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Tuesday and The Right Investments

May 13, 2008

Another week and another Tuesday is upon us, and that means another Tuesday blog. This Tuesday I started off my day at Starbucks, talk about customer loyalty. Planet Starbucks, the cult of Apple, these companies owe a lot of their ascent to this very concept, (and a superior product their customers would say, thus proving my point). At any rate, Starbucks seemed like an appropriate place to get the wheels turning concerning customer loyalty.

Truth be told, I rarely ever go to Starbucks, and as a matter of fact don’t have a Mac but I see where their success lies. I digress though. The reason that I was at Starbucks on this beautiful May morning was to meet Jill Morrison from The United Way. She was outlining certain activities and going over the capabilities of the United Way, what they had to offer to the community, and more importantly how LUCRUM could get involved.

Many of us might think that charitable work is not related to customer loyalty at first but I assure you it is. In the modern era of Globalization, the flat world if you will, this “think globally and act locally” mantra is very pertinent concept. Companies cannot and do not operate in a vacuum outside their communities, and if they do, the community will suffer and inevitably the company will too. No, organizations are living entities that operate within a community, the community draws from the company and vice versa, it’ a symbiotic relationship, or at least it should be.

Investing in the community around us indirectly benefits the company. Like the old saying, “the rising tide raises all the ships” well, if our community is doing better, it can only help a business. Moreover, those in the community will take notice and see that the company is not just trying to sell them something. Then they will realize that the company is just as invested in the community future as they are, and thus they will invest back into the company. It all comes back down to the Tuesday Model really. This part gets to the backbone of every relationship, which if you remember is trust. Beyond the good feeling we all get from helping others out, charitable works foster trust. Our customers will understand then that we are invested in their community, because we are meeting their expectations of giving back. Everything is integrated, the Milton Friedman concept that business sole responsibility is to maximize shareholder value is outdated and too simplistic. If we dehumanize ourselves then our customers won’t be able to relate. You can’t be loyal to what you can’t relate to. Investing back in the community feels right because it is right. It makes economic and social sense, and I am glad to see LUCRUM committing to such causes.

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Written by AndrewHamann · Filed Under Business & Leadership | Leave a Comment 

Treat the Customer Like a Prince…

May 6, 2008

Is it better to be loved or to be feared? The ends justify the means. One must be a fox as well as a lion etc. AH The Prince, great book, a lot of interesting concepts, but why am I writing about a book most people were forced to read in college? Well for one, I like it. But the real reason why I am thinking about Niccolo Machiavelli, is because of work.

Recently, I wrote a blog post on a project that I was working on for my supervisior. It was concerning Tuesdays, and customer loyalty. Customer Loyalty, seems pretty important no? If your customers aren’t loyal, it’s probably because of something you did, or perhaps didn’t do. Referrals are one the best forms of marketing or advertisement, you only refer who you enjoyed working with in one capacity or another. Also we tend to work and or buy things from people we like. This is why networking is so vital. That’s all I ever heard about at the Williams College of Business at Xavier- “networking-networking-networking.” Given the aforementioned, I think that customer service, and to be more precise, customer loyalty is paramount. So then, why The Prince as a preamble.

As the first line of my rant goes, is it better to be feared or loved? According to Niccolo Machiavelli, it is best be both, but seeing how this is rarely accomplished, it is better that you are feared than loved. There is no real concise way to put his explanation on why, but he does give his reasons. Again, why am I writing this? I tend to read a lot of philosophy and I find that it inspires me. Not that I think that our customers should be loyal due to fear of retribution. Personally, I say neither answer is right. I say that, better than being feared or loved is being respected. If people fear you, they will due only what is necessary to not be punished, which will render you moderate at best results. Love on the other hand can, at times, skew people’s judgment, which can lead to a lack of necessary constructive criticism. If I was starting a business, the last thing that I would want is a bunch of “yes men” to back me up or take point. R-E-S-P-E-C-T is king, people want to do good for those they admire, they want to work with those they admire, they are loyal to those they admire. This is why Fortune, ranks the “most admired companies.”

Now considering my recent project, in my humble opinion, customer loyalty comes down to respect. Given to and received from customer to business. It’s a two-way street. Respect comes down to relationships, and relationships come down to the Tuesday Model or The Tuesday(superscript C) Model. It’s linear. If the customer is simply a means to an end, then the relationship will end quicker than you think. We must remember that ultimately the customer is our “boss” and not vice versa.

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Written by AndrewHamann · Filed Under Business & Leadership | 1 Comment 

The Tuesday Model

April 29, 2008

Tuesday, not as bad as Monday, and not as good as Wednesday. Its a forgotten day to most people. If you have an average and dull life, then you could say that your life is a bunch of Tuesdays I guess. Is there any way that Tuesday could mean…a little more…here’s something that I use to get me through the Tuesdays of my life.

I have been at LÛCRUM now for about three weeks, and one of the first projects I have been asked to participate in is concerning customer loyalty. So I thought to myself, customer loyalty, how to get it, and obviously how to retain it, when it hit me….Tuesday!

What does Tuesday have to do with customer loyalty, and what is the Tuesday model, you ask? The Tuesday model is a little bit of advice that was given to me by my mentor in College. A successful venture capitalist, and entrepreneur, a man that I respect. Anyways, one day we were out at dinner and I was picking his brain about business, life, etc. when he told me this. “Andrew, all relationships, business or personal, are based on three criteria. Expectations, understanding and trust.” E.U.T or T.U.E the prefix of Tuesday as a way to remember it. “These are the building blocks of relationships” he explained. His logic was that, once expectations are not met, then understanding becomes clouded and thus, trust falls apart. Naturally he concluded “that trust is the backbone or all relationships.” I listened to my mentor and it made sense, moreover, this was a man that I respected and I could see he was great a forging strong ties in every aspect of his life and this was the secret ingredient behind his success.

Since that day I have implemented the Tuesday Model into everything relationship I in my life; family, friends, work and girlfriends. It helps you empathize, which fosters understanding and clarity. I have also amended the model itself. Trust, Understanding and Expectations is how it was originally conceived, but a sub note to expectations is communication. Only if communication is clear can expectations be derived and met. Of course this screws up the acronym but it’s worth it.

So now that I have acquainted you with my philosophy (something that I will do a lot if you let me), it is time to implement the Tuesday Model with my tasks here at LÛCRUM. Going along with the theme of Tuesday, you can find further “rants” if you so desire every Tuesday from here on out. If you agree with me great, if you have anything to add, I’m all ears, or perhaps you think I’m insane, either way, discourse is always welcome.

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Written by AndrewHamann · Filed Under Business & Leadership | 2 Comments