from leverage point blog:How Toyota Ran Off the Road–and How It Can Get Back on Track

a good artice by H. Thomas Johnson, please click/visit leverage point blog

very recommended!

if japan can …why can’t we?

a TV program aired by NBC in 1980 started a quality revolution in the US.

it takes more than 20 years (!) for Americans to understand the secret of Japan’s greatness in manufacturing and products is actually coming from some American thinkers, most notably W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran.

today,  61 years after Deming’s teaching in summer 1950 for Japan engineers and managers, the question is does Deming & Juran teaching still relevant to today’s business?

my answer is YES.

their teaching on customer focus, appreciation of a system, appreciation of people, understanding of variations and its root causes, the principle of continuous improvement, the focus on long term over short term gain, in fact more relevant today than it was.

it is so basic, eventhough for many conventional thinking it looks counter-intuitive

it is not just about lean or six sigma or TQM or QCCC or ISO or others….it is about the passion to deliver the best product and services to the customers. it is about growth and sustainability

for my Indonesian fellows, please allow me to ask this question

if Japan can…why can’t we?

a credit card that simply delight the customers

having worked for credit card industry in Indonesia for a couple years (and now have graduated :)), I have an imaginary credit card which I think will delight its fans (or  its future  loyal customers)

for any bank (or banker) who wants to REALLY stand out from the competition, apply this (no charge!) and please be hurry to implement it.

the idea is very simple but will totally WOW customers (not all customers, but the people who value it)

but some disclaimer first:

when I say SIMPLE, it does NOT replacement for easy or cheap. In fact, this simple idea might be quite difficult and expensive in the short run. And, this is not my original idea*

So this is the idea:

1. Radically change the Call Center concept:

– In the opposite direction to all Credit Card Call Center to increase the IVR effectiveness  (for the one who don’t know, IVR is the automated machine that answer each call and ask you to press 1, 2 etc), you should put real people to answer Customers’ calls. In the emerging of chatting/messaging platform, put several Black Berry Messanger PINs and yahoo chats/gmail talks or whatever availables. And use twitter too…

The idea is to have CONVERSATION with your customers and NOT avoid talking to your customers

– Abandon all scripts...no scripted answer.

but it means you should train your people really good and find the people who fits with your company’s values and personality (anyway, I imagine this company has a fresh, no nonsense and fun personality)

Some of you will tell me this is very expensive. My answer is yes, this is expensive, but not very expensive. You just need to calculate the amount you have spent for advertising (print ads, billboard, radio) and use 50% of that budget to add your call center capacity as well as finding the right people.

In Indonesia, this is DOABLE

2. Unlike common credit card which has many features, this credit card will only have maximum 3 features

I could not tell you which 3 features to keep, you need to go and ask your target market on what are the most important features for them.

remember, you don’t need to please everyone, you just need to find people who will value your fresh, no nonsense and fun card

the main function of your card is it works when it’s needed and the customers know who to ask when they don’t understand

3. Invest in good datamining and analytics people

For Indonesia market, my recommendation is rather than invest in buying software on advance integrated CRM it’s better to invest in hiring many people who are really good in datamining

But you need to buy good hardware on your database and system, though

with good hardware and people, you need to have a very good customers behavior analysis to serve your customers even better

4. No cold calls selling and no street salesman/girl

Your outbound calls are basically serving the customers, reminding their transactions or if they forgot to pay on the due date. But again, no scripted talks…have a real conversation among human 🙂

Your new accounts are basically coming from word of mouth and the conversation in the call center

5. Have a good marketing and communication people

I mean really good.

And they must have fresh mind and have a great passion to delight their customers

Anyone wants to try? More interesting idea?

* notes:the inspiration is coming from Zappos

from godin’s blog: making meeting more expensive

…might actually make them cost less.

What would happen if your organization hired a meeting fairie?

The fairie’s job would be to ensure that meetings were short, efficient and effective. He would focus on:

here is the full article in seth godin blog

my comment: i don’t know about you, but based on my experience in the last couple years, many organizations are seriously needs this “meeting fairie”. seriously