The Right and Left Brain Blog

In the fast few days I have been besieged by bright, exciting people being really stressed out and somewhat paranoid about everything. They are worried about being laid off, money, the future, etc. Their bosses seem to be relentless critics and every comment is intercepted as a threat. They are in panic over adjusting their financial lifestyle. Cooperation with co-workers is at least perceived to being replaced by every man for himself. The most interesting common feeling is “I am extending myself for everyone and getting nothing in return.”

While many of these feelings may be real, they are simply not productive. We need a balance between reality, paranoia and action and positive thinking. Some suggestions for creating a better feeling are as follows:

• The easiest and most positive things we can do to create a positive culture is to say thank you, care about people and be supportive with praise and encouragement . Why do some of the same managers who are supportive with their kids and family go to work and just spend the whole day criticizing everything?

• We need to encourage open communication, realism, and problem solving. Assessing the situation, having discussions with bosses, having discussions with outside and inside colleagues can all be useful.

• Develop some small positive steps. This may require making a decision to fight for your current position or simply look for a new job. It definitely requires a new perspective and not doing anything.

In summary, we need to separate the reality from the paranoia. Many perceptions are simply a function of the times. One of the best lessons I learned about this was when I was 10 years old going to school with my father and Uncle Harry.

My mother would always complain to my father at breakfast that his tie was dirty or his shirt didn’t match or something. Every day, whatever my mother told my father, he would criticize my Uncle Harry while driving me to school. Uncle Harry would then be upset about what in fact was a random comment applied to him.

I found the same thing happens in our lives. Someone is having a bad day about work, their personal lives or home and it just filters down and across the organization for the whole day. How often do we say, “watch out for the boss, he is in a mean mood,” and then get personally upset when we are part of a more general attack. Try both understanding the comments and trying to be a little positive in this stressful period.

In recent years marketers have stressed actions such creating a buzz or reaching a Tipping Point. While these are new, explosive and fun, they may not be the most appropriate strategies in today’s environment.

Specifically, we need to revert to a back to basics formula in these difficult times. For example, luxury goods and bells and whistles on products are clearly not the buzz of the moment. Rather discounts, value, and cheap seem to be the new mantras. The Chairman of Google even acknowledged how many more price comparisons consumers are making. Several retailers have commented that 20% off seems to be the new regular price. Stores like Wal-Mart and Costco are prospering while luxury retailers are struggling. This should not mean an end to innovation and creativity but rather simply a change in tactics:

• A few weeks ago I went to buy a plain navy blue suit at a well known department store. They had stripes, plaids, colors, etc. but no plain blue suit in my size. Retailers need to consider what customers want rather than what their whim wants to create. The little black dress, clothes that fit, khaki pants, etc. with great value and quality can still be done creatively. For example, Spanx and Not Your Mothers Jeans have built successful businesses by simply stressing fit.

• Quality and value need more attention and can be creatively approached. Suppliers generally do a horrible job describing quality and value features. They simply need to change from slapping a designer name on a mediocre product and charging more money.

• Customer service can be a critical differentiator in marketing. Geek Squad, internet store pickup with no cost, and Lands End’s no questions asked return policy are examples of customer service excellence. Many auto insurers have simplified the estimate and repair process with both better service and lower costs. In contrast, companies like Dell are charging extra if you want to talk to an American customer service agent.

• Organizations need more collaboration, openness and communication to improve the entire product process. Suppliers say retailers are out to get them. Retailers say they care about their suppliers but that they don’t change. Somehow these discussions need to change from dividing the pie to maximizing the process and mailing the sum more than the parts.

In short we need to focus on maximizing the entire supply process rather than simply developing new marketing or product approaches that simply result in increasing expenses and not increasing total sales and profits.

We always worry about the communication and not the process of the communication in business. Quite simply, we need more interaction and informal communication. These issues are well illustrated in a discussion of PowerPoint, which is among the most overused current communication tools that ignores the needs of the audience. I certainly applaud the benefits of the technology, capabilities, ease of use and its inherent ability to make presentations simpler and clearer. However, it is a tool gone whacky. There is nothing worse than having the lights go out, and sitting through a 30-60 minute canned, slick, PowerPoint sales presentation that talks about how passionate, skilled excellent, involved experienced, and differentiated the supplier is.

The presenter is usually a sales person who has nothing to do with implementing the project, and may have sold for a competitor or another product three weeks ago. In addition the presentation is frequently prepared by a graphic artist or department that has no relation to the product or presenter. Similarly, the presentation is mostly about how great the supplier is without saying what they can do for the client.

They frequently ignore the fact that in most cases they wouldn’t have been asked to present if the client didn’t know how great they were to qualify in the first place. What’s worse is they don’t allow interaction because they aren’t really prepared, have little information on the specific clients needs, and refuse to provide the presentation before the meeting to allow the client to prepare and ask questions. Furthermore, they are oblivious to the fact that half the people take a nap with the lights out and that the client has listened to virtually the same presentation from however many resources they have qualified to present.