DW's Blog

Meaning

by DW Green — September 20, 2017

Experience meaning…

Finding Inner Courage by Mark Nepo is an excellent book and I highly recommend reading it. In the introduction Nepo writes; “What does courage mean? How we hold this question is important. It’s interesting that the question, what does it mean? In Spanish, que quire deicer?, literally translates as, what does it want to say? The difference inherent in the Spanish view is that whatever holds meaning is alive and has its own vital authority and, therefore, demands us to be in relationship to it in order to learn its meaning. English view readies us to apprehend meaning, while Spanish view readies us to experience meaning.”Okay, interesting quote you might say, but what does it have to do with business? In a word…everything. What does your business mean? What does it mean to you? What does it mean to your stakeholders? Human beings are meaning making machines. When our relationships and our experiences are meaningful, we are confident and comfortable with our decisions, our choices and this meaningful connection enhances our overall sense of happiness and well-being.A company’s “reasons to believe” are deeply rooted in its purpose and meaning. It’s critical that a company�...

by DW Green — September 13, 2017

Activities are the basic units of competitive advantage.

I always wanted to publish something that required portions to be redacted. Redacted statements are often found in government documents. Documents that are sensitive and top secret. Well, this letter is neither sensitive nor top secret. Just redacted.Hi Jim,I finally got signed up for Bashas’ email marketing. The emails are very similar in appearance to Albertsons, same vendor I think. Bashas’ has such a rich and unique history. It’s perplexing why Bashas’ doesn’t express its character, its singularity in a fresh, and an appealing and distinctive way. It’s as if there is a “conventional format” box that dictates how activities are to be done.Differentiation is about performing different activities from rivals or performing similar activities in different ways. Differentiation arises from both the choice of activities and how they are performed. Activities, then, are the basic units of competitive advantage. Overall advantage or disadvantage results from all of a company’s activities, not only a few.Sincerely

by DW Green — September 6, 2017

Perspective

There’s no guarantee of keeping a customer for life. Though having an unconditional product and service guarantee can go a long way in keeping your base of loyal primary shoppers. A guarantee is a promise or assurance that a company will stand behind the quality of products it sells or services it performs. Guarantees build trust and loyalty with consumers. In a sense, a guarantee is a company’s commitment to the well being of its customers.5 Reasons Why A Guarantee WorksFirst, it pushes the entire company to focus on customers’ definition of good products/service, not an executive’s assumption. Second, it sets clear performance standards, which boost employee’s performance and morale. Third, it generates reliable data (through payouts) when performance is poor. Fourth, it forces an organization to examine its entire service-delivery system for possible failure points. Last, it builds customer loyalty, sales and market share.What is a good guarantee? It is (1) unconditional, (2) easy to understand and communicate, (3) meaningful, (4) easy and painless to invoke, and (5) easy and quick to collect on.Cheating. Fear of customers cheating is a big hurdle for some when considering of...

by DW Green — August 30, 2017

“Having a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing.”

I try to keep an open mind. Seems like an open mind is a good thing to have! I encourage my staff, friends and family members to keep their minds open, to be receptive to new ideas and different perspectives about work and life events.I read an article on open mindedness by Dr. Wayne Dyer yesterday. The article got me thinking, how really open is my mind? What may be blocking or restricting my desire to keep an open mind? I really never thought about an open mind in this context. Dr. Dyer’s article below.“Having a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing sounds easy until you think about how much conditioning has taken place in your life, and how many of your current thoughts were influenced by geography, the religious beliefs of your ancestors, the color of your skin, the shape of your eyes, the political orientation of your parents, your size, your gender, the schools that were selected for you, and the vocation of your great-grandparents, to list only some possibilities. You showed up here as a tiny infant capable of an infinite number of potentialities. Many of your choices remain unexplored because of a hopefully well-intentioned conditioning program ...

by DW Green — August 23, 2017

Success depends on the trade-offs

I remember reading the following many years ago. It made sense then and makes more sense today. “Because you can’t be everything to all people successfully, you must purposefully limit what you offer and to whom. Choices about what not to do are just as important as choices about what to do. Your success depends on the trade-offs you are willing to make.”In the context of brick and mortar retailing versus online retailing the above quote is even more telling. Each retail format has its own competitive advantage. And since both operate with limited resources, decisions on how best to utilize those resources that support their competitive advantage is critical. Technology investment must also support the customer shopping experience, whether in-store or online.Often times retail storeowners misuse resources on activities that do not directly enhance their unique customer experience advantage.