.:RIMproInsider:.

I am reading Craig Terrels and Arthur Middlebrooks book entitled, Market Leadership Strategies for Service Companies. Definitely worth the read. I am struck immediately by the trap they say many service companies fall into, namely of “doing things better.” The need for constant improvement in process, quality, cycle time and a host of other operational activities has not necessarily helped to improve market share and profits. It has however created a “commodity” mentality into our businesses. I am sure that many of us have fallen into this trap. But listen to what they say in the 3rd Chapter.

Service companies need to dare to be different. To find a leadership position in the market…. and then to lead. The key strategy is to be different from competitors. Service market leaders dominate their market niches by playing their own game, as opposed to one-upping competitors with the exact same offering. They break free from “be better” - internally oriented initiatives to pursue “be different” - externally oriented strategies. Being different is grounded in providing customers with the unique value that they cannot get from any other competitor. It means constantly moving into uncharted waters and rallying the organizationto do so confidently.

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It is with a great amount a gratitude that I write today. I am thankful for a great community of readers and subscribers with whom I get to share this web space and industry.

To my American readers…. Happy Thanksgiving. To my international readers.. Happy November 25th!

Make it a great day!

Tom

I read an interesting article this morning about how hard it is for people to change ingrained habits. Evolability - basically means the ability to evolve.

I heard a statistic a while back; it takes the average person more than 15 days to adapt to a change as simple as moving a garbage can from the right side of their desk to the left side.

This leads me to making a couple of observations.

1. When expecting staff to make significant changes in a sales or operations approach that they have done for months or years, we need to realize that the evolability factor comes into play. I have talked to owners who are extremely frustrated with a staff member after telling them something once that they haven’t done yet. That is not to say they shouldn’t be required to change, but as owner managers we should be aware of the time it often takes people to adapt to changes. It is not that they can’t, it is not that they won’t… it is that their brain is actually rewiring itself to allow this change.

If you spent a few hours a day for the next three weeks learning to play the piano, you would be altering the structure of your brain. Specifically, you would alter a part of your brain that represents your body and helps move its parts in precise fashion. When you learn to play the piano, you stimulate the region of the brains’ map that represents your fingers, challenging your brain to learn the new motor skills.
Inactivity, on the other hand, can lead to a decrease in the brains’ representations underlying a skill - this indicates that the brain is constantly adapting to external events that affect how you use it.

It makes sense now why staff find the changes we demand difficult.

2. In order to be agents of change we need to be people who are capable of evoability ourselves. That means we must manage to keep adapting things in our own lives to ensure we don’t loose the capacity to quickly change. Changing our approach on a regular basis keeps our brains wired to change versus wired to constancy. And every indication I can see is that we are in an industry that demands a constancy of change.

People are often aggravated by their computers. That seems to be a part of modern life. But in an office setting, when the level of aggravation rises significantly, it is an indication that there is a systemic problem with the technology.

Being experts in “space” and “storage,” we treat the problem the way we treat our regular growing pains - with more storage space. We add bigger hard drives, more memory, bigger monitors, and even more computers with newer operating systems. Or, we have an “expert” tweak our hard drives, removing supposed viruses and illicit programs, to find more, well… space. But these things are only symptoms of a deeper problem, one that every growing and successful business has to face at some point in time. The computer aggravation factor is simply the lack of an adequate IT infrastructure.

Well, “simply” may not be the right word. A good IT infrastructure is far from simple. It integrates diverse software application programs effectively with one another and the people using them. As the number and sizes of software applications grow, and more demands are made on our computers, the processes used to manage manage all of these demands become over-taxed. Bigger, and more robust software management solutions are needed.

A good IT infrastructure is particularly important for the RIM industry because of the kinds of technology we use or are beginning to use. Unlike many industries, our very lines of business are heavily dependant on special software applications. Honestly, RIM may well be one of the most technology-dependant industries going, but our office IT infrastructures are often primitive in comparison.

The more successful our business becomes, the more likely we will experience the computer aggravation factor. In time it is inevitable. Upgrade your IT infrastructure to become robust enough to handle your growing success.

You do RIM services best and you need to concentrate on it. But in order to get new clients in the door, you need to market. Here are some ideas to consider in your ongoing quest to build a great marketing machine which returns positively on your investment.

1. You have to plan. Marketing objectives broken down into marketing strategy driven by marketing tactics. So many of us just buy into tactics, the individual marketing channels and advertising mediums, instead of doing the front end planning work of objectives and strategy.

2. Create a Market. Is there a new market you can make for your service. I am always impressed by Mike Tingle at Tri-R and ShredNations. He and his staff are always innovating. Look at the new markets they have created. Ship-n-Shred, Shop-N-Shred, ShredMall…. all driven by a desire to open new markets. What in your area can you do to create a new market.

3. Competitive Intelligence. Are you missing the boat by failing to keep an eye on your competitors and what they are doing. Are you watching Iron? You need to be. The more you watch your compettiors, the more you see what they are doing, and how you can tap into a trend, a new wave or a simple solution you can offer your clients.

4. Alternative Spin: More than ever it is critical to get publicity from “other than paid” means. You have to get noticed by your local papers, business journals, and business news. You have to find ways to increase the buzz about your company. The best way to get in your local business writers good books is to feed them industry stats, figures and stories on a regular basis. Feed thm and they will feed you.

That one resource that we strive so hard to control, seems to always be resistant. Time somehow knows that we don’t really know how to control it, or manage it well in most instances. As I talk to many of you in this industry the one thing I keep seeing is how little time most of us appear to have. And as a result, we end up running to keep up with appointments, return calls, meetings and follow-up. In between those scheduled demands are hundreds of unscheduled ones that constantly demand our presence. I listened to a guy yesterday who is incredibly busy and the question was asked of him, “How do you do it?” His answer unfolded into a kick in the seat of the pants reminder for me as well. Here were some of his thoughts.

You have to be less flexible with your time. Don’t try to prioritize your schedule. Begin to schedule your priorities into blocks of accomplishment time. Be ruthless with those people or things that waste your time.
Realize that time wasters are encouraged to repeat themselves by our own permission. Reaction is a crappy way to live all the time. Return your emails and calls once a day, not everytime they ring or beep.

His most valuable comment was one that was critical to hear again. He suggested that we run so fast we rarely get time to stop and think. And it is in those times that we get the flashes of insight, the oppotunity to prioritize and the quiet to rest.