InnovationCompass

Out of Time

Time is a critical part of customer service.

More than likely, your customer doesn't have nearly enough time to do all the things he or she wants to do -- including purchasing your service or product!

Knowing this, how can your organization save your customers' precious time? What can you do long before your customer decides to contact you to make his journey a smooth and time-efficient one?

First, look at the hoops a prospective customer has to jump through to find your organization. If you are a retail store, restaurant, inn, realtor, or nonprofit, how do customers learn about what you offer and why you are unique?

Are you well positioned on Internet search engines with your website optimized for popular keyword searches? When a customer surfs your site, can she easily find what she is looking for? Is she compelled to stay on your site and make contact with you for an appointment, reservation, or purchase?

Once your customer visits your business or nonprofit, how easy is it for him to purchase from you? Think about all the steps along the point of sale process. Find all the places where there are "hot spots" which waste a customer's time or confuse him.

Acknowledge how busy your customer is and turn those "hot spots" into positive experiences. Would your customer find it helpful for you to hold her purchases until after lunch? Does she need dinner reservations or directions to the best fishing lake?

If your customer wants to look at property all day with his three young children, do you have a box filled with fun games and activities for the kids? Have you planned the day's itinerary down to the minute so that not one precious second is wasted?

Treat your customer's time like it is your own. Guard it, protect it, and try to find ways to make more of it by providing compelling experiences at each opportunity.

The Road to Innovation

"Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. [It] was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird."

--  Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

When I first read Anne Lamott's book, it was through the lens of a struggling writer trying to glean any and all tips on how to tempt the muse to visit on a regular basis. Bird by Bird was both warm and funny. Uplifting and pragmatic. I loved it.

I retrieved Bird by Bird from my office bookshelf the other day and became entranced all over again.

Now, however, I am reading the book through a different lens -- that of an entrepreneur. And I am finding Lamott's advice as welcome and encouraging as it was many years ago.

I have been working with a client who is launching a new venture. He is a delightful, bright, and energetic fellow with a passion for bringing his dreams to life.

Today, he emailed me and confessed he was overwhelmed with ideas. His brain was ablaze with so many ideas, in fact, that he found himself paralyzed and without direction.

What to do first? Second?

I enjoyed responding to his email. I was reminded of the importance of trusting one's instincts and continuing to put one foot in front of the other. And yes, many times the path will be dark or the mountain will appear as if it is impossible to climb.

The road to bringing innovation into your firm's culture, to doing things a new way, and to thinking about things differently is, by definition, well, difficult. As it turns out, we tend not to be big fans of change, and sacrifice turns out to be a rather necessary ingredient in the effort to innovate.

But there is hope. We can recommit to the effort each and every day. Each day, we'll find ourselves further along the path and with more company than before.

And when we seek to bring innovation, bright ideas, and new ways of working into our organizations and, therefore, into our own and our customers' lives, it is important to remember Anne Lamott's wonderful advice: "Just take it bird by bird."