Yearly Archives: 2005

PEF: Only about 10,000 things to monitor

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You may recall that I’ve talked about the PEF or Personal Experience Factor a few times and it’s what Amy Curtis-McIntyre of JetBlue was talking about here.

Along comes a story today about Pret A Manger in CNN. Founder Julian Metcalfe got it right. A strong PEF is the result of OBSESSION.

Q. But you can create an atmosphere where people enjoy working in that establishment — you have that atmosphere.

A. Yeah. You can create an atmosphere with 10,000 little components. I always try and compare … I compare Pret to the inside of a beautifully made Swiss watch, you know. If all 10,000 cogs are turning it works. And the result of that is the atmosphere is good. And the sandwich is good. But you know all ten thousand cogs have to work: the recruitment process has to work, the training process has to work, the property indeed has to work, the hot water system has to work, the bread must be delivered, the man who makes the ham must make that ham with pride. It all has to work and only when all ten thousand things click together, then maybe if you are lucky you get a good atmosphere. And that’s the hideous truth. I’m not making this up, this is the truth and when I go, when we go into Pret shops and you don’t have that atmosphere or the quality, it’s because maybe just a couple of…you only need a few dozens of those cogs not to turn for the whole thing to start suffering. I’ll tell you that.

It’s a great interview. Read it. We help our clients with their PEF, but it’s always easier when they’re already obsessive. And, like Metcalfe says, it only takes a tiny percentage of the entire PEF to be misfiring to affect the entire operation. No amount of advertising will fix it.

What Are You Offering?

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Monday Morning Memo for November 28, 2005

By Roy H. Williams

Businesses don’t fail due to reaching the wrong people.

Businesses fail when they say the wrong things.

And they say the wrong things when they believe what the public tells them.

Conduct a survey. Ask the public to describe in detail the kind of place they’d like to shop. Then build that place, exactly as described, and see if they ever show up.

Experience tells us they won’t.

We’ll use furniture stores as an example. People say they want a store where they can look at all the different styles of furniture, see all the different patterns and colors of fabric and grains of wood and colors of wood stain, and then have their own ‘dream furniture’ made according to their choices. Today you’ll find that furniture store on every corner. “And we’ll even show you on a computer monitor exactly what your new sofa will look like! Want to see it in another fabric? Click this button. Another color of wood? Click this button. And we’ll deliver it to your home, direct from the factory! You’ll be buying factory direct!”

His real name is Jim McIngvale. They call him Mattress Mac. Twenty-five years ago he dove headlong into the furniture business with just five thousand dollars. It’s all he had. This year that furniture store will do nearly 200 million dollars in a single location, placing it among the most successful stores in the world.

Jim occasionally buys a day of my time to pick my brain and bounce ideas off me. I should be paying him.

During our last visit, I asked my friend if I could share the secret of his success with you. Graciously, he allowed it: As simple as this may sound, Jim’s 200 million dollar secret is immediate delivery. When people buy new furniture, they want to see it in their home immediately. “Buy it today and we’ll deliver it tonight,” is Jim’s angle. He doesn’t do special orders. “If you see it, we’ve got it.” Remember all those people who said they wanted to pick from a large selection of fabrics and wood grains? Tell them you’ll deliver their new sofa in 8 to 12 weeks. Then Jim will show them something entirely different but offer to deliver it immediately. Guess who usually wins?

What people say they would do is rarely what they will actually do. This is what makes it foolish to put too much faith in surveys. We don’t know ourselves as well as we think.

Ask any real estate agent. The homes people buy are never the ones they described to the agent when they got in the car. Not even close.

Now let’s talk about you. Chances are, you’ve been reaching the right people all along. You’ve just been saying the wrong things. Some ads are like waving raw meat in front of hungry dogs. Most ads are lectures, explaining to these same dogs all the joys of organic popcorn.

Do you have a tasty message to deliver to the world? Or are you expecting your ad writers to apply a thick layer of creativity to hide the fact that you have nothing to say?

Truthfully, what percentage of your ads say anything worth hearing?

Sholem Asch was right when he said, “Writing comes more easily if you have something to say.” But Morris Hite said it brazenly, “If you have a good selling idea, your secretary can write your ad for you.”

We’re here if you need us.

Roy H. Williams

PS – Look to the far left of this memo and you’ll see this week’s featured product. Selling Customers Their Way is a wonderful DVD featuring my partner, Jeffrey Eisenberg, and Wizard Academy board member Dr. Richard Grant, a consulting psychologist. If you read the product description at WizardAcademyPress.com, be sure to download a sample. It’s fun viewing.

Do You Need A Miracle?

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Monday Morning Memo for November 21, 2005
By Roy H. Williams

GirlShadowTauntsFinances. Relationships. Health… the tall monsters we face in life’s dark ocean when we awaken underwater, alone in the night, not knowing what to do.

Ever been there?

People respond to deep crisis in different ways. There are:

1. Handwringers who talk about the problem to anyone who will listen. “You just won’t believe what I’m going through.”
2. Dark worriers who internalize the problem, then grow despondent and depressed. “Life sucks and then you die.”
3. Positive thinkers who prop themselves up with platitudes: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” “God helps those who help themselves.” “It’s not the size of dog in the fight that counts, it’s the size of fight in the dog,” etc.
4. Analytical planners who gather the data, calculate the odds, do whatever makes the most sense, then resign themselves to the eventual outcome. “I’ve done all that I can do.”
5. People who abandon steps 1 through 4 and run to God like little girls. “Daddy! Daddy! Save me!”

Does it surprise you that I’ve always been part of the run-to-God crowd?

I’m not trying to be religious here. I’m trying to be helpful.

Many of you will find today’s memo completely irrelevant. I realize that. But with 31,000 readers, I’ve got to believe that at least a few hundred feel they are suffocating in darkness. (If you’re in the sunshine-and-song, problem-free majority, you’re free to quit reading right now if you like:)

It seems to me that we’re reluctant to run to God for different reasons:

1. Doubt. “God doesn’t exist and I’ll not demean myself by caving in to that Myth after a lifetime of self-sufficiency.”
2. Pride. “I ought to be able to handle this on my own.”
3. Religiosity. “God is sovereign. If I suffer, it is because He has willed it.”
4. Shame. “I haven’t earned the right to ask God for anything.”

Doubt has never been a problem for me. Maybe someday I’ll tell you why.

Pride is one of my less endearing traits. Frankly, I’m as territorial an alpha-male as any redneck bastard that ever drank Budweiser. But I have no pride when I ponder God. I’m arrogant. But I’m not stupid.

Religiosity. I agree with Arthur C. Clarke, who said, “You can’t have it both ways. You can’t have both free will and a benevolent higher power who protects you from yourself.” In other words, I believe a once-sovereign God gave up absolute control of our circumstances on the day he gave us free will and put us in charge of this world. “Religiosity” is also what Tom, a friend of Anne Lamott, was talking about when he said, “You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”

Shame. Like you, I’ve never earned the right to run to God like a little girl crying “Daddy, Daddy, Save me.” Certainly not. Instead, I take the position, “Jesus, let’s not make this about how good I am. Let’s make this about how good you are.”

Call me crazy. Call me delusional. Call me a hopeless romantic, but I believe in a God who likes me and is on my side. And I am no stranger to miracles.

Do you need a miracle? Like it or not, I’ve given you what has always worked for me. It’s the very best advice I’ve got: “God, let’s not make this about how good I am. Let’s make it about how good you are.”

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday.

Are there things for which you are thankful?

Roy H. Williams

PS – I wrote this memo fully aware that 4 groups of people will complain: