The Road Ahead

I'm putting together a presentation for January taking a look at business trends for 2012 ... and 2020. There will be many prognostications about 2012, but what about 2020? Actually, there are some irreversible trends and forces at work which make future forecasting difficult, but not entirely impossible.

Take a look at the travel industry. I'm amazed that some businesses have not yet reacted to the knowledge that cheap oil (and believe it or not $90 a barrel will soon be considered cheap) will be a thing of the past. What is that going to do for long haul travel? Another growing consumer trends is sustainability and "green" travel. Yet the travel industry hasn't taken this seriously. Oh, there have been some nods in the direction of sustainability. At least one airline has offered customers the option of buying "carbon offsets" when purchasing a ticket. But, what if sustainability really takes off? What then? The Archbishop of Canterbury declared long haul travel to be a sin. If that sentiment catches on, the airlines need to be thinking seriously about a response ... PR or otherwise.

Firing Customers?

A recent news story told of a Tanaka's of Tokyo restaurant patron who was denied a reservation when he called in. It seems that he put some negative comments on a feedback card ... and ended up on a "no serve" list. It turns out that there are 17 other customers on that list.

Another recent story surfaced about a Minneapolis man who was "disenrolled" from the Delta/Northwest frequent flyer program. It seems that he had lots of complaints about the service and had gotten lots of bonus miles and refunds and the airline just wasn't going to take it anymore.

Is this a trend? We used to teach that the customer is always right. I guess the question for these companies came down to "when is the 'customer' really a liability?" That's a serious question, especially in this day and age of litigation and internet forums.

I have to admit that I once "fired" a customer when I was the director of marketing at Hawaii Pizza Hut. We had a woman and her family that came in every week (every week!), ordered pizza, complained, and then asked for a refund or a free pizza coupon. At first (being customer friendly) we accommodated her. But when this became a habit, I had to tell her that we obviously couldn't satisfy her and that, perhaps, she should buy her pizza somewhere else. Now, I didn't bar her from the restaurant (you can't do that), but I did stop giving her free product.

So, is Tanaka's right in not serving a customer who could potentially be writing bad reviews on Yelp!? Good question.

Little Barriers to Big Productivity

Productivity is so very important in business. So it's a wonder that we place so many obstacles to it. Meetings, in particular, can be a sinkhole for time and energy. The shame of it is that there are so many simple things that can improve meeting productivity. Like distributing agendas in advance. Making assignments in advance. Keeping time. Recapping agreements. And many, many more simple ideas. Sigh. I'm looking forward to another week of low productivity.