Although business experience in one area can likely be applied to other areas, the categories below represent the business areas where Discoveries truly shines and can bring the most value.

The key to insight is relationship! Without a close relationship you are unaware of true customer need, and they can leave as fast as they were acquired. 

Relationships with customers, just like relationships between people, are based on…

Relevance or Value

If they buy from you they expect you to know them, or get to know them, so that you can accurately target their needs. Their real needs, not their felt needs.

Henry Ford once said, “If I had listened to what my customers desired I would have bred faster horses.”

You can discover their real needs through skilled questioning, discernment, and a passion for helping clients succeed. This requires a system that utilizes determined pursuit, good relational skill, a good ear, and a lot of patience, to uncover the root of what makes up real or unspoken needs. Voice of the Customer, focus groups, interviews, informal meetings – these are the ways to understand customer needs, even unspoken needs.

Then you need to align the entire organization around meeting those macro and micro needs, deliver on your promises by offering them only what they need, when and where they need it, or else your relationship will grow cold.

Appropriate Communication

As with any relationship, healthy communication is important in order to create the relational bond you seek. Communication type, frequency, and content all play to enrich customer relationships.

The right message, to the right person, at the right time, using the right method, is essential! Some call this permission marketing. The wrong message is ineffective and aggravating, communicate too often and you irritate them, communicate too little and you lose your relational bond, and poor timing misses the boat altogether.

Trust

Learn about them, respect their boundaries, and deliver on your promises. This develops trust and a customer for life!

Why is it such a struggle to gain insight into each customer? There are many reasons, but we believe it is mainly due to how difficult it is to discover the hidden needs of each customer, align the organization to those needs, relate individually to each one on their terms, and maintain an ongoing, appropriate and rich relationship over time.

It’s not a trivial task, but it is essential, and it can be done!

Sure there are databases of information and complex programs that mine and analyze the data in order to segment customers and predict their behavior. But for some markets it may be better to just ask them what they need!

It’s possible to carry an ongoing bi-directional dialogue with your customers – thousands of them – without a lot of staff and overhead. It’s possible to ask them to define the relationship, set boundaries, and make their needs known. In response, you must tailor your communication and offers accordingly. They get what they want, when and where they want it, and you get loyal customers and more market share.

Everyone wins and we can show you how!

Continuous Process and Improvement – with the Customer in Mind!

Two concepts are key – Customer and Continuous!

The first speaks of focus, the other of a path or journey. Customer focus without a process of continuous improvement assumes you got it right the first time, or that customer needs never change. And continuous quality improvement without focus on the customer is like piloting a ship without a clear destination, or navigation systems to get there.

The goal of continuous improvement is not to arrive, but to seek out waste as if you were on a treasure hunt. The law of diminishing returns does not apply here because the resulting process derived from each iteration of process improvement reveals new opportunities never seen before. Improvement always has fertile ground to grow!

Waste is defined as anything that:

• negatively impacts quality as perceived by the customer
• lengthens flow time from order to delivery of any product
• impairs productivity or cost of people to units
• deters human development during the continuous improvement journey

Waste can also be defined as is anything a customer would not be willing to pay for if they were allowed to view your company from the inside out.

Some companies play at continuous process and quality improvement, and others immerse themselves in it. The former improve the business in a marginal way, but the later achieve results they find hard to imagine were possible.

In Lean Enterprise Transformation (1) examples, the rule of 5X is used to target overall waste or problem reduction (if continuous process improvement is done properly 5 times). Each iteration or full pass removes 50% of the waste which ends up resulting in a 90% reduction overall. Hard to believe? But these results can be achieved, with the resulting benefits to working capital, expense, sales/revenue, quality, growth, and customer satisfaction.

Customer Insight

As mentioned in the Customer Insight and Communications section, everything starts with the customer. And that is true when optimizing every process within the organization. If you haven’t established processes to facilitate the continuous gathering and distilling of customer requirements and complaints, then you are starting off on the wrong foot, and will be heading very quickly down the wrong road.

Business Culture Insight

One of the major hurdles is cultural – getting everyone to change their attitude and view concerning errors and waste. On any continuous process and quality improvement journey there will be naysayers – antibodies that attack anything new. And like good antibodies, they encourage others to follow and stamp out this new intruder that is changing everything around them.

To correct this, senior management must be totally on board by setting appropriate expectations and changing systems and measurements that drive compliance. Nothing wishy-washy about it!

Another task is to transform a culture into one that views the identification of waste as an opportunity. Some might currently view waste as inevitable and will not put their whole heart into the journey. Others see waste as job security and hide it as best they can. And some cover up waste in fear of being found out. But the truth is that waste are golden nuggets of opportunity. And if corrected at the root cause, can catapult a company into a market leadership position. The more a culture is transformed to hunt down waste, the more successful it will be.

Process Insight

Before any process optimization can occur, the mapping of value streams (processes) must take place. The diagram below provides a visual picture of a value stream resting on a foundation of customer value.

External suppliers might be involved providing products or services to the first or subsequent steps in the value stream, and internal suppliers support internal customers until the final product is produced and delivered.

Examples of an external supplier might be one that provides market research to your strategy team, parts to the parts warehouse, or systems for accounting. Internal suppliers could be the parts warehouse supporting the manufacturing floor, or technical writers, graphic artists, or human factors providing product manuals, GUI design, and process flow support to product management.

The Goal

The ideal state is where you are headed. This is a bit of misnomer in that it is impossible to truly see the ideal state because continuous improvement never ends, and each pass through the process journey reveals new areas of waste not seen before. But an ideal state, to be used as a straw man or target for excellence, will help keep the team focused on the road ahead.

Eliminating waste is the ultimate goal, and there is as much as 95% (1) of it in every process. Yes – 95%.

Common waste categories are:

• Defects – not performing to customer expectations.
• Inefficiency – valueless process activities. 
• Waiting time – work not in motion.
• Unnecessary motion – process flow activity that does not add value.
• Overproduction – the wasted time, effort and cost of making products before you need them rather than on demand. 
• Inventory – the storage of overproduction.

Metrics

The approach of targeting the essential four metrics – quality, flow, productivity and human development – rather than dozen’s of traditional measurements, makes this process easier to manage, track, and clearly see results.

And what organizations have found is that focusing on the four above will result in all other traditional metrics falling in line. As shown below!

Quality improvement

• Cost of sales (retention): when dissatisfied, 90% of customers go away without telling you, 85% of those tell at least 9 other people, the other 15% tell 20 (1). Ouch! It takes one sixth the cost to retain a customer than it does to find a new one.
• ROI: quality is one of the metrics that positively impact ROI. The higher your quality, the higher your return on investment (market share is the other metric that impacts ROI)(1).
• Growth: repeat business and goodwill is a natural sales accelerator without investing any more money.

 Delivery/flow improvement (moving to on demand one day turnaround)

• Growth: a three quarter reduction in flow time has resulted in growth rates of two to four times industry average due to increase customer satisfaction and ability to satisfy increased demand (1).
• Reduced cost: better flow means doing more with less (equipment, floor space, materials, etc.).
• Improved quality: less process steps means less waste and quality errors.

Productivity

• Cost per unit: measured in people hours.
• Profit: less people per unit increases efficiency and margin (people and associated infrastructure make up 90% of cost (1)).

Human Development

• Employee development: make continuous improvement part of the corporate culture.
• Buy In: everyone is involved in process improvement workshops from administration to senior executives.

Summary

1. Gather and prioritize external customer value as a foundation for all optimization.
2. Get management buy in to work horizontally along the value chains to transform the business, and to support the effort of weeklong events to map and improve value streams.
3. Identify and document (map) value streams within your entire organization.
4. Those who do the work participate in the process which promotes learning, growth, and quality.
5. Encourage communication, the questioning of all processes and standards, and focus on smaller numbers of manageable tasks.
6. Optimize processes by eliminating waste, striving for smooth flow, automating as much as possible, and allow customers to pull products and support on demand.
7. Complete ALL improvement tasks uncovered in each improvement exercise or workshop.
8. Do it again, and again, and again…! Remember, it is continuous.

Each organization is different, but all have value streams with lots of waste. The opportunities are great for gaining an advantage in the market by delighting your customers.

(1) “Leading the Lean Enterprise Transformation” by George Koenigsaecher

Digital and printed communication is the art and science of using dots in a prescribed sequence, format, and color, to communicate information and messages to people. I bet you never thought of it that way!

Computers only know two things – on and off, and from that simple binary scheme come feature rich communication that makes the world go around with images, color, graphics, thoughts and ideas, and hopes and dreams.

Digital communications is where information meets people, and nothing is simple about that. 

With so many ways to skin the proverbial communication delivery cat, finding the best, most efficient, and highest quality means to create, format, manage, distribute and present this information, requires forethought, planning, and experience.

It’s probably the most complex area of information technology, the least understood, and an afterthought for many businesses. Yet it represents a huge percentage of the costs of running a business, while shouldering the customer relationship load to boot.

This area encompasses printing, publishing, email, social media, and the Web. Communications include anything destined for customer consumption such as direct marketing, advertising, statements, invoices, product literature, letters, and notices.

Focus Areas

• Risk mitigation along the print production manufacturing workflow from data through delivery. For instance, transaction communications such as statements are “data syrup” in that they contain extremely rich and sensitive information. See the article on data security and transaction documents for detail!
• Digital printing and publishing production workflow optimization identifying unnecessary process steps and waste, finding new ways to improve quality, and recommending best practices that streamline operations and conform to regulatory requirements.
• Electronic presentment or online delivery of multi-channel customer communications. Providing the right information, using the right method, at the right time.
• Web, direct marketing, and campaign systems that capture prospect response, enable bi-directional feedback, and improve ROI over time.
• Implementation assistance for complex digital production communication solutions.
• Internal print survey and analysis, which can save a company as much as 6% of gross revenue through the elimination of waste and the on boarding of new processes and technology.

A properly educated and trained workforce creates higher quality work product, makes less mistakes, are positioned to lead within the organization, are aware of the latest trends, and are highly motivated and ready to stay for the long haul.

Four years of experience leading the sales training group for a division of IBM creating instructor led and online curriculum, and holding the position of Director of Operations for the largest tutoring company in Colorado, uniquely position Discoveries to assist companies with this most valuable area of their business.

Discoveries has also partnered with acadami International to bring high quality accredited education to the transaction document communications space. acadami is dedicated to preparing Electronic Document Professionals for their ever changing marketplace through education, accreditation, and certification. All processes along the document production supply chain, from data through to fulfillment and delivery (print and electronic), are covered in depth.

Who are you and what do you want to be? What do you stand for? Does it even matter? How do you strike a balance between the needs of the business, employee, and the customer?

Tough questions? Maybe not!

Relationships Matter

Great business cultures are at the root of great businessses, and it all starts at the top!

The culture of a company defines beliefs and values, which lay the foundation for making decisions of all kinds. The culture dictates where to focus, where power and control lie, how management and employees relate to one another (and to customers), modes of communication and social interaction, respect for individuals, appropriate levels of risk taking, ways to motivate, and opportunities to realize ones full potential.

Without a great culture that truly puts the customer first, values and respects the individual, and endeavors to meet employee felt and hidden needs, it is almost impossible to dominate in the market. Employees need to feel like they are part of a team, performing work that is worthwhile, contributing to a significant or greater purpose, and being recognized for their efforts.

After all, humans are the main ingredient of a business culture – the common denominator in every business. They are your greatest asset!

And as humans we experience life inside and outside of work through relationships. Meaningful, and mutually beneficial relationships, are key at the customer, supplier, and partner levels, and are facilitated through a company’s employees. They hold your company in their hands!

So, it won’t surprise you to hear that the secret to a healthy and prosperous company is a happy, fulfilled, well trained, and motivated workforce.

Let’s take a look at how this can be done!

Winning Culture – discovering who you are and who you need to be!

We all have a world view – a set of beliefs that drive how we think and what we do. In a similar way, companies have a world view, or business view, which is a set of beliefs that define values, goals and objectives, policies and procedures, and passion and intensity within the workplace. You can call it a business personality.

A business view includes:

1. Who you are and where you are going
   1. Business definition: a detailed accounting of the current business environment – what you do and where you do it.
   2. Business direction: detailed roadmap of where you are heading – micro and macro business goals and strategy.
2. What you believe and value
   1. Values: what is important to you as a company at the customer, employee, supplier and partner levels?
   2. Beliefs: what is true and false about the relationships you engage in with customers, employees, suppliers and partners?
3. Actions you will take to get where you want to go within the framework of what you value and believe
   1. Causation: evaluate desired beliefs, values, and future goals against current cultural norms, processes, and policies. Discover incongruence which inhibits movement towards desired goals.
   2. Methodology: define what processes, procedures, and steps you should take to create a winning culture and attain your goals?

The result is a definition or strategy for creating of a winning culture upon which future transformation and improvement are made in the areas of customer support, employee development, and management approach.

Creating a Winning Culture and Company

The direction you end up taking may not perfectly align with the books and programs I have outlined below, but I have found from my own experience that the resources below usually address the core of the issues in most companies in the areas of customer focus and support, employee motivation, and appropriate management style.

As for these three main areas of focus we recommend a book as a common framework from which to work from. For each book below we can help:

• create a new framework in which the concepts in the books will fit the personality and character of your company.
• facilitate discussion and discovery concerning the concepts and development of implementation scenarios based on current culture.
• manage pilot testing, rollout and launch of the framework.
• survey employees before, during and after to measure change against pre-determined milestones

Raving Fans as Customers

You hear all the time that it all begins with the customer. And this is true! Without them you have no business. And if you delight them, they will be your customer for life. After all, customer retention is the key to growth far more than acquisition.

Taking care of the customer first deciding what you want, putting systems, processes, and people in place that proactively and methodically discover customer needs, then deliver, and continue to improve and deliver, ensuring consistency in the product.

By doing this you will naturally gain share and become more profitable. By focusing on share and profit without doing this will garner lackluster results.

For continuous process and quality improvement, which puts the customer first, there are other resources. But for revolutionizing how you look at customer support, we like the book “Raving Fans”, by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles.

The reason is simplicity, it’s an excellent start at raising the bar with regard to customer focus and support, and employees will read it (this is big). There are other books on the market that dive deeper into the operational aspects of support, and many are very good, but I recommend these as phase 2 for many companies.

The main idea is to not settle for satisfied customers because customers have learned to be satisfied with very little. In essence, customers put on a happy face and don’t tell you how it really is. Or they have never experienced exceptional support, so they don’t know what it looks like, until they see it from one of your competitors. This situation is ripe for a customer exodus when a better deal comes along.  

In order to differentiate yourself from the pack you need to set the bar high and shoot for raving fans with regard to meeting their needs and supporting their business.

We can help you!

Gung Ho Employees

Your greatest asset are your employees. They are the face, body and soul of your business, and if they aren’t happy, nobody is happy, including your customers. A lethargic, discontented and purposeless workforce is death to any business, and many businesses are dieing a slow death without even knowing it.

But conversely, employees that are happy, purpose driven, and excited about what they do, are a huge asset to the company and a blessing to everyone they interact with.

The book is “Gung Ho – Turn On The People In Any Organization”, by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles (Yes – Ken and Sheldon again). It outlines a proven framework and steps to take in order to develop inspired and purpose driven employees.

It’s a fictional story of how two managers saved a failing company and turned in record profits and productivity using Native American wisdom and folklore translated into three tangible strategies. The concepts in the book are far from original, and some critics find the book simplistic in its concepts and delivery. But employees find the concepts easy to understand due to its story form. It is interesting, entertaining, and communicates the concepts in a practical and useful way to audiences at all levels.

The three main ideas are ensuring employees are doing worthwhile work guided by goals and values, empowering workers so that they are in control of their production and environment, and cheering one another on using peer and team recognition.

And of course, unless this activity is firmly placed on a foundation of customer need, it will miss the mark.

It works, and we can help!

Leading Through Service

There are a lot of management books out there that focus on budgeting, planning, organizational structure, and execution, but fewer that tackle management style. How a manager serves the customer, employee, and the business, can make all the difference when creating a business that will thrive and weather the storms.

“The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership”, by James C. Hunter, is a delightful and eye opening book, especially for the hard nosed business type who sports a domineering or intimidating management style.

It tells the story of how a rough and tumble business man’s management style, and his life, is transformed by attending a leadership retreat at a remote Benedictine monastery. There he learns that the true foundation of leadership is not power, but authority, which is built upon relationships, love, service, and sacrifice.

The hardest road any company can take is to change management style from the top down. But if you are going to do it, and it is indeed worth doing, this is a good book to use. It makes a lot of sense, but also resonates with the virtuous ideals we know we should all aspire to live and work by.

It’s worth it and we can help!