We are all too familiar with the popularist acronyms used in the social mediea space  O.M.G, L.O.L., L8R, B.B.F.N – they are becoming two a penny. At least in the world of my offspring!

But where acronyms don’t belong is in the world of business.

As soon as an acroynm or indeed the dreaded “tech speak” appears, people will mis-interpret what is being said and something will be missed.

And alot of this is down to the fact that many are too embarassed to ask – especially when everyone else in the room seems to get what’s being said (but some others almost certainly won’t!)

I was sitting in a meeting the other day about storage area networks. All good – but within 5 minutes of the start of the conversation I was totally lost.

Not because I am not a fully fledged geek – but because the techies in the room started talking in their own lingo as opposed to describing the topic in a business context.

Whatever we are saying or writing needs to make sense to the audience. Frankly, I believe that even if we are communicating with peers who should understand what is being said, it is still better to spell it out to be sure of what’s being said.

A customer needs to understand why they are buying a technology.

What are the business reasons for implementing it?

• Increased productivity?
• Reduced opex (oops – operational expenditure, must practice what I preach!)?
• Increased security?

And it needs to be explained in this language and nothing else. Sure, the guys in the IT department might be interested in what’s under the hood – but often, they are not the ones making the decision to buy.

Acronyms and “in-house” speak have no place in the commercial world. Clarity is key!

What are your thoughts?

Photo: See-ming Less

Project managers and their teams always aim to meet and exceed customer expectations in project delivery.

And so they should.

The ability to deliver a project to time, budget, quality and scope along with effectively engaging the client in the project is paramount. The ability to go over and above the basics and to do everything better than everyone else is what seperates the good project manager from the superstar project manager.

But…

Expectation management should come with a bit of a health warning. Without ground rules, an enthusiastic or demanding client will just continue to make demands on both the project manager and the team irrespective of agreed scope etc.

How a project manager handles this is key.

If a project manager starts quoting process, this can then create a conflict scenario and may lead to a deterioration in what otherwise is a solid project engagement.

On the other hand, doing nothing can lead to significant pressure on the project manager and also a likely impact on their ability to perform their role.

So what to do?

Define a project communication plan

As well as defining the project scope and get agreement on this from the offset with the client, the best manner for handling an enthusiastic but demanding client is to have the communications plan agreed upfront also.

• How project reporting will be undertaken.
• When updates will be available.
• How changes will be handled.
• The content of the project reporting so the client can look for additions from the offset if required.
• How escalations are to be handled.
• Who to talk to about what!

Once the project is in play, the communications plan when adhered to from day 1 will help to reduce unnecessary and distracting client engagement. Once the project manager is issuing updates in the agreed timely manner and all other agreed communications points are adhered to by the proejct team, most clients will accept the processes.

As for the other ones? Hmmm – maybe just take them for a pint and let them vent for half an hour a week to you!

Photo: Krossbow

Service delivery of any nature is all about capability.

• Capability of the team that will be in place.
• Capability of your business to deliver on the promises that were made.
• Capability of being able to stand over any key performance indicators or service level agreements.

Service delivery is all about people first, process and procedure second.

• People will deliver the work required to time and quality.
• People will engage with the customer and make them feel appreciated (or otherwise).
• People make the project work or fail.

Processes and procedures simply enable projects and services to be delivered according to a particular standard and with consistency – provided the people are up to the task at hand.

Service delivery is about the customer.

• The customer needs to appreciate what is being delivered.
• The customer is the one that will give you a reference next time that you are looking for one.
• The customer is the person that pays you once the job is done.

Without a satisfied customer this time and every time, you have no service delivery business.

Service delivery is internal organisation

• Service delivery is about having the right infrastructure to deliver those services correctly.
• Service delivery is not about skimping on investment to save now – you will get burned in the future.
• Service delivery is about being able to measure and improve your offerings.

The key word in service delivery is service.

Service implies that something is going to be delivered in a certain way.

Service implies a degree of excellence. Deliver it and the sky is the limit.

While price obviously defines that level of service, there is nothing to stop anyone delivering that service “excellently” for the price that is paid for it.

What are your thoughts? What consideration do you give to “service” when delivering your business services to your customers?

Photo: John Stockton

Project management success can mean different things for different people depending on their participation in the project.

For a software developer it could be;

• The on-time delivery of their particular element.
• The delivery of a new piece of functionality that had never been done before.
• The fact that they mentored a junior member of the team for the first time and got a kick out of it.

For the designer it could be;

• Seeing their design coming to fruition.
• That design piece that the customer disagreed with but the designer insisted on being appreciated.
• Just being glad that it’s done and moving onto the next thing!

For the project manager;

• On Time, On Budget,In scope,To Quality.
• Because it was the biggest project they’d ever done and it went well.
• Because their boss gave them a nice bonus .

There are many reasons why any team member can feel satisfied that a project was a success.

But the real test of the successful project to me is whether it answers the simple question;

Did the customer of the project get what they expected out of it?

There is no other more important measure of successful project delivery.

If the end customer is satisfied that;

• Their business case made sense and they are seeing the value.
• The engagement with the project team was a positive experience.
• They would recommend that project team/business again.

Without a positive customer reception of the project after it has been closed off, the project has not been a success.

While a large amount of this is down to the project delivering what was promised against the original business case, very often, the impression of the project manager and the team is just as important.

So when you are considering the success criterion of your next project consider the main question of whether the customer is satisfied with what they received.

If they are, they’ll be back.  If they’re not –they won’t!

What are your thoughts on what makes for project success?

I was reading an article the other day about making a commercial website suitable for international markets. There were lots of helpful reminders in the areas of language, compliance and optimisation for each potential market place.

The very next day I had a real reminder of this in operation. We have a customer in the UK who logged a query through our on-line support service. The call ended up in my inbox due to the nature of the request.

I answered the call through the ticket in the usual way, but as I know the customer well – I popped in a typical Irish question into the reply asking him  “How’s the form?”.

Now if I had been speaking to him rather than writing, he would almost certainly have understood what I meant.  For those of you who may not know it simply means “How are things going with you?” or perhaps “How are you?”.

I received a response to the update I’d made that said “What form are you talking about?“.

And there-in lies the issue.

I had not made sufficient allowance for the difference in language and nuance and confused my customer. In this instance there was no problem. He and I have spoken on a number of occasions during the beta trial and get on well.

However, if I had not gotten on so well with this customer – it may have only annoyed him rather than achieving the aim that I was trying to get of being personable.

This is only a simple example, but I thought it showed the impact of localisation and language well!

Have you ever had a bad experience with misunderstandings caused by language or culture?

Photo: CherryLynx

Our house is on the market at the moment. The advertising is up. The estate agent has been around and there are on-going viewings.

All encouraging signs and the feedback on the house is excellent.

“They loved the house”, “the house is immaculate and ready to move in to”, “they loved the sunroom”, “they loved the attic conversion”, “they loved the garden”…..

Great! But, er, is anyone actually interested in making an offer?

Yes, they love the house. But a huge portion of the people who have come to see it won’t make an offer.

They are not committed, worried about the next budget, concerned about their own job security.. excuses all.

These are the tyre kickers. They are tempted or might be thinking about making the move or perhaps are trying to decide where they might want to live.

They have no more interest in making an offer than my youngest son has in eating his greens (none whatsoever!!).

We rush around getting the house ready for the viewing. The place is immaculate and we break out in a frantic panic if a cushion is out of place. It is bloody hard work!

And, it would appear, all for nought as we wait for a genuine viewing.

So it is in many businesses.

Whether it’s someone signing up for a look around MyProjectTracker or those folks who look at a restaurant menu at the door – there is a huge amount of “tyre kicking” that goes on.

Some is genuine with the customers assessing whether the choice they are going to make is right for them. These are the folks that we want to see. Perhaps we can entice them in the door or to click that “buy” button.

But many are not.

They browse around with zero intention of making a purchase, they just want to see what’s out there. They ask questions, log queries, flag problems (as they see them)… and essentially take your time and energy for no avail.

Or is that correct?

Perhaps that tyre kicker knows someone who knows someone who might be interested in what you have to offer. If you make it difficult for the tyre kicker to engage, you might then remove a positive image that Mr Tyre Kicker could project to all the people he knows.

So sure, you need to recognise a tyre kicker when you see one. But tread (no pun intended) carefully and treat them with politeness and respect – you never know when that positivity can pay dividends.

How do you handle the tyre kickers?

Photo: Mykl Roventine

As someone who has worked in the IT world for most of my adult life, the ease with which IT jargon slips into my customer communications is frustrating.

I constantly have to keep check on how I’m communicating to my customers and ensure it is pitched correctly.

Whatever the situation, I force myself to think of how the customer is understanding what is being delivered to them.

I try to make it real for them and relevant.

I chastise myself mentally if I find myself talking about delivering a business process. Their faces, rightly, say “so what!”

It’s not about the process, it’s about enabling a part of their business to increase productivity 20%. (As an example).

Don’t talk your language, speak theirs.

We all have them.

The customers who just seem to take all your time and energy.

• They are not happy with the service.
• They are not happy with the product.
• They are not happy with the price.

Often this stems from some perceived (or actual) wrong that your business has inflicted on them.

There is only way to deal with this and that is to deal in the facts and just the facts.

• Have your measures in place – prove that you are delivering what you said you would.
• Control the scope from the off-set for any piece of work that you do for them.
• If you did mess up, fix what went wrong and move on.
• Manage their expectations.

Of course you must be there to support them and their businesses, but this must be balanced with what’s reasonable as opposed to what they can get from you because you give them the rope to take, take, take from you.

Hogging your time and that of your business is no good for anyone – including the person that’s insisting on it.

We communicate in three ways when dealing with customers,team members or suppliers;

1. Face to face.
2. On the phone.
3. Over the web (mail, IM, social media sites etc).

The above is the order of priority I think it should be in.

Over recent months I have seen it reversed for all intents and purposes as we rely more and more on the convenience of the web.

Is it actually convenience that has us doing this or are we losing the ability to communicate face to face?

Are we hiding behind the technology?

When was the last time you had a face to face meeting that sorted out a problem that email was just prolonging?

Face to face will always be more effective – let’s not lose sight of that.

It is more than a little ironic that the initials of the company responsible for what is likely to be one of the greatest man-made natural disasters of this decade, is the same as the two that begin the phrase “be prepared” i.e. BP. They most certainly were not in this instance.
As each day passes, the scale of the problem facing the company and those in the path of this disaster becomes clearer and clearer. The PR machine is in full operation, country leaders are calling each other to pacify fears, engineers are working frantically to come up with solutions. Unfortunately, nothing so far is fixing the problem at hand and it will be some considerable time before it is brought under control.

Now I’m no engineering expert or oil rig risk analyst but surely someone, somewhere has asked the question “what do we do if there is an under-sea blow-out caused by..” and the answers have already been considered.

So it should be with our own businesses.  While the majority of our businesses are unlikely to affect the world on such a scale as the BP problem, the overall impact will feel just as bad to those who are affected.  The pressure it will put on you as the business owner/manager and your team will be just as intense as those engineers trying to find a solution. Your impacted customers will feel just as aggrieved as those suffering from the oil approaching the coastline and destroying their livelihoods.

Your ability to predict risks to your business is a key prevention tool, but so is how you react when things go pear-shaped.  At a minimum you should have;

1. A communications plan in place for your customers. Tell them what’s going on and what you are doing about it. Doesn’t really matter how – phone, email, web-site, social media.. whatever is the appropriate medium for addressing the situation.
2. Consistent updates on where you are at in resolving the problem. I know that I get really frustrated when I call a service providers automated helpdesk and get “there is no estimated time of resolution for problem X”. It would be far better to say, “we currently have no estimated time for resolution, but we’ll update this message at <time>”. At least this way, we know when to check back for an update.
3. A strategy in place for how to deal with customers who potentially have lost business/data/sales as a direct consequence of your inability to deliver. There is always the possibility of being sued. How will you deal with it? Are you sufficiently protected by your insurance?
4. Once you have fixed the problem, an update should be sent to your customers explaining what happened and what you are doing to try and prevent it happening again. It doesn’t have to be a multi-page report in most instances, just a simple paragraph or two. A small thing that can have a huge impact on your customers loyalty.

Shit happens! How you manage your business when things go wrong will ultimately determine your ability to recover and continue to run a successful business.

Have you a basic strategy in place to manage things when they go wrong?