lines & communication. Consultations show you care about communication & being a reliable supplier.
Promise Example: ‘Many retailers only sell products, so they don’t ask about your needs. We know product details & local conditions, plus we ask questions to confirm which product results you need.’

Big retailers promote commodity products as standard solutions. By definition, problems aren’t standard conditions, so standard solutions might be incomplete. Customized solutions can closely fit problems for long-term quality.

Be Dedicated To People Before You Expect Them To Be Dedicated To You.

Your dedication to local people can attract customers, who won’t settle for standard kits that yield substandard results.
Promise Example: ‘Big retailers often expect people to settle for standard products or kits that don’t totally solve problems. They cater to the needs of regional populations. Instead of buying standard products or kits, tell us about your conditions so we can develop complete, specific results.’

Show you understand customers’ needs & desires while offering solutions.
Promise Example: ‘Daily life can feel like a battle when you try to identify new problems & find solutions while dealing with other concerns. Let’s compare product details & your conditions, so we can customize remedies for your challenges. That’s the value of investing time to understand what you want, so you use the right products & methods.’

When you understand customers, you know which information helps them decide what to buy. Consultations help you learn what to put in your ads & guide customers in-person.

Successful consultations build preliminary trust when you listen before selling. Learn about results consumers expect & their confidence levels during consultations & earn trust by helping customers fulfill their expectations.

During consultations, help customers set expectations based on product specifications & effective methods that fit current & predicted conditions.

Even if only a minority of customers wants consultations, you’ll learn applicable facts & methods to benefit others. When you show deep concern, customers make referrals because they trust you to serve friends.

Customers can help others with methods they learn from you & recommend you as a product source. Customers can reciprocate & keep you in business, so you’ll help them in the future.

Consultations build relationships for mutual benefits. Relationships establish strong positions in the competitive fronts in people’s minds. You need to establish & maintain strong positions in people’s lives.

Advertised product & price lists don’t connect needs with solutions until questions are asked & answered. Your knowledge shows your concern about people, so they can rely on you. Show you just need customers to provide their unique facts & you’ll add the rest.

Solutions = Products + Methods

Retailers typically offer solutions like this: You have this problem; here’s a product, the price is __. The customer intimate approach is: You have this problem; let’s discuss how to solve it with these products & methods.

Customer intimacy focuses on understanding customers’ concerns & recommending specific solutions instead of just selling products. Understanding concerns makes customer service easier.

Build trust by explaining how you integrate your store with customers’ lives by understanding their concerns.
Example: ‘We focus on what’s important for your quality of life. We choose products based on living in our community & discussing customers’ concerns & goals. We study product details & local conditions, so we can recommend solutions instead of just selling products.’

Customer intimate retailers develop confidence in solutions by basing offers on why people want to obtain or avoid things. Ask about customers’ priorities & viewpoints, so you can develop solutions & explain why benefits are important.

People might choose stores for combined reasons.
Example: They want help to accurately diagnose problems & avoid mistakes when implementing solutions.

People Wonder, ‘What If __?’

To help people, ask about their concerns.
Example: ‘Have you heard good & bad things about (product)? Do you want a better alternative? Let’s discuss your conditions. What’s the best result you want? What’s the least you expect? Have you ever tried (product)? What were your results? If __ happens, your options are __. Based on your conditions, __ might be your best option.’

Discuss product expectations & results criteria, so customers understand which products & methods are safe & effective for their conditions & goals.

People need to accurately evaluate results to determine if problems are thoroughly solved or prevented. Help people choose products & evaluate results by discussing how to eliminate causes & create effects.

Offer checklists or internet links to help customers diagnose problems, choose necessary products for specific problems & evaluate results.
Example: ‘Some retailers may claim to sell solutions, but do they help you identify problems or just sell products? When they sell the wrong products, you still have problems & less money. It’s why we have checklists & other resources to help you identify specific problems & confirm solutions are working.’

Even after buying necessary products, people need knowledge that might not be on product labels.
Examples: Since conditions vary, what’s right for some cases is wrong for others. Misusing products can cause problems without fixing anything. If products don’t work quickly, people might use the wrong amount & later wonder if it’s too late to correct. People need to know what to expect step-by-step, so they work at the right pace & adjust methods if necessary.

How precise should people be with methods & measurements?
Example: Product ingredients can have varying effects & safety risks. People might use minimal amounts to reduce chemical exposures, but they’d also get reduced results. Discuss how to accommodate safety concerns so people get results they pay for.
Results of using safety products can depend on materials. Vinyl gloves can withstand chemicals, but if chemical reactions create extreme heat or fire, vinyl gloves aren’t protective.

If project results start varying from expectations, help customers realistically adjust expectations &/or use different products &/or methods.

Strengthen Your Competitive Advantage By Improving Lives

You’ll build your competitive advantage with every bit of exclusive value you add. Though your guidance wouldn’t guarantee perfection, you can reduce people’s risks. You can compete based on reducing people’s risks.
Offer Example: ‘Get customized plans to increase your success & decrease risks. You may be unaware of risk factors. Though we can’t guarantee perfection, let’s discuss your conditions & goals. We can increase positive factors & decrease negatives.’

Project kits can include warnings about potential risks like trying to get faster results or off-label results.
Example: ‘People are often tempted to use higher product amounts or try unrecommended methods to get faster or different results. Please use products as instructed. Even if experienced users advise various changes, serious injuries & damage are possible.’

Though people can find diagnostic pictures & guidance on the internet, they need enough knowledge to determine search terms & evaluate information.

Be a stronger competitor by increasing the effectiveness of products by accurately diagnosing problems or guiding people to find diagnostic information.

Make your store irreplaceable by integrating with consumers' priorities & linking with their desires. Example: ‘Winter is close, so it’s time to plan for (issue). You’ll be sure your home is secure, when high priority tasks are done. Your priority might be __; we’ll help with (products), so you can prevent/fix __. As we fulfill your priorities, you’ll feel less stress & enjoy life more.’


Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2020 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/

Retail Processes Are Important

I'm transferring blog posts below from another service.

Before getting into the discussion below from 2009, I'm clarifying why retail processes are important.

You need superior service to compete with discount stores.

Sometimes, people choose businesses based on confidence. You should inspire confidence by using knowledge & systems to guide people to select the best options. When people get their expected results, they'll have confidence to buy from you again.

As you increase your reputation, you'll be more persuasive when you advertise.

Use a solid reputation & statistics to persuade people to buy solutions instead of wishfully thinking they'll avoid problems. Tell people what'll happen without your offers to solve, mitigate & prevent problems. Explain how you reduce customers' risks more than discount stores.

Make Your Business More Successful With Policies, Plans & Procedures

Chet Holmes advised using 3 Ps: policies, plans & procedures to make businesses successful. A major reason for using 3 Ps is optimizing business practices.
Those 3 Ps have various purposes & definitions. Now I'm focusing on producing value for customers.

Policy: Deciding which results are valuable & requiring actions to produce & offer those results
Plan: Organizing actions & resources to fulfill policy requirements
Procedure/Process: Steps to fulfill plans

When you develop optimal processes, you can avoid mistakes by using the same steps. You can produce quick, consistent results with smooth practiced processes, instead of making things up each time.

Well-practiced processes become subconscious routines & increase in effectiveness & efficiency.

Subconscious routines use less energy than conscious thoughts, so you can reduce stress & fatigue with processes.

Steps in developing & finishing sales efforts are processes: order & store inventory, design ads & displays, then serve customers when they respond.

You can use processes to show customers how to use products to produce & maintain results.

Acquiring Processes

This discussion (below) started with the issue of nascent processes.

Refined processes become nascent when they're used in a different environment.

It can be hard to determine if processes will fully satisfy a purpose until they're refined. So, you might need to keep nascent processes separate until you're finished testing.

You can acquire processes by: 1) hiring employees or consultants; 2) buying businesses; 3) observation & 4) reading case studies.

When you audition processes, you should consider these issues:
Which results did the processes originally produce?
Do those results fit customers' current conditions?
When customers need slightly different results, you can adapt processes by adding &/or removing aspects.
Which other (potential) problems can these processes prevent or solve?
To solve different problems, you'll probably need to change steps &/or materials. Those changes can temporarily decrease the effectiveness & efficiency, so allow time for practice.

Updating Your Store With Processes As Customers' Conditions Change

As customers' conditions change, you can develop processes to adapt your store & services. Compare what customers usually buy for seasons with what they'll need for new solutions & improvements.

You might prioritize inventory & services based on changes customers are least prepared for. Will previous products & services fulfill customers' evolving needs?

Determine if you can prioritize inventory & services based on changes competitors are least qualified for.

You should develop testing processes for sales methods, so you can track results & adopt what works. When you do it, you can optimally market new solutions & improvements.

Processes, Tactics & Strategies

Synonyms like tactic, process & method can be interchanged. I tried to avoid confusion.

I've written about processes, tactics & strategies in other posts, so now I'm just focusing on developing tactical processes.

Discount stores refine processes to reduce costs. Local retailers can reduce costs & create value with processes.

In “Bottom-Up Marketing", Al Ries & Jack Trout described a strategy as a coherent marketing direction & encompassing coherent marketing activities & a tactic as an idea. Marketing mix activities must be coherently focused on the tactic.

They used NyQuil as an example. The tactic was developing a nighttime cold remedy, which dictated the strategy of introducing NyQuil as a cold remedy.

I've adapted that for retailing. Marketing tactics & strategies determine how products & services are offered.

Customer service tactics & strategies should help customers get needed results with products & services. Processes should fulfill your strategic & tactical framework.

Your marketing tactic can promise solutions for specific problem categories. Your marketing strategy can be compatible marketing activities to promote your tactic. In-store processes would help people find the best solution for a specific problem.

Strategies set directions & activities for stores to serve customers. Tactics should show how stores, products & services are valuable for customers. Processes can apply that value by guiding customers.

After promotions attract customers, processes can guide store staff & customers to combine products & services to produce benefits. Strategies can link processes & tactics, so customers recognize product & service value, so they buy benefits to gain results.

Develop processes to diagnose customers' conditions to help customers choose products/services & plan improvement/solution projects. Diagnostic processes are ways to observe symptoms & ask questions to determine causes & effects. After a diagnosis, you can find ways to stop or mitigate causes & decrease or eliminate negative effects.

You can use your product knowledge to determine what will solve problems & if solutions will also prevent problem recurrences.

Customer Service Processes

In the Performance Enhancement Quotient "PEQ" Program, Jay Abraham & Chet Holmes advised using strategies to make tactics more effective. Abraham & Holmes used retail examples.

Jay Abraham said a retailer tested approaches like this: When people walked in, the store staff asked, "And what ad brought you into the store today?" Jay said, "That produced 300% more ultimate sales. You won't know what's going to work masterfully unless you test."

This is an edited example from Chet Holmes: I'm the salesman in this store & I say, "Hi, what are you looking for?" The guy says, "I'm looking for couches." I say, "This way to couches." On the way to the couches, I say to the customer, "Is it your first time in the store? We've been in business for 47 years. We do this, we do that …" This is designed with all these strategic layers you're trying to accomplish.

These examples can be combined with questions & statements to help customers decide which options to buy.

The Transferred Blog Posts

Hillary considered buying a store.

Without policies, plans & procedures (3 Ps), there's not much to buy except physical assets & possibly a customer list. Physical assets can be bought from other sources. Customers might not return after a store is sold unless there's still consistent value.

Stores can offer consistent value by establishing & optimizing 3 Ps.

Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2019 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/

Copyright 2009 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
This blog post was transferred from another service.

Subject: I'm confused about Nascent Processes Author: Hillary Date: 03/12/09

I realize you've written about Clayton M. Christensen & processes because they're important. I've listened to his audio books. I'm trying to wrap my mind around the process concepts.

A small competitor & his part-time employees are struggling. We've talked about some kind of merger, strategic alliance, joint venture or whatever buzz word would apply. If we can agree on a price, I could consider buying the store & possibly hiring the (former) owner & part-timers.

It seems they did some things correctly, but not enough to keep the store alive in this economy.

How can I know if I should let them do what they did before & what I should change?

Subject: Nascent Processes & Profitability Author: Dennis S. Vogel Date Posted: 03/13/09
In reply to: Hillary's message, "I'm confused about Nascent Processes" on 03/12/09

Hi Hillary,

Thanks for using this forum.

I realize I may be going beyond the answer you want, but I want to be sure the issues are covered & understood.

You could be referring only to processes, but why have a process unless it's needed to profitably sell a product/service?

I don't know your whole situation, here's the short answer: Let them do what satisfies a profitable customer base. Change what's barely profitable or breaking even. Eliminate what costs you too much to do/offer.

You should read some or all of what I'm writing to more fully explain & validate the short answer.

You may've noticed other threads in this forum are long & in multiple parts. This thread will be in multiple parts, too.

I don't know when I'll finish it. I tend to reread & rewrite quite a bit. So, far I've written over 6 pages. Some things I wrote directly relate to your question & my short answer. Other parts are analogies to help explain some concepts.

Small businesses can sometimes sell things profitably when big businesses can't. But some businesses barely hang on while selling outdated products & low-demand services.

Some retailers keep products in stock because they made an investment when they bought the products & wholesalers/liquidators won't buy the outdated products.

Be careful about buying a store that stocks outdated products. Part of your due diligence should determine if there is (or could reasonably be) profitable demand for the products.

Is that store unprofitable because of the inventory, business practices or both?

A discussion of how to profitably buy a store can be complicated. As a marketing consultant, I could help you with some issues, but you definitely need legal & accounting guidance. I'm not licensed or qualified to get deeply into legal & accounting issues.

A store near me sold some discontinued products (for a very low price) to an employee who used some of those in his hobbies. He personally sold some of those also when people asked for them. The retailer was no longer liable for those.

The retailer got some money for the products & opened his storage & display space again. Since he sold the products for such low prices, the Return On Investment may have been low. While the products consumed space & some labor, the Return On Assets was extremely low.

Storage & display space can be expensive assets. ROI is critical, but low ROA dooms many businesses.

Maybe you can sell old inventory through online auctions or classified ads.

A few customers may benefit from something that isn't profitable & may be sold at or below break-even.

If it's legal, you may sell some individual products or case lots to a group. Let them divide it, then you wouldn't pay somebody to open the boxes, then unpack & offer the products.

There are some circumstances, when this would be illegal. Some examples: prescriptions & anything requiring a background check or some kind of legal verification.

If other (possibly skilled) processing &/or assembly would be necessary, they may find somebody to do it or you could teach them.

If there aren't other sources or possible options for people to get what they need, you'll end up determining what you can afford to do. I don't recommend cutting off a supply unless there's no practical way you can provide what people need without jeopardizing yourself or your business. If it's just an issue of desire & not need, you may end up dropping it.

As nations, businesses & people progress, there's less demand for some things. It's part of modern life.

Subject: Re: I'm confused about Nascent Processes Author: Hillary Date Posted: 04/10/09
In reply to: Hillary's message, "I'm confused about Nascent Processes" on 03/12/09

Hi Dennis,

Thank you for helping me. I thought of writing earlier but I'm not sure how much more I can sure of.

I could specify which products we'd stock, but it could change quickly, especially with spring. There are plenty of traveling retailers. They remind me of "Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves."

By the time we know they're setting up, they promote, sell quickly & leave. There are flea markets & the sellers vary. Some major stores have pop-up stores. Some of these have guarantees so we can't use guarantees as a benefit.

The other stores owner I might buy out or merge with & I think our problem may be we stock too much of the same things. But I've read more than one store with the same products can bring more people in.

It doesn't mean we have to sell all of the same things.

We can't afford for suppliers to know how much trouble we may be in. Also if customers think we won't be here, they may not be our customer. Though the traveling stores have enough luck.

We're not being dishonest; we know people over react & may think we're worse off than we are if they suspect anything.

Are there things you teach us to help us succeed even if we change products?

Thanks

Subject: Creating Superior Value With Marketing & Retail Processes Author: Dennis S. Vogel Date Posted: 04/13/09
In reply to: Hillary's message, "Re: I'm confused about Nascent Processes" on 04/10/09

Hi Hillary,

Peter Drucker's insight: Company cultures are like country cultures. Never try to change one. Try, instead, to work with what you've got.

I agree with that as long as the culture isn't counterproductive or destructive.

A big part of a culture is its values: what's considered valuable & ethical. Processes are ways to produce & conserve what's valued.

Many retail processes should work for a variety of products & customers, so you should be able to adapt if you change product categories.

Without a specific specialty, I don't know which benefits you would offer compared to the competitors you wrote about. Flea market vendors & traveling retailers may have specialized product knowledge. They may be able to answer questions & give good advice.

There are more things to consider in risk reversal than just offering guarantees. Even if the full price is refunded, a problem isn't solved. If a shirt rips because of substandard material, a customer is entitled to a refund, but the refund doesn't solve the problem.

Money, a credit or a refund check won't cover a person's back or keep him/her warm.

Here's an educated guess (I've extrapolated based on mail-order & Internet marketing):
Traveling retailers probably have office addresses; but without physical stores, they can't quickly remedy problems. Maybe they can send a replacement, but it's not instant.

If a customer doesn't have enough money to buy a replacement, s/he has to wait for a traveling retailer to receive & inspect a returned product. Then the financial transaction is handled. Even if a credit/debit card account is credited, the customer still doesn't have the solution s/he tried to buy. To get a problem solved quickly, s/he needs to buy a replacement product from a different retailer who hasn't left town.

I haven't bought from any of those transients, so I don't know what happens when products are defective.

If this is accurate & a lawyer approves, your message to their prospects could be:
Saving Money Isn't Always A Bargain
"Are you thinking of buying a ‘bargain' from a transient retailer? You'd be better buy at least 2, so you might still have 1 to use while you wait for your refund. There are reasons for products to be so cheap. There are also reasons for things to be made in places we can't see. How young are the workers (slaves) who make those ‘bargains'? How many hours per day do they work? How much pollution is in their air & water?
"Yes, these issues ARE important to you. It's hard for overworked children to concentrate on work when they & their families are sick. When they're distracted, they don't make good products.
"Will a transient retailer talk to you about these issues? Not unless you ask, but don't expect real answers. Transient retailers just want you to buy, so they can take your money & run to the next city."

Since I'm not licensed to give legal advice; a lawyer should guide you before you try attacking competitors. But I'll warn you- Do NOT specify a transient retailer by name.

As long as you don't accuse specific retailers, if they want to admit they resemble your remarks enough to object, they'd be vulnerable to your criticism, then they'd be vulnerable to public criticism. If they don't think they resemble an unnamed retailer you criticize, why would they object?

If you were to specify a business & what you claim isn't completely accurate you could be completely sued for libel/slander or defamation. That's besides the negative effects on your reputation.

Here's another possible theme you could test if it's accurate:
"Where Do You Get The Best Value For Your Money? Going to flea markets & buying inexpensive used items can be fun. But some sellers are FLEE markets because after they get your money they FLEE! They're gone & so is YOUR MONEY!
"It's maddening enough to get people's adrenalin flowing. Adrenalin/ epinephrine is your Fight or Flight hormone. When you deal with FLEE markets, your epinephrine is wasted. You can't fight because your enemy has taken flight.
"Some people are frustrated again when they try to exchange cheap, worn out, broken & defective FLEE market stuff in our store. We can't afford to take it in exchange because suppliers we buy inventory from won't accept it. We don't offer anything that bad & neither do our suppliers.
"We accept exchanges of products sold from our inventory. If we'd accept FLEE market stuff, we'd be stuck with it. We wouldn't try to sell it to anybody. We'd have to throw it away; so if we accept it, we'd be throwing our money away."

(It implies FLEE market customers threw their money away without directly insulting them. This message doesn't call them fools.)

Now back to the potential merger or store purchase-

Profitable Processes

When a person or business has a new (nascent) process, it may be hard to determine its efficacy. A process may only be effective (& cost-effective) when it's done proficiently & efficiently. Efficiency & proficiency depend on practice & making adjustments.

I'm using efficacy & effective to mean achieving maximum, optimal & intended results.

I'm using efficient to mean achieving maximum & optimal results without wasting time, money & other resources.

Peter Drucker's insights: "Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things."
"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."

You probably already know about the problems of integrating or not integrating what people or other businesses do.

It's vital - for morale & progress - to make decisions about integration based on results, not on how the processes were learned or developed.

Too many people dismiss things if they weren't involved in creating or developing them. Even if you know better than to do it, the other business owner & employees may discriminate against what they think is foreign. This is insulting for those whose knowledge is rejected.

Even if you buy the other store & the other business owner works for you (as opposed to being a full partner), you should do your best to agree about whose processes will be used - before you make a commitment. S/he may "understand" (assume) you intend to leave things as they are.

Misunderstandings can lead to seller's & buyer's remorse. Legally ending the arrangement could be more expensive - in money & time - than the merger or purchase that started it.

It may be challenging to objectively determine which processes are more effective or efficient. If the result(s) are similar, profitably produced & customers gladly pay profitable prices for the value, some details aren't worth debating. But determine what you'll tolerate & what's unacceptable.

Peter Drucker's insight: Executives owe it to the organization & to their fellow workers not to tolerate nonperforming individuals in important jobs.

The only "problem" inherent in a different process may be the hassle & expense of learning it. Whether people consciously &/or subconsciously resist, some passively undermine what they don't like. They do things slowly, they procrastinate &/or they do low quality work.

The only "innovation" they may produce is negative. They cost a business more than their "efforts" are worth.

Peter Drucker's insight: Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has 2 - & only 2 - basic functions: marketing & innovation. Marketing & innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.

To positively differentiate your store(s) for consumers, you need real solutions worth marketing.

Differentiation as an employer can help you retain & recruit good workers. But sometimes, people won't like tasks or ways (processes) they're expected to do tasks. They may adamantly believe their way of doing things is better. Or they may disagree about how necessary some tasks are.

It's great to have a fun job & business, but sometimes we (& employees) need to put up with hassles involved with creating value. We need to learn to do things to solve customers' problems even if it doesn't immediately solve our problems.

If your potential partner & employees won't do what creates more value for customers, it's best to know it early so you don't make the wrong decisions.

Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.

Copyright 2009 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.

ubject: I disagree with a universal concept of processes Author: Doubter Date: 04/22/09
In reply to: Hillary's message, "I'm confused about Nascent Processes" on 03/12/09

I can understand how processes are important for manufacturers to produce consistent products and for big retailers that depend on logistics. But small retailers get preproduced inventory that's shipped to us by logistics companies. We get small amounts of various products; we open boxes and put products on shelves and racks - end of "process".

When I try to get productive conversations going about how we can effectively compete with big retailers, some members want to talk about processes.

When I asked how they came up with their ideas, guess whose name came up!

I read some of your stuff and it applies, but now you've gone off in another direction - maybe right maybe wrong depends on the stores and circumstances.

I'd like to open-minded about this, but it seems creating and practicing processes requires more time than it's worth.

Processes, as you and Clayton M. Christensen have written, are set to create the same results over and over. This produces a one-size-fits-all or one-size-fits-none result.

For those who serve homogenous groups, it may be good, but few small retailers can afford to do it. We need to serve whomever comes in and serve as they want to be served. Since we have to charge higher prices because of our lower volume, we have tailor-fit every service to everybody who comes in.

We don't sell enough of the same products to the same kind of people to warrant using the same processes over and over.

Using a common or standardized process to serve individuals violates what Stephen R. Covey wrote about being efficient with things and effective with people.
Processes are formed for efficiency. Success with people depends on effectiveness.

Based on other things you wrote, you respect Covey.

Some customers ask me questions they couldn't get answered in discount or big high-end stores.

I can't always produce premanufactured - via processes - answers.

I thought for a while I misunderstood what you claim about processes, but members of our group understand it the same way. It'd seem we're not all misunderstanding but it's possible. We don't all agree.

Maybe we could/would agree if we had some universal examples.

I know there are apt to be individual cases of useful processes, but it seems you're claiming the concept is universal.

Subject: Increase Customers' Confidence With Processes Author: Dennis S. Vogel Date: 04/23/09
In reply to: Doubter's message, "I disagree with a universal concept of processes" on 04/22/09

Thank you for responding. It seems you may be asking for clarification. We may not agree even after I clarify these points.

I don't know of any universal examples of processes. Without an in-depth study of an individual business & ability to test methods in that business, I can't develop a definitive, tailored process. It wouldn't be right to reveal proprietary, behind-the-scenes methods of businesses without owners' permission.
I could provide some guidelines.

I think the main misunderstanding is about the length or size of processes. A process can be simple & still improve efficiency & effectiveness.
Example: You can have pens & paper near your phones. If you don't have a telephone headset & you're right handed, you can determine when you take phone calls, you'll pick up your hand set, then place it by your left ear. Then you can pick up a pen with your right hand & be ready to write on paper.

A simple process like this may seem unusually & unnecessarily regimented until you consider the benefits. You'd be ready to hold a phone hand set between your left shoulder & head, then be able to write notes about what customers want when they call. Your notes could be passed to your staff to do what a customer wants.

I'm not implying you waste time, but I'm using a "you" viewpoint to communicate this concept.

This process would cut down on time being wasted if you look for a pen or paper during a call. You'd be less apt to drop your phone hand set because you wouldn't have to transfer it between your hands while you talk & hold a pen. You'd probably reduce the necessity to ask customers to repeat things.

This short process would be efficient with things & increase effectiveness & benefits for you & customers.

This process could be almost universal, but cobblers & other craft-oriented people probably wouldn't use it. Some service providers don't accept calls because it slows their workflow.

Note: Some cobblers either don't publish their business phone numbers &/or list their home phone numbers. Reason: Customers call to ask if their shoes have been fixed, but if they didn't call, cobblers could spend more time fixing because they'd spend less time handling phones & talking.

I advise cobblers & others to use numbered work order receipts & answering machines. When a customer leaves shoes, boots, etc. to be fixed, they'd get a numbered receipt. When their footwear is ready, that number would be listed.

They could call & listen to an outgoing message that includes the numbers from the receipts. The list numbers would indicate which footwear has been fixed.
Their numbers would be listed for a few days or a week at the longest. If customers still didn't pick up their completed footwear, it wouldn't be listed any longer.

I talked with a cobbler who was frustrated because so many customers called & interrupted his work. He stopped publishing his business phone number. Then he was frustrated because people weren't coming back to get their fixed footwear.

Do you think the customers didn't want to waste time going back to a cobbler shop unless they knew the work was completed?

If they kept returning to the shop just to ask about their footwear before the work was done, they'd still unnecessarily interrupt a cobbler.

Now with the Internet, a cobbler can have a simple web site & update the list of numbers of completed work orders.

Why use numbers instead of names? Because some people would be concerned about their privacy being violated.

A process could be developed to expedite posting the numbers &/or updating the list in the answering machine outgoing messages.

Depending on the questions customers ask & the answers you provide, you may benefit from having a place for your books, magazines & notes, plus a quick way to find information in those sources.

Processes can be used to create efficient results for people. For those who expect fast service - faster than big (giants) & medium (ogres) retailers offer - if you don't serve them with at least the speed they expect, they may choose a different store.

Consumers may feel if they end up waiting for service no matter which store they shop in, they might as well buy from giants & ogres who charge lower prices.
Depending how efficiently & effectively, giants & ogres train workers; customers could be dissatisfied with the service no matter how low the prices are.
Giants & ogres tend to focus on efficiency with things & skimp on effectiveness with people. Because of a lack of processes, small retailers may frustrate consumers too.

With the right processes, small retailers can lower their expenses (because they'd be more efficient) & satisfy more customers (because they'd be more effective).

Some processes will only solve a limited number of problems (maybe only 1). Each resulting solution may fit only specific people or situations, but hopefully those solutions would be satisfactory. Using a process would probably speed up the services. Then there'd be more time to solve less common problems.

Selling more solutions resulting from processes could bring in more money because using processes would increase the speed & accuracy of actions. There'd be less wasted time & materials.

Customers, business owners & workers would be less frustrated. It could also improve ego-strength because results could be consistently positive. Confident people are apt to inspire the confidence of others. Confident, reassured customers are more apt to return & refer others.

Confident people are apt to try & succeed in solving less common & possibly more complex problems.

Subject: More Clarification Is In Order Author: GRand Master Date: 04/23/09
In reply to: Doubter 's message, "I disagree with a universal concept of processes" on 04/22/09

Doubter, Dennis, Ladies, & Gentlemen:

I'd better clarify more points for our host.

Some people may wonder what a process about taking phone calls has to do with marketing. Everything in business should be related to marketing because it affects customer's experiences. Even Accounting? Yep!

Anything that affects how much money is invested in presenting merchandise and serving customers is related to marketing. Whatever influences customers' perception of a business is related to marketing. Employees loudly chewing gum matters too.

Do you think, "Answering a phone and other simple things are no-brainers"?

After you have a good process, it can be a no-brainer. A big reason for having processes to make some things so routine they're ALMOST no-brainers. But if you or employees completely disengage your brains, you're apt to make mistakes.

Some people want to multitask, others would prefer not, but feel forced to do it. Develop processes to make multitasking a viable option - as long you're not face-to-face with customers. Even if your conscious mind is totally focused with them while your hands and subconscious are doing something routine, customers are apt to feel you're paying attention to them. It's true, even if they multitask while they talk to you. Double standard? Sure. Unfair? Probably so.

Analogy: Think of baseball games and other childhood events. Somebody supplied a ball and bat or other necessary equipment. That person demanded that the others follow his/her rules, right?

If the others didn't accept his/her rules, they didn't play because its owner took the necessary equipment back.

The necessary equipment in this case is the money a prospect will pay you if you follow his/her rules. If you want him/her to pay, you've got to play - by their rules.

Ego-strength?! As a business owner, you may have enough under normal circumstances. But if you're frustrated by playing by others' rules, things going wrong, complaints, high expenses & low income, etc. Your confidence may be strong, but shaken.

Another analogy: Rodney Dangerfield said something like: "This morning I picked up my shirt - a button fell off. I picked up my brief case - the handle fell off. I'm afraid to go to the bathroom!"

Going to the bathroom probably wouldn't cause a fall off, but it can seem like it would. It's an example of shaken confidence.

Why would a process make a difference? When you have a successful way to do something, you're apt to be successful with it again. If you make it up as you go along every time, you won't always have the same level of success. After a few strike-outs, it's harder to get back up to the plate & be confident of hitting a homerun or even just a base hit.

Subconsciously, if you keep making mistakes, those mistakes can become habits. This makes it more imperative to set up successful processes - even for mundane tasks - to get your brain on a successful track.

Have you noticed anybody making a mistake, then be a bit miffed & make the same mistake again? After that, he or she is angry, but his/her subconscious is focused on the mistake instead of the desired results. So, he or she makes the same mistake again.

It's like the story of the baseball team manager who told a pitcher which pitch not to throw because the batter hit many home-runs off that particular pitch. The pitcher then threw that pitch & that batter got another home-run. Why?
The pitcher focused on the wrong pitch instead of focusing on a right pitch.

Successful processes focus people's subconscious minds on doing what's right so the right things block thoughts of the wrong things.

What Dennis wrote about the cobbler and interrupting calls from customers is an example of a business owner and customers in a contest of wills. Dennis got lucky again by suggesting a good compromise.

This message is getting long so I won't elaborate much. But read what Stephen R. Covey in "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" about synergistic Win/Win solutions that are better & mutually beneficial.

Develop ways for customers, employees and business owners to benefit. But when there are slight inconveniences for business owners and employees when they make things convenient for customers, deal with it. That's business. Customers aren't always right. Business owners and employees have rights too. But if you want customers to pay, you've got to play - by their rules.

Subject: Education & Training Are Critical Author: Dennis S. Vogel Date: 05/18/09
In reply to: Subject: More Clarification Is In Order Author: GRand Master Date: 04/23/09

GRand Master added some good points & clarification.

Education & Training Are Critical

Peter Drucker's insights:
"Knowledge has to be improved, challenged & increased constantly, or it vanishes."
"Making good decisions is a crucial skill at every level."
"No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of average human beings."

Training & education should help people make the right decisions, but beware: Part of training is letting people experiment to find what they do well & learn from their successes & mistakes. As long as the risks are low, you'll end up enduring the results or lack of results.

You may hire or already have somebody who has experience, but the experience may be doing things differently than you &/or customers expect. The results may be the same, the time required to do the tasks could be much different.

Different methods can be just as effective in producing a consistent result, but some of those methods may be more efficient than others.

It's up to you to determine if you'll require everybody who performs a task to do it the same way.

Some employers prefer hiring people who don't have job-related experience because retraining (training to do things differently) can be more expensive than training. It's related to the Curse Of Knowledge. It's hard for people to act & think like they don't know what they've learned & remember.

The Best People Using The Best Procedures

When you make hiring, firing, retention & promotion decisions, you should remember how critical it is to have the best (intelligence, wisdom & talent) people you can afford. Now here's a conflicting concept: A major goal in designing & developing processes is to make intelligence, wisdom & talent ALMOST (not entirely) irrelevant.

Don't develop a lot of boring, mindless tasks. Since people tend to be distracted while they work & may need to multitask, it can be good for tasks not to require total concentration.

Wise, talented & intelligent people should have optimal ways (KNOW HOW) of doing things so they KNOW WHAT to do & not do. They should be informed enough to KNOW WHY a customer desires a certain result. After employees master a method, they can focus more on results instead of each action. With the right input & methods, they can use their judgment to determine when innovation may improve results.

(Note: If customers are asked why they want a result, they may feel the question violates their privacy. But when somebody knows why, s/he may know how to adapt/adjust resources to produce a better result.)

It's similar to learning how to drive. Somebody, who doesn't have to consciously focus on each action, can consciously focus on traffic & road conditions. Another driver, who focuses on staying in a lane, has less mental resources available to watch for & avoid hazards.

Recipes For Success

While listening to Christensen's books (especially "Seeing What's Next"), you may notice what happens when industries & organizations develop rules, routines & standards. (Note: The authors didn't express the concepts exactly how I did below. I embellished & extrapolated.)

It's somewhat like chefs writing recipes for people who have less cooking skill, knowledge &/or experience. When novices use the recommended amounts of the right ingredients & bake/cook those as instructed, they could produce the same results.

People, who have less training & education, can effectively use instructions (processes) to do specialized tasks. Efficiency increases because people become qualified sooner & they can create consistent value. They can create consistent value in less time & with less waste than technology pioneers could. Pioneers used trial & error while they searched for & developed the right resources & experimented to determine the right ways to use those resources.

The pioneers' efforts, mistakes & successes were used as technological foundations for training the next practitioners. What subsequent practitioners discovered & perfected was codified into rules, routines & standards. Those became bases for education.

Effectiveness increases because highly educated, trained specialists can focus on complex problems that others aren't qualified to solve.

Too many people spout this derogatory comment: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." They imply teachers' & professors' contributions aren't valuable enough. Talented, dedicated instructors produce a lot of value. They educate students, while other people - who have specialized knowledge & skill - focus on improving technologies.

Talented practitioners might not have the talent &/or patience to teach others. Knowing how to do something is different than knowing to teach others to do it.

It'd be less efficient if practitioners would spend time teaching others instead of improving technologies. Who would improve technologies while practitioners would be teaching? Instructors can effectively teach students how to be entry-level practitioners.

There are opportunity costs in everything people do & don't do. So, it's important be as efficient as possible. Efficiency can reduce the resources - including time & money - used to produce a result. It means there'd be resources left to produce another result.

High Quality Education & High Quality Knowledge Aren't The Same

What should matter to you is the content & quality of a worker's education & training, plus how much knowledge & skill s/he retains. The content & quality is more important than who taught/trained them & where the training & education took place.
Example- The facts you learned from listening to recorded books are just as valuable as they would be if you were a Harvard student & learned the same facts directly from Clayton M. Christensen or a graduate assistant in a classroom.

Of course, Harvard students can learn a deeper variety of content than you've learned from a few hours of listening to CDs. You wouldn't necessarily learn those same facts any better in a classroom, than you have from the tapes or CDs.

Unfortunately, tapes or CDs can't interactively respond to your questions. But, in a big class (lecture hall), sometimes it's hard to get answers.

Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2009 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.

Subject: Clarification About Education & Training Are Critical Author: GRand Master Date: 05/20/09
In reply to: Dennis S. Vogel's message, "Education & Training Are Critical" on 05/18/09

Here I am again clarifying our host's explanations.

Dennis can correct me if I'm wrong: Based on what he wrote, he apparently included non-classroom learning as still being "book learnin'" It's still valuable as long as the content is valuable.

Education IS critical & should be pursued in any ethical way people can get it. There are many public & school libraries.

If there's a printed or recorded book you need, but if you can't find it in a local library, you should ask for an interlibrary loan. Interlibrary loans allow you to check out books from distant libraries.

Some college & university libraries are available for non-students. There may be a small fee involved.

If you can afford the money & space, you can buy a book and have it available for future reference. Though authors benefit from book sales, many authors are consultants and educators who use their books to reach more prospects. Books bring publicity to consultants, professors, universities and colleges.

Don't feel bad if you can't afford the money or space for more books. You can honor and acknowledge authors by using their work and then telling people about the benefits you got from their insights - testimonials.

Subject: Your Role Is To Figure Out How & Why. Workers' Roles Are To Do & Try. Author: Dennis S. Vogel Date: 07/14/09
In reply to: Hillary's message, "I'm confused about Nascent Processes" on 03/12/09

Here's an example (analogy) I'll use to start explaining what comes next. (I'll tie it in effectively.)

I know many will disagree with this, but it's my opinion.

It's inefficient to have doctors teaching undergraduate classes. Doctors are overqualified for the job. Somebody, who has a bachelor's degree, can adequately teach general education courses & anything below a graduate level. A college-educated professor can answer basic questions as easily as a professor with doctorate. Generally, in academics, answers to advanced questions wouldn't help anybody until they're tested on the advanced knowledge. That would happen in graduate school.

This should be a safe assumption: Somebody, who knows a subject well enough to graduate from college with a bachelor's degree, knows enough to provide an identical education for other students. This education would be good enough to confer bachelor's degrees.

(Think of this logically. When graduate students study to get doctorates, do the professors have degrees a few levels above what the students want? NO! Doctorates are the highest. The education produced is good enough for the students to graduate.)

Doctors/professors can do research (those with less education aren't qualified to do) & can supervise researchers. Maybe those researchers would be students or interns.

There's a snob factor in being educated by professors with the highest credentials, but it doesn't mean a student is better educated or prepared for a career.

Some employers are more interested in having employees who have college degrees than they (employers) are interested in the education or field of study. There's a big difference between having a degree & getting, then retaining an education.

Some employers are picky about which schools potential employees attended. (This is another inefficiency - It doesn't make sense.)

Here's how this analogy may apply to your situation:
In the short-term, it may seem more efficient & effective for you to do a task, instead of training somebody to do it. You probably have more knowledge & skill than the result justifies. You're also probably overqualified for the job of a trainer.

When somebody in an entry-level job (with entry-level wages) can produce essentially the same results as you can, you should only do those tasks occasionally.

By using optimal marketing, you can increase your business revenue enough to cover somebody else's wages.

If customers get just as much benefit from an employee's work as they can get from yours, you should do higher-level tasks. It's vital for you to still have contact with customers, so you don't lose your perspective.

You may be overqualified in serving some customers. (You shouldn't tell them if you are, since that could offend them.) If they want/need basic service & their questions require entry-level knowledge, you can have somebody else serve them while you focus on creating more value for your whole customer base.
Depending how big your staff is/will be, you should decide if you'll have somebody specifically in charge of training. The trainer can do other tasks when there aren't any trainees. Having designated trainers makes it easier to have consistent, standardized training.

Having any experienced worker train new workers can be ineffective & inefficient because knowing how to do something is different than knowing to teach others to do it.

Side Note: Some self-important people will insist on being served by the top person (owner/manager). I'm against arbitrary price increases, but if somebody will only accept your work, the fact you did it may be worth a higher price to that person. A higher price may encourage people to save money & accept employees' work.

Customers may object to paying more for the owner's work & may say, "It's not worth that much. I can get the same thing for less money when an employee does the work." *Exactly!*

Sometimes, I think people expect to served by - or at least meet - the business founder because his/her name is in the business name.

Somebody, who decides to buy from Hank Smith Fashions, may figure Hank would be involved in the transaction. Why would Hank put his name on his business, if he doesn't intend to serve people?

However, if a business name is Valu Books, people will expect good value, but they won't expect to meet "Valu".

People might feel like bait-&-switch victims if they feel lured into a business transaction by the expectation of being served by senior people but the work is really done by entry-level people.

Factors In The Decision About Trainers

Do you have an employee who did a job enough to master it? Do you think s/he will still work for you long enough to justify your extra investment in being taught how to train people?

If you don't & won't have a designated trainer, do you have an employee who will consistently & patiently mentor a trainee?

If a trainee doesn't have the same schedule as a mentor, the training could be haphazardly left to whomever is available. Whoever is available may not know what a trainee was already thought or how thoroughly.

Example: If you're a trainee & I'm your mentor for a day, I'd end up asking what you learned from the previous mentor. You may think & claim you learned something, but as a trainee, you probably wouldn't realize how much you don't know.

Because of this problem, trainees can have a job for a year & still not have fully learned to do any tasks. Some people want to fake it until they make it. But without an experienced (designated trainer's) perspective, how would they know if they've made it? They may be faking without realizing it.

A simple example: Trainees may think they know how to put price stickers on products. After all, how hard could it be? But many price stickers are made to shred if somebody tries to remove them. When a removed sticker is shredded, a dishonest ‘customer' isn't apt to successfully switch prices to get expensive products for lower prices. But the proper way - to place a price sticker - is to be sure it can't be removed intact. Trainees may not realize that & haphazardly slap stickers on.

Your store could lose a lot of money because price discrepancies may not be drastic enough to be noticed by a stressed, distracted cashier.

When you keep ordering more products to replace those that sold for the wrong prices, you could lose thousands of dollars on hundreds of sales. You could lose all of that money about $5 at a time, so in the short-term it may go unnoticed.

That $5 per product could've been your whole net profit per product. As inflation increases, it'd decrease the value of the rest of your gross margin.
Hopefully, I've persuaded you to institute consistently complete training whether you have designated trainers or not.

Subject: Should A Boss Occasionally Do Nonexecutive Labor? Author: Dennis S. Vogel Date: 09/20/09
In reply to: Hillary's message, "I'm confused about Nascent Processes" on 03/12/09

Doing entry-level & intermediate tasks occasionally may be a good idea to maintain your skill level & show employees you don't feel high & mighty. While you do entry-level & intermediate tasks, you may discover a better alternative. It's especially true, if you haven't done it every day. You can explore the task from a different perspective.

Workers may have good ideas about how to make processes better. Since they don't have your perspective, you may disregard what they suggest. No matter how tempting it may be to ignore them or feign interest in their insights, don't act like you're including them just to mollify them or get them to buy into your plan.

They could suggest something (big or small) that'll improve your process. I advise you not to automatically disregard what seems like a little change. If a change saves you $1, you could save $1 every time the changed process is used. Saving $1 implies not losing $1 each time. The savings or losses could (eventually) total in the hundreds or thousands.

Should A Boss Do Employee Level Processes Or Just Design Processes?

There's an opportunity cost when a business owner isn't doing administrative & strategic planning work. In general, business owners may produce more profit by developing methods, then letting others test them. Time spent doing a process isn't available for designing a process.

Realistically, time spent doing a process is a way to achieve goals & evaluate a process. Doing a process helps a boss understand it.

Note: You should realize there's a big difference between doing a task for your business & working for somebody else (like employees working for you). If you've been employed by somebody else, you probably didn't feel the control & satisfaction you get now being self-employed.

Some people advise bosses to occasionally do what they expect employees to do. Some rationales are: 1) setting a good example; 2) knowing how to do the tasks means a boss knows what the experience is like; 3) showing workers a boss is willing to do what s/he expects them to do.

The second rationale is partially false. Doing a task, even if a person has years of experience doing it, doesn't mean a person knows everything about it. There can be a different variable or set of variables each time for each person.

Example- When I was in the US Navy, some petty officers figured they knew exactly what it was like to do various jobs. Most of them were no taller than 5' 10". At the time, I was 6' 4". (By the time I got out of the Navy, I was 6'3" with a curved spine.) Having to bend for hours to do a job (because the overheads/ceilings were too low for me) & walking in passage ways (halls) is a factor they didn't experience, nor cared about.

Having been shorter when I was younger, I had some experiences of being a shorter person, but I knew my experiences were different than theirs. (Being a 5'10" 14-year-old is different than being a 5'10" 40-year-old.) Commissioned & petty officers didn't all want to acknowledge how much difference 6 or more inches (compared to them) could make for me.

Could they have gotten better results from me if they would've acknowledged banging my head &/or bending lower was hurting me? Yes.

If they didn't know, it was because they didn't want to know. I reminded them very often.

Could they have gotten better results from me if they engaged a couple more of their brain cells? Yes.

Did some of them get better results from me eventually? Yes.

They were surprised when 1 of my work evaluations was much better than the previous evaluations. When they wanted to know why, I told them, "Because the guy (supervising petty officer) who wrote that treated me like a human."

He was shorter than me, but he still didn't confine me to a low area. But I still had other low areas to contend with.

For a touch of empathy, imagine living in a metal pipe that has a diameter 3 inches less than your height. You can't stand or walk any straighter because you can't put your head through the metal, so your back stays unnaturally bent too much of each day. How long do you think it'd take for your back muscles to chronically spasm & bone spurs to grow on your vertebrae?

Employees' experiences while working for you can literally--positively or negatively--change their lives. How well could you do their jobs if you had their limitations & were still subject to your same expectations?

I'm not advising you to feel sorry for anybody. But when somebody works for you, you'll probably get better results when you use some intelligent empathy.
You'll always experience--what seem to be--the same situations differently than others.

We've Been There, Done That But It Was Different For Each

I've worked in ship's stores (Navy), plus big & small civilian stores. I understand various situations from my perspective. I won't try to deceive others or myself by implying I know exactly what retailers experience.

Do Or Dichotomy

Business owners need to balance many dichotomies, among them are: 1) design a process & have others test it while s/he (the owner) works on another process; or 2) design a process & test it before training somebody else to do it.

A creative person can design hundreds of processes in the time required to perfect each process. But what good are hundreds of imperfect processes without anybody who has time to use them?

If somebody only designs or maps processes, but doesn't do or use any of them, how could s/he understand what many of the possible problems are & how to avoid or solve them?

If you have a big enough staff, a person or team can test a process while the others use your current processes. Productivity & customer satisfaction may drop if everybody would stop doing what's been working & does what might work.

Reality Check: You can design & map (diagram) a "process", but until somebody tests & uses it successfully, your "process" is just a theory of what may achieve a goal. Even if a process worked for somebody else in a different situation, your 1st attempt--in your situation--will be a test.

Though you may be able to design many "processes", they won't be productive until they're used. So, you'll probably need to be involved in physically testing & perfecting some processes.

Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2009 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.

Subject: Re: Should A Boss Occasionally Do Nonexecutive Labor? Author: Cris Date: 09/20/09
In reply to: Dennis S. Vogel 's message, "Should A Boss Occasionally Do Nonexecutive Labor?" on 09/20/09

Hey Dennis,

I know this a bit off subject, but it's related if that makes any sense.

When talking to consumers who "Been There, Done That" Remember "It Was Different For Each" of them too.

What they used in their lives & how they used, it could be different than how anybody else would use it or find it useful.

You could hear from a few customers who may rave about the results they got -- This is why some advertisers add this statement -- "Results not typical" or "your experience may vary"

IF an advertiser rushes into using/promoting what some customers got from a service or product, others may try it too. But the others may be disappointed or get hurt.

How long did those results last? How much time did it take to take effect? How much of the product did they use? If a 200 lb person & 100 lb use the same amount of something, it could be too much & hurt the 100 lb & not help the 200 lb because it's not enough.

Maybe the raving customer only thinks it helped like a placebo. Maybe the raving customer is a raving lunatic who sometimes seems sane.

Somebody could say bad things just to get attention. People pay attention to bad things more than good. It's how those tabloids Wal-Mart Walmart or whatever sells. Bad things & stupid, nosy people keep them in business!

Even if a hurt customer doesn't sue, the bad word & customer loss could be as big a money drain as a law suit. Without court case win on your side, you won't get back your good reputation.

Subject: You're Right. Accuracy Is Always Vital. Author: Dennis S. Vogel Date: 09/21/09
In reply to: Cris 's message, "Re: Should A Boss Occasionally Do Nonexecutive Labor?" on 09/20/09

Hi Cris,

Thank you for sharing your insights. Since your insights are accurate & relevant, I want to expand on them.

I'm not a fan of the Ready, Fire, Aim Philosophy.

Acting according to it could get somebody hurt as Cris described.

I realize waiting to make everything perfect before offering a product or service can mean losing sales opportunities. But law suits can take more money than lost sales would.

Quality in the best products & services tends to vary. When a product or service result is already mediocre, sometimes quality will dip down to poor. Then a business's reputation will plunge to poor.

Ready, Fire, Aim is also bad for the content of marketing messages. If you rely on inaccurate information, you could get into a lot of trouble.

Check the facts no matter if you believe you remember accurately or as much as you trust those who tell you something.

When somebody is emotionally involved in something, emotions affect memories & judgment.

People tend to misremember, exaggerate &/or lie. Since bad "news" travels quickly you could hear the same exaggeration or lie from a few people. It would seem true since you'd hear it from more than one person, but they may've heard from the same liar.

Even if the story is an exaggeration instead of a lie, it's apt to seem worse every time it's repeated.

Basing business decisions on exaggerations or lies is like building part or all of your business on quick sand.

What's not on a firm foundation can ruin the rest & leave you with a total loss.

Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2009 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.