What Do Customers Want?
SWaMFest VI
October 13, 2010
Ed Hess
Professor of Business Administration
Batten Executive-in-Residence
Hesse@darden.virginia.edu
www.EDHLTD.com
THE DNA OF GROWTH
2
Research Findings
5 research projects
The Organic Growth Index ( “OGI”)
The Characteristics of High Organic Growers
(“HOGS”)
The Challenges of Managing Private Company
High Growth
The Myths of Growth
The Risks of Growth
3
WORKING ON YOUR BUSINESS
Peter Drucker said it concisely, clearly, and compellingly:
“The sole purpose of business is to serve customers.”
4
WHAT DO CUSTOMERS WANT?
All customers no matter what you are selling want the
same 3 things:
 Defect-free products & services
 On-time delivery
 Great caring service
5
CUSTOMERS WANT
 Consistency
 Reliability
 Ease of doing business
 Responsiveness
 Needs met
6
SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES
 FOCUS on what they can do very, very well
“2 inches wide, 2 miles deep”
 Are EXECUTION CHAMPIONS
 Have a CONSTANT IMPROVEMENT DNA- they get
better each day
7
HOW?
 PROCESSES – the recipes, checklists, the how to do
every step in the customer experience
 Better, Faster, & Cheaper becomes the objectives
everyday
 Execution is the blocking & tackling of business
 Business is like farming
8
YOUR DAILY GOAL

FOCUS everyday on doing what you do
EXCEPTIONALLY WELL 99% of the time and
quickly fix the other 1% in a caring apologetic
manner.

Quality comes first

Reputation comes first

Customers and employees come before you
9
THE BIG “W”- WHY YOU?
 WHY is a customer going to buy from you?
 What do you do differently than the competition
that really matters to your customer?
 What makes you different?
 What does your customer need?
“Listen till it hurts”
“You can’t listen while your talking”
10
DIFFERENTIATORS

Quality

Speed

Ease of doing business

On-time and quality guarantees

Great service

Reliability

Consistency
11
YOU DO NOT NEED TO HAVE
 Unique products or services
 Most innovative products
 Cheapest products
But you must have EXECUTION EXCELLENCE
&
GREAT SERVICE
That comes from people, processes, and leadership.
12
CUSTOMER CENTRICITY
To be successful, you must have:
CUSTOMER CENTRICITY
&
HIGH EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
&
A HIGH PERFORMANCE CULTURE
13
EXECUTION EXCELLENCE TOOLS

Morning & afternoon huddles

MBO: Manage by Objectives daily

MBE: Manage by Exceptions daily

“Leave a fire extinguisher” behind

Measure what is important

Reward what is important

Communicate, communicate, communicate
14
THE SECRET SAUCE
$$$
Employees
Clients
15
ENABLING EXECUTION EXCELLENCE

The Outback Way: “Teach don’t punish”

Teams not stars

Money is not enough

Celebrate success

Help people be all they can be

Everyday is SHOWTIME!!!

Cross-train: no single point of failure
16
THE 4 PRINCIPLES OF LEADERSHIP

Take care of your people

The Golden Rule

Lead by example

Always do what is right
It is NOT about you – it is about THEM.
17
4 WAYS TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS
 Improvements: Better, faster, cheaper
 Innovation: Doing something new
 Scaling: Doing more of what you are doing
 Strategic Acquisitions
18
4 WAYS TO SELL MORE STUFF

Expand geographically

Sell complimentary or adjacent products to existing
customers

Sell complimentary services to existing customers

Deliver a scaled down version to a different
customer segment
19
WAYS TO BECOME MORE PROFITABLE

Technology to increase quality, efficiency &
productivity

Just-in-time inventory

Reduce waste & mistakes

Discounts for fast payments- get cash faster

Reduce employee turnover

Preferred provider networks to reduce costs

UPS model
20
THE KILLERS OF BUSINESS

Commoditization

Complacency

Arrogance

Taking your customers & employees for granted

Losing your personal edge-laziness & lack
of personal discipline

Bad quality; bad reputation; bad conduct
21