PERCEPTIONS – Details Analysis Activity

Patrick — Fri, 08 Dec 2023 15:08:55 +0000

A 2005 book titled, “Broken Windows, Broken Business: How the Smallest Remedies Reap the Biggest Rewards” by Michael Levine showcased the power of perceptions and the human brain’s ability to come to false conclusions.

In an online introduction and description of the book, some very valuable insights are shared:

1) In the world of business, the perception of the average consumer is a vital part of every business.

It starts, clearly, with something as seemingly insignificant as an inadequate supply of toys to go with Happy Meals, the prepackaged product aimed at young children. Because McDonald’s does a great deal of advertising and promotion to children, and emphasizes the Happy Meal toy in all of it, children will often ask to be taken to the restaurant specifically to get that particular toy. When the franchise owner or manager has not ordered an adequate number of toys, or the company itself has failed to produce enough and supply its restaurants, the child is disappointed, the parent frustrated, and the cycle of dissatisfaction set in motion.

2) Service is the absolute center of broken windows for business.

Call [a large corporation] sometime and have a stopwatch handy. See how long it takes for you to speak to a living, breathing human being after you’re done with all the automated phone system prompts.

3) Can little things turn a consumer against an entire brand? … The ‘weakest link’ theory is at work here, and it is very strong.

To create a personality for a business, and to have that personality permeate every aspect of the business, to have it become the business in the minds of customers, is the goal of branding… But all these things are tied to a larger concept: the idea of trust. For customers to accept a brand, to have an opinion—preferably a favorable one—about the brand, and to embrace it to the point that the mention of the brand name is enough to evoke a positive image in the mind, it must never disappoint. When the bad impression is made on the first experience with the company, however, it’s extremely unlikely the consumer will become a regular customer. In fact, it’s better than even money that you’ll never see this particular customer again. Ever.

4) Employees who go above and beyond the call of duty are the ones who will spot and repair broken windows. Motivating employees to do so is one of the most important jobs a manager has.

The saying that a chain is as strong as its weakest link has great resonance in the world of the broken windows for business theory. An employee—especially one who has direct contact with customers—is the most visible type of broken window imaginable. Nothing will drive customers away faster than an employee who isn’t with the program.

In all these cases, when there is a negative perception, the brain can begin to think that the entire company is broken or on the verge of collapsing.

The Customer Journey, Voice of the Customer (VoC), and other tools and frameworks help identify “broken windows” inside a company.

The Conversation Framework PERCEPTIONS – Details Analysis Activity is a collaboration tool that allows people from all over the company to come together to identify what “broken windows” they are seeing or hearing about when interfacing with customers – the “what”. It also moves into the “how” to fix the “broken windows”. Identify and set a plan for repair – two crucial pieces to the equation.

When talking about “broken windows”, two scenarios are frequently selected in an on-going organizational challenges survey conducted by Innovative Management Tools. Those scenarios are the following:

“Customers complain or ask questions about the stability of the company because of certain “details” that seem to go unattended.”

“The office upkeep/improvement budget was cut and it is beginning to show the consequences of that through “small” maintenance and upkeep details around the office.”

While the lack of attention to details might not have an immediate impact on a business, the long-term impact is a risk that few companies want to have dangling in front of them.

Paying attention to these details and issues on a regular basis, perhaps once every six months, is a good practice for companies to adopt. To its contrary, leaving multiple “broken windows” broken and in plain sight of customers will compound the situation and potentially push it to the point of no return or impossible to repair without requiring substantial money and effort.

The moral of the story is this: Take care of the small things before they become big things.

PERCEPTIONS embraces the concept and ideas set forth in Michael Levine’s book from almost 20 years ago. The timeless messages set forward in the book remain challenges to today’s companies. PERCEPTIONS brings those messages into action with this Conversation Framework.

The post PERCEPTIONS – Details Analysis Activity appeared first on Innovative Management Tools.

Details Management – Innovative Management Tools

PERCEPTIONS – Details Analysis Activity