Every click you make on the web is watched

This may seem harmless, but there are now companies springing up whose purpose is to search the web for confidential information for their clients.  So let’s take a quick look at the governance that protects your information and what this means to marketers.

Five things you need to be aware of:

1. In the UK the Data Protection Act (DPA) 1998 is the overarching legal framework protecting personal data, including the way marketers collect and use the information.
2. There are 8 principals that anyone processing information must apply.  The most relevant to marketers is that the information is, “adequate, relevant and not excessive” and that it is not kept for “longer than necessary”.
3. Safe Harbor, which is a self self-regulatory US framework, is to reassure European citizens that there is an adequate level of privacy protection provided by US companies marketing to them, as they are not covered by the DPA.
4. The grey area of data protection is whether or not your IP address is considered personal data.
5. The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, covers how personal data can be used for online marketing.  Essentially it must be permission based with an opt-out facility. 

If your digital agency hasn’t mentioned this to you, then ask them!

What’s the most important thing you want to get out of EEDA’s Destination Growth ‘09?

Destination Growth ’09, has the potential be one of the most exciting and innovative business events of the year.  An absolute must to go to if it is anything like the event two years ago and is without doubt, East Anglia’s flagship business event.

I asked people going, what they wanted to get out of the day and these were the answers…..

“I want a better understanding of some of the areas of the seminar topics, especially marketing to/from SMEs.  I also want to network.”

“I am interested to find out from delegates how they have coped with the current economic climate and networking for both clients and suppliers.”

“To help with the motivation to take my business up a level, something that happens when you spend a day listening to people with good ideas.”

“To make connections that will become long term strategic alliances, particularly with any business interested in CSR or wishing to embrace a ‘responsible business’ agenda.”

“A combination of fresh thinking and business development is important to me.  By being immersed in an environment where everyone is thinking and talking about business growth is bound to lead to some changes in my perception, and therefore to planned actions for growth.”

“As a proactive and commercial FD, I’m always interested in listening to various business scenarios from various sectors. I am interested in how different businesses have felt the economic climate and how they have dealt with it.”

“Personal development is top of the list for me, which in turn will have a positive impact on my business. I’m also keen to network.”

Brilliant and varied answers – Tuesday 3rd November 2009 promises to be an exciting day.

Click on the logo to go to the web site.

Help – recipes wanted that men can cook

I want to help the women of East Anglia encourage their men folk to cook.

I was twittering away, when one of the tweets I received, was from a lady on holiday relaxing, whilst her husband was cooking dinner. 

Nothing unusual about that you might think.  A kind and thoughtful gesture and away from the barbeque!

Unfortunately after a very short time, emergency help with the rice was called for, so moment lost!  

So, rather sadly, his kind offer didn’t appear to be matched by his skills, and the lady in question was in distress.

So how about it, let’s create a bullet proof cook book for men?  More sophisticated than beans on toast, tastier than a bacon ‘sarnie’, and something that will ‘wow’ the ladies.

I’ll put together an e-book of the top 10 dishes for blokes to cook, if you can provide the recipes.

It will require engineering details like a Haines car manual.  Then, specific information on where to get the parts from, and a thorough description of which are the correct tools to use.  And finally, details of the sequence in which to construct the masterpiece.

Think Meccano for cooks!

Are you up for the challenge?

Send your recipes to jonathan@fcgconsultancy.co.uk.  I’ll credit your details and circulate the e-book to everyone who submits a recipe!

Is Self-Directed Support the death knell for charities or saviour for people with a disability?

Self-directed support is the new social care policy being rolled out, to be in place by 2011.  It means larger charities will no longer be able to provide a ‘one size fits all’ bulk contracted service to local authorities.  Instead, they will have to sell their services direct to each customer, skills which most of them don’t currently have. 

By 2011 the Government wants the SDS system in place and fully operational.  Currently the scheme is creating a major upheaval for local authorities.  Why?  Because they have to assess each individual, allocate a care budget, support the creation of a care plan, approve it and then help the individual and their carers put it in place. 

Many are running behind schedule and right now there’s no clear indication of how, when or what the volume of this fledgling market will be.  And that’s a big problem for charities as many of them are geared to work with local authority contracts worth £000’s and the customers arriving automatically, rather than one-by-one and direct payment in the £0’s.

Added to this potentially chaotic situation, the mindset of many charities could easily hold them back.  Historically, those without a retail operation simply haven’t needed to adopt a commercial approach where customers have to be found, courted and sold to.  Customers have arrived courtesy of a local authority contract or spot purchase.  And, as in any organisation where the customer doesn’t pay directly for the service, customer care and service flexibility is generally at the back of the pack.  Furthermore, a ‘one size fits all’ service is driven almost entirely by cost.  And ironically, one of the things that contribute towards high costs is administration, which without investment in IT and customer relationship management processes is very labour intensive.

One example of this mindset is a label often given to the people served through social care.  Rather than politely referring to those they support as ‘customers’ or ‘clients’, they are rather unattractively labelled ‘service users’; unique to the industry.  And if you Google ‘service user’, you will see that it’s a tag that doesn’t go down at all well.

So what are the specific challenges charities face to deliver in the face of SDS?

The first one is scoping the business.  As it isn’t at all clear how the market will segment, scenarios need modelling to explore shaping the service.  For example how will the provision of consultancy or advice and the service to be delivered be separated?  The cost/income equation needs exploring to see what is and what isn’t viable and the impact, if any, upon their current business should they stop delivering to this sector of the market.

The second is how to tailor what they do and package it in a way that is customer friendly, relevant to the market and presented and marketed in a manner that is attractive so people will buy it.  As many charities have never had to do this, they may need to put in place a basic customer relationship management system along with a sales process and assign and train a sales team to sell their products and services. 

The third is the marketing communications strategy and plan, to deliver the new service to the market, which will have a considerable cost attached to it; one which charities are neither used to nor familiar with. 

Then IT and the accounts process will need upgrading, as the number of transactions, invoices and hence potential for customer queries are likely to considerably increase.  And with this comes the need for tighter credit control.

The final challenge is perhaps the biggest.  That is to transform the culture that underlies delivery of the current service.  Let’s call the current approach the ‘professional gift model’.  Here, care comes as a ‘gift’, something those that receive it cannot control or reshape.  Everything is decided for them by the professionals who assess what they need.  

If this is to change to a system where the client and their carers decide what they need and how, many current assumptions about control, purpose and responsibility will need to be revisited.  Furthermore, where the client has the power of choice, most staff working within this area are likely to feel undervalued and undermined, as choice means there is a need for persuasion and selling, rather than professional advice. 

They won’t be at all familiar with selling skills and it isn’t an area that they will particularly want to become involved with, as selling is often viewed as unprofessional.  And that’s perfectly normal.  As up until the introduction of SDS there was no need to sell; customers just arrived as consistently as the sun rises each morning.

On top of all this, judging just when to enter the market is a lottery.  Too soon and competitors can re-define their offering and pricing to provide greater ‘added value’ and be more competitive.  Too late and the opportunity can be lost.

What remains far from clear is whether or not there will be a place for the major providers.  They tend to have fixed facilities with high overheads, so unless they can be creative and flexible in their approach, the whole market could fragment into a cottage industry of family, friends and acquaintances, providing highly personalised, flexible services at low cost.

However, you can have your SDS cake and eat it.  For the last nine months I have been working with one of the more forward thinking regional charities.  They now have in place their offering for the market, ready and waiting to be introduced and rolled out at the right moment.  And for a win, win scenario, the approach that has been adopted will ensure that current services are delivered in a much greater customer centric manner too, which will help change mindsets.

The last word should be for people with a disability, the group of people that the scheme is designed to help.  For them the concept of SDS is enlightened.  So if local authorities and charities can make it work, they really will have equality, choice and independence.

Things that ‘Make my Day’

I don’t mean in the Clint Eastwood sense, but things that just make me smile and feel good about life.  And I mean little things that just happen day to day, not involving family and friends.

Generally, they are random acts. 

Perhaps a motorist stopping graciously at a zebra crossing, with a smile, so I can cross the road.  Or someone else stopping to let mother duck and her brood of ducklings cross the roads in Ely, safely.

Maybe it’s a casual smile or perhaps a cheery ‘Good Morning’ as you pass someone else walking down the street.  Or a shopkeeper’s small talk, remembering something you said when you last met.

I once heard about a train driver who sang information to the tune of “I Did It My Way” by Frank Sinatra.

So instead of “The next stop is Olympia where this train terminates.”

He sang, “And now, the end is near…… and now we reach…. our final destination.  We’ve come from High Street Ken….. and passed through all…… those other stations…..”

There was no reason for him to do it.  He wouldn’t get paid anymore for it.  Nobody would buy more tube tickets because of it.  There was no financial benefit.  No material incentive.

He was just having fun.  And the people on the train had fun, listening to him have fun.  It just made the people on the train feel better, helping to make the world go around.

I would like to have been on that train.

Yet it isn’t, to my knowledge, part of any Customer Relationship Management process in the world (apart from one internal South African airline who sing their safety message).  Can you imagine the conversation during the corporate planning process – the idea would be seen as far to ‘off the wall’.

Bring it on – it makes the world a better place.

What can you do if your star salesman’s upsetting the team?

Here are a few strategies to get the whole team pulling together should you find yourself in this situation.

It can happen.  The team are struggling to achieve target, yet one salesman is consistently ahead of the game.  They won’t share leads, don’t follow the sales process and fail to put in the figures and paperwork on time.

You don’t want to lose them, because they are delivering business.  Yet at the same time they are de-motivating the rest of the team and not towing the corporate line; neither of which are a good thing and could encourage others to leave.

The start point is to accept that these folk are high maintenance and that there are big egos and pride at stake here.  Often they don’t wish to be promoted because their motivation is achieving the numbers and being paid big bonuses when they do so.

To tame this tiger (or tigress) will require finesse, skill and a delicate touch.  So start by spending time with them.  Find out what makes them tick, get to understand what drives them and then build on this.  For example, if recognition is key, turn some of their customers into detailed case studies – get their clients to highlight the ‘Added Value’ that the individual brings and acknowledge this. 

Perhaps they get frustrated by ‘red tape’.  If they do, a junior staff member can job shadow them and help with the administration. 

It might be that they just don’t agree with the sales process.  If so, get them to identify the stages they go through – perhaps it’s something that could be used to develop the overall sales training approach?

It’s about getting closer to these individuals and using their skills to highlight additional opportunity for the organisation.  By spending time with them and getting them involved on this level, you can achieve this. 

If you would like a few suggestions how this can be practically applied to your business, give me a call on 07971 006 446 and we can talk it through.

HRketing – blending HR and Marketing skills

Just like various fine Eastern cuisines have morphed into a tasty fusion, so have HR and Marketing in some multi-nationals.  The win, win result has generated considerable interest and improvement in candidate quality and experience.

Whilst using very different languages, the two disciplines actually do fulfil very similar functions.  Marketing targets consumers and potential consumers and HR targets employees and potential employees.

And whilst organisations may see the brand messages, aimed at these two groups as different; consumers and employees don’t!

This is where economies of scale can create significant benefits.  The approach ensures empathy between creative messages, common use of imagery and templates, improvement of the journey through the recruitment process and use of an HR marketing planning toolkit to prevent duplication of effort and save time. 

This is a novel approach that creates consistency and efficiency, cross pollinating the skills of the two disciplines to create a more professional approach.

The outcome for one of the organisations adopting this approach has been to cut the time from final assessment to job offer by half, considerably raise candidate experience scores and be far more cost effective in the recruitment process, as talent markets are clearly identified.

As my organisation combines marketing, communication, motivation and coaching skills, I can see how this novel approach has brought dividends to those with the vision to adopt it.

Don’t let conference inertia creep into your business

You’ve just had the conference or team meeting, the staff got wildly enthusiastic and everyone’s excited about the future, but when next week arrives it’s back to normal.  ‘What next’?

‘What next’ is perhaps, the most crucial aspect of conference planning, as it is really the starting point?  So, it is essential that all the participants go away with a clear message of what needs doing next, and how it will be achieved. 

And the only way to do this is through continuity.

And by this I mean constructing a route through the whole process. 

It will go something like this; keynote speeches feed in to relevant workshops, which result in identified strategies and objectives, which are translated into workplace action, measured through the achievement of KPI’s, rewarded through performance remuneration and followed-up through 1 two 1’s, resulting in feedback to complete the loop.

This is much more difficult to construct in practice, as it is so easy to overcomplicate matters.

Maintaining clear goals with clarity is absolutely essential.  The temptation is always to add a bit more. 

And in this case more is less, so resist it.

So, there you are.  When you plan your next event, think backwards!

Do you know why customers purchase from you?

Sometimes even serial entrepreneurs leave finding out to chance and get it wrong. But what can you do to minimise this as, in today’s market, drawing the wrong conclusions could prove disastrous?

One way is to adapt the 360 degree survey process – turn it on its head and use it for customer, rather than staff input.

You can involve everyone in the customer chain and use it to get valuable feedback which will also help identify cross selling opportunity too.

Or perhaps introduce a series of planning workshops or seminars to help customers get the very best from your products or service. This process can also help you gain valuable information about where your customers want to go. Then you can follow up by starting a dialogue with them to identify ways that you can support them along this journey.

All these types of activity will help you get closer to customers, giving them ‘added value’, which will identify additional opportunity for you, taking the guesswork out of the equation and locking out the competition.

If you would like a few suggestions how this can be practically applied to your business, give me a call on 07971 006 446 and we can talk it through.

Wounded

For the first time, the Ministry Of Defence has allowed television cameras to follow the recovery and rehabilitation of severely injured soldiers returning from Afghanistan.

Earlier in the week I watched this documentary which follows the journey of two seriously injured soldiers; Andy Allen, a 19-year-old Ranger and Tom Neathway, a 24-year-old Lance Corporal.

It moved me to tears.

We experience first-hand, the true effect of war. The ‘Collateral’ damage and sanitised pictures we usually get on TV, as some form of super PC Game, were stripped bare. Unlike the movies, what we saw here were real people, really, really hurt – blood guts and all.

And their families and loved one’s were there too, helplessly sharing their pain, anguish and journey to recovery. And here was I, a fly on the wall viewer feeling like a voyeur, watching this very intimate and personal journey unfold.

The programme humbled me and changed the way I think about things that personally trouble me and left me with three distinct and clear thoughts.

What impressed me most about both Andy and Tom was their formidable mental strength. They just got on with the job of getting better and back to living their lives. They were incredibly stoic, without an ounce of self pity. I truly hope that they can maintain this because it will make them unstoppable, achieving whatever they want to do in their lives.

They both had a magnificent sense of loyalty and belonging. The Army and their mates were incredibly important to them and they went the extra mile and will I’m sure, continue to do so for either. This was an unswerving loyalty and a quality they should be proud of, as self interest was definitely at the back of the pack.

That any politician even considering taking their country to war should watch this film at least twice and face up to the magnitude of human suffering and misery that their decision to pull the trigger will inevitably unleash upon thousands.

Here's Part One