DW's Blog

Differentiation Is The Essence Of Competition

by DW Green — December 9, 2015

This is an excerpt from Marc Gobe’s excellent book Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm for Connecting Brands to People. I highly recommend reading this book. It presents a new marketing perspective that may very well help you differentiate your company in the market place.“In A Wall Street Journal article entitled “So long Supply and Demand” the conclusion reached is “The bottom line. Creativity is overtaking capital as the principal elixir of growth. And creativity, although precious, shares few of the constraints that limit the range and availability of capital and physical goods.” In this new business atmosphere, ideas are money. Ideas, in fact, are a new kind of currency altogether—more powerful than money. One single idea—especially if it involves a brand concept—can change a company’s entire future.But what exactly constitutes a great brand concept today? In this hypercompetitive marketplace where goods or services alone are no longer enough to attract a new market or even to maintain existing markets, I believe that it is the emotional aspects of products and their distribution systems that will be the key difference between consumers’ ultimate choice and the price that they will pay. By emotional I mean how a brand engages consumers on the level of the senses and emotions; how a brand comes to life for people and forges a deeper, lasting connection.Brand Identity Starts at HomeA brand is brought to life fo...

by DW Green — November 25, 2015

A Prayer for Gratitude“Today, Lord, I want to express my gratitude for everything I receive from you. Today, I will express all the love and happiness that exist in my heart. I will love your creations, I will love myself, and I will love the people who live with me. I will enjoy the presence of the people I love, respecting their choices in life as I respect my own.Today, I will graciously receive your gifts by enjoying your gifts, by enjoying the beauty of all your creation. Help me to be as generous as you are, to share what I have with generosity, just as you share your gifts so generously. Help me to become a master of gratitude, generosity, and love so that I can enjoy all of your creations.Today, Lord, help me manifest my creation as you manifest the universe, to express the beauty of my spirit in the supreme art of the human: the art of dreaming my life. Today, Lord, I give you all my gratitude and love because you have given me life. Amen.”—Don Miguel RuizThank you all....

by DW Green — November 19, 2015

Pay attention to the greatness you observe in as many people as possible, and if you don’t see it at first, then spend some mental energy looking for it. The more you’re inclined to think in genius terms, the more natural it becomes for you to apply the same standards to yourself. Tell others about their genius. Be as complimentary and authentic as you can. In doing so, you’ll radiate loving, kind, abundant, creative energy. In a universe that operates on energy and attraction, you’ll find these same qualities returning to you....

by DW Green — November 12, 2015

Creating a store culture of exceptional customer service requires a strong commitment to service at all levels of the company, beginning at the top. It requires executives to think about marketing and operational processes in new ways. In order to be truly effective, however, the store environment must be one in which management integrates and demonstrates exceptional customer service.Executives who direct employees to provide exceptional customer service without changing their own behavior or making operational changes to support high service standards are doomed to failure. Worse yet, if the company begins marketing an exceptional service program but doesn’t deliver on the promise, it can seriously damage the store’s reputation and undermine customer loyalty.Rather, management must focus on taking steps, large and small, to nurture the philosophy of exceptional customer service in all aspects of the business so it becomes deeply rooted in the company culture. The best way to begin is “practice what you preach.”Success comes fastest to those managers who serve as role models for exceptional customer service—those who, through words and actions, strive to meet the highest service standards in day-to-day operations, promotions, and employee and customer interactions. When management begins living exceptional customer service, operational and marketing processes can be more effectively adjusted to support a cohesive program....

by DW Green — November 4, 2015

Offering exceptional customer service is indeed a powerful way to differentiate your store in the marketplace. How do you distinguish yourself as a leader in service excellence?Most retail businesses in America believe they offer good customer service, but in reality the opposite is probably more accurate. Why? With the daily demands of performing repetitive tasks in a highly productive environment, employees are often oblivious to customers and their needs. Customer service is typically given lip service by managers, who view training and developing employees to provide an exceptional customer experience as a low priority in a cost-controlling, low-margin industry. Ironically, it is just such an investment in employee training and development that can increase sales exponentially. While operational efficiencies are essential to superior corporate performance, they should not hinder the company’s ability to gain a customer service advantage.For a retailer to gain a customer service advantage over its competitors, a serious investment of resources to train employees is critical. It is also imperative to have in place vehicles that foster communication between the customer and store, including regular interaction between top management and customers. Why is this important? Because customer service is one thing, but exceptional customer service is another thing entirely. It’s not enough that every customer is acknowledged by every employee they meet on every...

by DW Green — October 28, 2015

“They’re beginning to get on my nerves. Who are those guys?” Butch Cassidy asked the Sundance Kid.Dunkin Donuts, Wendy’s and Walgreens recently transformed their brands. Wendy’s has passed Burger King and is number two in market share. And Walgreens is now re-inventing the drugstore experience. Why not your company? I wholeheartedly believe that every food retailer has a unique opportunity to reimagine and transform its brand and own a distinct market position. If we have learned anything from alternative formats, it’s been lost sales and the fact that retailers must be different enough from their competitors to gain an advantage. In the long run, investing resources to develop a meaningful brand is much more powerful than promotional games and gimmicks that might boost short-term sales. The Fresh Market is a great example. Once a regional niche player they are now expanding nationwide. The Fresh Market is a purpose driven brand that connects emotionally with consumers with its own blend of customer service and great food experience.There is a great book, The Primes, by Chris McGoff, that distinguishes change from transformation. (www.theprimes.com/) According to McGoff, change is about fixing or improving the past while transformation creates the future. “In change mode, the desire to improve the past directs what we do. Change is about making the system better...

by DW Green — October 22, 2015

This is for our clients, our vendors, and staff at DW Green Company. I acknowledge your authenticity and contribution that each of you bring to the world every day.“Every single being has an amazing, unfathomable gift that only meeting life head-on and heart-on will reveal. And we can’t fully know our gift alone. We need each other to discover the gift, to believe in the gift. And then, to learn how to use it. The challenge for each of us is not to discount our gift because of the indifference of others, and not to abdicate our gift because of the various weights we’re forced to carry.What does it mean to have a gift? For the lamp, the light it was shaped to carry is its gift. Without a light, a lamp has no purpose. For a person, we are shaped by experience to reveal the light we carry. For a person, how that light comes through us is its gift. And a life cut off from the work of its heart has no purpose. Our call in the midst of our days is to discover the gift that connects our heart with our hands, to discover the light that fills the lamp of life we are given. Once discovered, our work is to never let the light of our gift go out.A lamp can light any patch of ground, the hand filled with heart can light anything it touches. The various skills of the world are how the gifted hand moves.Through our gift, we bring our portion of life-force back into the world. Each of us is born a heart’s length from everything that ever li...

by DW Green — October 15, 2015

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’s purpose and meaning are fully expressed in designed experiences, culture, value offerings and communications; ultimately creating faith and trust in the brand by all its stakeholders. This comprehensive and holistic approach to purpo...

by DW Green — October 8, 2015

The generational longevity of a company.

The manager of a living company understands that keeping the company alive means handing it over to a successor in at least the same health that it was in when he or she took charge. To do that, a manager must let people grow in a community that is held together by clearly stated values. The manager must place commitment to people before assets, respect for innovation before devotion to policy, the messiness of learning before orderly procedures, and the perpetuation of the community before all other concerns.Living companies are willing to scuttle assets in order to survive. To them, assets—and profits—are like oxygen: necessary for life but not the purpose of life. These companies know that assets are just means to earning a living. A company run according to a different model scuttles people to save its plant and equipment, which it considers the essence of its being. If such a company were in the car rental business, for example, it would see itself as existing to rent cars. The company’s fleet would be considered its primary asset, and its purpose would be to make profits for shareholders. If such companies find themselves in trouble, they get rid of people. I believe that employees are a company’s primary asset and that a company’s purpose is survival, which means developing and nurturing their employees potential.Managers must decide how to position the human element in their companies. They ca...

by DW Green — October 1, 2015

Town and Country Markets, one of our Seattle area clients, recently completed an extensive remodel project of their store in Bainbridge Island Washington. To use the word “extensive” to describe the magnitude of the remodel is an understatement! The store was initially built in the 1950’s on very challenging terrain. And while the remodel required more than 18 months to complete, the end result was truly amazing! It’s a beautiful, beautiful store.The depth of planning and communication, both internally with staff and externally with vendors and the community were impeccable. Obviously a work plan is critical. But clearly communicating the plan to all employees and customers minimizes the discomfort and inconvenience while allowing everyone to be a part of the process.We offer our heartfelt congratulations to the T&C leadership team, impassioned staff, gifted store designers, and talented construction company personnel for their dedication and exceptional work. We acknowledge the community of Bainbridge Island, as well, for their support and understanding of the lengthy remodel process.The story below appeared in Town & Country’s bi-monthly newsletter, the Bridge.