Wayne Gretzky Is Your Inspiration

I was fortunate enough today to participate in a meeting with my company's president. The theme of the meeting was marketing, and the CEOs that are a part of this group were asked to invite their Head Marketing Nerd. Thus, the invite.

I probably don't attend enough non-industry related seminars and training, and I must say it was a nice change of pace. The presenter for the day was Mitch Gooze'. Mitch was an engaging speaker and allowed great participation from the group. The main theme for the presentation was comparing marketing and sales to design and production. He asks the question, "While production would not be expected (in most cases) to redesign a widget due to a design flaw, why do we expect sales to fix what is essentially a marketing flaw?"

Let me further explain. What he is trying to say is that there is a disconnect between marketing and sales. The sales team is trying to sell something that the marketing team has not clearly defined. He explained, on the marketing side we must connect the "Who Buys?" and "What are they buying?" to the sales side or "How are they going to buy it?" The message the sales team is receiving in many cases is conflicting or is inspired by them and not by marketing. Marketing should be the team clarifying the Who? and What? while sales is concerned with the How? Too often marketing has not made the message clear and sales is then responsible to fix it themselves.

So, how is this accomplished. Talk to your customers. Find out why they buy your product or service. It's our job to understand what our customers needs are, and if you've been in a business for a number of years you might think you know but in reality you don't. After you find out more about your customers you can give your marketing the direction it needs, and communicate that properly with your sales team.

Part of learning more about your customers should help you to innovate, improve, and stay ahead of the curve. Mitch shared a story about Wayne Gretzky that I just loved. Wayne was once asked, "Why are you such a great hockey player?" He responded, "I skate where the puck will be." Wayne made a choice, and just like Wayne we have a choice in business. We can educate ourselves and anticipate where the puck will be, or we can follow everyone else and chase after the puck. I'd rather play like the great one.

Enjoy your day!

Mj

picture courtesy of bobdylan_8 at Flickr.com

Kaizen

A couple days ago I changed the background for my Twitter page, and if you ever read this blog you'll notice I've changed the design here as well. Now this isn't because it's 2009 and time for a new start, it's because of something I learned early in my business career at Toyota.

Kaizen defined is "Continuous Improvement". You will see some schools of thought redefine it as "Six Sigma" or "Lean Thinking". Just Google kaizen and you'll see a number of results. I'm writing this post to just explain the way I define it.

Kaizen for me is innovation, challenging ideas, and change. Part of my blog title and description of what this blog is all about is my obsession with kaizen at every touchpoint. I just can't tolerate "that's the way we've always done it." Join the kaizen train with me. There's always a better way.

There's Always a Better Way

I found a better way today. Now, this is just a better way for me, but you may find a use for this as well.

I flip flop from IE, Flock, and Firefox for my browsers. Today I used Firefox and discovered what I've been looking for for a couple months. I've been trying to discover a way that I can write just one post but publish it to multiple blogs. Syndication via RSS feed just wasn't the same as doing the actual post. So, I stumbled across www.scribefire.com. YES!

Go ahead, check it out. It is so easy to add multiple blog accounts to the interface, then just type your post and publish the same content to all those blogs. Enjoy!

The Disney Experience of Today

As I indicated about a week ago, I made a trip to the marketing mecca of Walt Disney World. Again, I was amazed at the details and the constant marketing. To the right is a photo of my daughter's hairdo courtesy of the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique (complete with Pixie dust, mini tiara, and Mickey ears barrette). For about $60 your little princess can be even more of a princess.

While some of these extras may be a bit much for many Disneygoers, many are sucked into these extra experiences. In general, visiting Disney World seems to be pretty straight forward. Resort hotels, amusement parks, restaurants/dining, and all the characters associated with Disney and Disney movies. That's pretty much a general overview of what to expect. I discovered on my trip that Disney World can be even more. Here's a list of extras during my trip, and this just scratches the surface.

- Dinner with 5 Princesses, Breakfast with Winnie the Pooh, Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, Breakfast with Chef Mickey, Dinner a Cinderella's Castle, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, Breakfast with 5 Princesses

A majority of this was great for a 4 year old, and I can't imagine missing any of these extras looking back. Disney continues to raise the bar. Each time you go back you can have a different experience because there is always something new. They are constantly redesigning, adding, and enhancing. Just before we left the Grand Floridian Hotel the bellman told me how they plan to completely redecorate and rehab the entire lobby of the hotel. And that's just one hotel.

Now I will stop and pose my questions for the post. The concept of kaizen is alive and well at Disney. That being said, if they are constantly enhancing the experience for their guests, what are you doing to enhance the experience of your guests/customers? How often are you implementing these enhancements? What is holding you back?

Thanks and enjoy your day.

Mark