800-CEO-READ Blog

Jack Covert Selects - The Ten Demandments

The Ten Demandments: Rules to Live by in the Age of the Demanding Customer by Kelly Mooney with Laura Bergheim, McGraw Hill Publishing, 240 Pages, $24.95 Hardcover, June 2002, ISBN 0071387390

I am a book lover. But then you’ve probably already gathered that from previous reviews. You’ve also probably heard all the reasons we love books before: a book can inspire, teach, take you places you’ve never traveled, offer an escape from the stresses of ordinary life, etc. But the unsung thing I love most about books is that they are simply that: books. The smell, the crisp pages of a new book, the cover design, the blurb on the back, the convenience of a paperback, the heft of a hardcover. I love it all. No e-books for me (but certainly, if they are for you, keeping reading!). As I have mentioned before, I have stacks and stacks of new books laying around my office, and it is often something as seemingly frivolous as, say, its size that will inspire me to pick one book out of a crowd. One of the books that I have previously listed as one of the best business books of all time was one that I first picked up because of the book’s design. That book, The Age of Unreason, was a hardcover, but in a trimmer size than usual — it seemed to fit so nicely in my hand. This book also has the same trim size, has great heft and a wonderful cover design. Granted, the title put me off a bit because it seemed a bit too clever, but I picked it up, paged through it, and was impressed by more than the publisher’s packaging. Within the covers, the special design continued. It contains unique features like The Voice of the Customer, boxed articles about real life businesses and their experiences, and actual pictures of people’s faces to symbolize your customer base.

However, the age-old advice, “don’t judge a book by its cover” holds true no matter what aesthetic machinations are accomplished by the publisher. What about the content, you must be asking by now? Well, the content is as outstanding as the package. As I’ve already applauded the publisher for its handling of the book, let me now applaud the author, Kelly Mooney, for writing a really terrific book, and get started explaining to you those ten demandments. They are: earn my trust; inspire me; make it easy; put me in charge; guide me; 24/7; get to know me; exceed my expectations; reward me; and stay with me. Isn’t that a great list! I can’t recall a better list of essentials when dealing with customers. In every chapter, each subheading is a statement that might be uttered by one of your customers (the aforementioned, “Voice of the Customer”). In the “get to know me” chapter, those subheadings are: The world revolves around me; Live in my shoes; Tell me how much business I did with you; Take it slow; See me as one customer; Speak my language. As you can see, there is some serious ‘drilling down to the good stuff’ going on in this book. At the end of each chapter, the author has placed a “Self-Examination” grid with the chapter’s main points listed with various degrees of success rated between Excellent/Good/Bad. By using this scale, you are able to rate how well you deal with your customers and where you need to improve.

I was briefly concerned this was set to be another “Dot.com/Internet” book, but Mooney puts that worry to rest in her Introduction. She states: “This book is not about the Internet, but rather about what, in part, the Internet hath wrought, in terms of consumer expectations and demands, and the ways that companies must strive to meet these increased needs in every channel and with every interaction.” I believe she not only succeeds, but that this is an important book that seriously opened my eyes to some flaws in my company’s relationship with our clients. For me, this book was an invaluable reading experience, not just a pleasurable one, and I expect you will agree.

Jack Covert Selects - The Strategy Machine

The Strategy Machine: Winning the Information Revolution One Day at a Time by Larry Downes, HarperBusiness, 236 Pages, $26.95 Hardcover, June 2002, ISBN 0066211298

You only have to read the Preface of Larry Downes’ new book “The Strategy Machine” to know that this is going to be a good read. Titled, “Strange Tales of the New Economy”, the writing in this preface is fresh and entertaining. Here’s a snapshot: “Like Captain Louis Renault, the character played by Claude Rains in Casablanca, investors were “shocked, shocked” to discover that they had….given their money to kids who knew nothing about technology, let alone operating a business larger than a paper route.” Through this summarization of the rise and fall of the dot.coms, Downes sets the scene for his warning call. He writes: “This is a book about the real revolution, an Information Revolution, that continues – indeed accelerates – beyond the meltdown of stock prices and the failure of foolish investments. It is a story of managers in a range of industries using information technology strategically….” Downes then offers you the method for becoming one of these managers, someone with the opportunity to take what the dot.com innovators learned and profit from their mistakes.

Downes predicts an Information Revolution where information itself will make you a profit. Where are the rumblings of such a change, you may ask? Well, the Internet is a loud one. What is the Internet but a font of information by which folks can make money? And magazines, such as TV Guide or Style. What are they but providers of information, whether the info is about tv shows, motorcycles or handbags? But what will be the newest incarnation? Essentially, Downes tells us, information will come with everything. Everything will have a disposable computer, including toothpaste. Toothpaste? Just think, a package of toothpaste can inform its maker or distributor of just about anything – where it is, how often it is used, all kinds of data. Talk about the end of customer surveys! This may seem dismissable, but think of it in terms of prescription drugs and you can sense an increased vitality to the possibilities.
The change will happen in 3 stages: Efficiency, Exchange and Emergence, and will, Downes declares, destroy the Supply Chain as we know it. Think of Enron (before the collapse), think of Napster. What will replace it? He says, “new supply chains that tie the entire process together from purchasing raw materials to consumption….It’s a strategy that might have the motto, “We make it. We sell it. We deliver it. We service it.” There is inherent value in such efficiency. To respond to this change, to meet the challenge of all 3 stages, Downes suggests creating a strategy portfolio, a series of plans from which you will be able to create your strategy machine. At this point, Downes invites you to follow him down a new path to creating a new company as efficient and innovative as the Revolution itself.
In all ways, The Strategy Machine is a bold book with a bold look into the future. Downes offers examples of companies who missed the boat in recreating itself (Xerox) when the market demanded it, and he tells stories of those who successfully met the challenge. And then there are the tales of those like – those who have slowly begun the revolutionary process, who are ever so slowly dipping into the waters of change. Read The Strategy Machine and it just might get you to jump in.

Jack Covert Selects - Go to Market Strategy

Go To Market Strategy: Advanced Techniques and Tools for Selling More Products to More Customers More Profitably by Lawrence G. Friedman, Butterworth-Heinemann, 280 Pages, $29.95 Hardcover, June 2002, ISBN 0750674601

Friedman first assures us that this is not another book about selling on the web, but instead it is “about the larger and more strategic issue of how to take products and services to market more powerfully in order to increase sales, market share, profits, and customer loyalty.” He grants that the web is part of this system, but does not need to be the system. Although people have been “going to market” (finding/growing/creating an item and going face to face with a potential client and selling the item) for thousands of years, Friedman contends that the concept and process of going to market is dying out. Not yet dead, but dying. To revive the process, Friedman offers a revolutionized version, insisting that when going to market a company must become an “aggressive integrated multi-channel organization”, a carnivore. In his words:
“This book will help you become a go-to-market carnivore, transitioning to a fully competitive and winning go-to-market strategy, based on a solid game plan to be implemented over the next 18 months. There is no sense in talking about incremental change here. If your goal is to grow revenue 3 percent…throw this book away.…No, for the next few hours we are going after large game: double digit revenue growth and the slashing, at a minimum, of 10 to 15 percent of selling costs—absolute realistic results that have been achieved consistently by companies that have been serious about go-to-market innovation.”

Overwhelmed by all this? Well, Friedman acknowledges that this type of strategic plan may appear mammoth, but he advises you to advance step-by-step. The last chapter is called “Getting Started: The Ninety-Day Got-to-Market Action Plan” and will help you do just that. If you can’t quite imagine doing the complete carnivorous turn-around that Friedman described above, read the chapter, “Aligning with Your Customers.” Endlessly useful. Where can you go wrong in trying to find out what your customers want, than supplying them with it, and ultimately, gaining more customers as a result?

I also appreciated Friedman’s aggressive writing style as it aptly fit his subject matter. He packs the book with charts and graphs, uses real world examples of companies such as Herman Miller, Marriott, and Charles Schwab to support his contentions, and provides tons of convenient footnotes (which I love because you can get to his references without having to flip to the end of the book). Friedman wants you to succeed in changing your go to market strategy, and with this book, I’m certain you will.

Jack Covert Selects - Execution

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan, CrownBusiness, 260 Pages, $27.50 Hardcover, June 2002, ISBN 0609610570

I have been asked to write a column listing the fall’s top three business books to appear in Midwest Express Airline’s magazine. You lucky souls who have flown Midwest know what a great airline it is and I am very proud to have been asked to write this column. Execution is my first recommendation. I know it is a June title (obviously not even close to a fall release)…but tough. After Execution is recognized as one of the best books of the summer, it will still be one of the best books of the fall. My bat, my ball, my game.

Why will this book have such impact and longevity? Because its team includes a superb writer-consultant, a real legend of a CEO, and a critical, though oft- ignored subject. Ram Charan, the writer, has previously worked with Noel Tichy to write a classic book on leadership, and also wrote a little gem called What the CEO Wants You to Know. Here, he works with one of the top five CEOs of all time, Larry Bossidy—Honeywell chairman—to discuss execution, which translates into how to bring strategy from theory to reality. Bossidy was with GE forever, then went to AlliedSignal in the early nineties, transforming that company, and was named by Chief Executive magazine “CEO of the Year” in 1998. In this book, each of the three parts, Why Execution is Needed, The Building Blocks of Execution, and The Three Core Processes of Execution, are thoroughly discussed, and then Bossidy and/or Charan offer personal insights and stories about the issue. I, at first, found the style somewhat off-putting, but warmed up to it quickly. The voices of these two men really stand out because of the unique structure of the book.

Despite the excellent resume of its authors, it is the subject matter that intrigues me most. It appears to be such an unromantic subject, execution, in the face of such dashing themes as strategic planning, globalization, total quality management, or e-anything. These are the bad boys of business books, the real lookers, but execution? Isn’t that like telling folks to dot their “i’s” and cross their “t’s”? Isn’t execution the ugly duckling paddling next to the regal swan, the youngest sister with no dowry? And yet, what could be more basic, more crucial to the success of any strategic or globalization plan or to any form of management or new idea for the web? Execution – ignore it and this book at your own risk.

In my experience in the business world, I find the ability to actually finish a project a lost art. The authors agree and firmly place the blame of a company’s failure to execute strategic plans on senior managers who delegate too much. They supply “building blocks” to help make execution a part of a company’s core culture and avoiding “hitting the wall” when it comes to strategy. One example: a leader’s most important job is the hiring and appraising of the right people. Sound like something for HR to handle? Well, Bossidy doesn’t think so, and he personally makes the reference calls for key hires. The authors’ shore up their argument for greater focus on execution using examples from Lucent, GE, AT&T and others, to show what companies have done right and wrong in terms of executing in the past. They are not afraid to name names, and this gives a real urgency to the subject.

I have been the first to tell you about some important titles and here is another one. You heard it here first. Buy this book.

Jack Covert Selects - Being the Shopper

Being the Shopper: Understanding the Buyer’s Choice by Phil Lempert, John Wiley and Sons, 220 Pages, $27.95 Hardcover, June 2002, ISBN 0471151351

Above all, I consider myself a merchant and have been such for a good part of my life. Not only do I love making sales, I love to watch for buying trends and for changes in the public’s buying behavior. Phil Lempert, the food trends correspondent from The Today Show, has written an extremely detailed look at the buying patterns and habits of supermarket consumers. He lets us in on what motivates shoppers, what turns them off, what they ultimately desire from their shopping experience. And Lempert discovers his information the old-fashioned way, by actually talking to shoppers, and more importantly, listening to shoppers. While this book is primarily focused toward supermarkets, it also talks a good deal about other forms of retail sales. I found Part Four, “Shoppers’ Sense-Abilities”, well worth the price of admission. Those fifty pages cover what a customer sees, feels, hears and smells when they enter a store, and how that can affect how and what they buy.

I understand that few of you own or manage a grocery store, however, there is much to be learned from Being the Shopper. In chapter 10, Getting Value to Shoppers, Lempert discusses how offering coupons or discounts can be an effective first step in building up your brand, though it should never be used in the long term because coupons do not make your brand, only products and services do. On the one hand, he writes, it seems crazy to lose money to reward present customers, and yet, he acknowledges, discounts give your company the opportunity to build relationships with your customers which will outlast any satisfaction which financial savings may briefly give them.

The author’s incredible focus is what really sets this book apart. All the advice he gives is backed up with documented research and interviews with real shoppers. Lempert helps us recognize the importance of really knowing our customers and, in fact, recognizing the consumer in ourselves. Fascinating.