Newsletter Volume 1 from Linda Wolstencroft

Customer Relationships Smack Your Bottom Line

What's your approach for protecting your bottom line from bad customer relationships? At one company an incoming President declined a courtesy meeting with a key multimillion dollar customer. The message this delivered was that the customer had low importance. Subsequent contractual negotiation issues became difficult, took years to resolve and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in management and employee time. This contrasted with the approach of the previous President who kept relations amicable and ensured that the resolution of contract changes was easy and fair.

The first step is to avoid such a situation is to make customer feedback and opinion a part of regular conversation. What is it that your customers are saying about you, about your products, about your services? Are they singing your praises from the rooftops, or are they quietly whispering in back alleys, spreading horror stories? Are you listening to and hearing what your customers are saying?

Being diligent in asking for and listening to customers' opinions and perceptions is key. Customer surveys that require a customer to fill in a form and answer questions do not work well. Reaching out through personal contact works - having a candid conversation about the important aspects of what you're delivering does work. If your relationship is not conducive to this type of open conversation, find the right person in your organization that can have this conversation or use a trusted third party to uncover the messages.

Take deliberate action on the feedback you are given. Build on the strengths that your customer sees - keep up the good work on what you are doing well. And highlight these strengths in your marketing messages for new business. Take corrective action to solve problem issues - track your progress, regularly review your progress, and report progress regularly to your customers.

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Strategy Fails In Execution

The current slide in RIM profitability and the departure of some key senior executives may become another textbook example of strategy failing in execution. The question will be whether the strategy itself is at fault, or whether the execution of the strategy is at fault. Time will tell on this one, but if the track record of many other major successful multi-national firms is followed, it could well be that RIM's strategy has challenges in its execution.

In the book Strategy Maps (Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, 2004) the authors discuss the performance of major international companies during a period of strong economic growth. Many of these companies formulated strategies for double-digit growth. And how many of them were successful in achieving this double-digit growth? The surprising answer is less than 10%. And this occurred in a period of strong global economic growth and stability.

What's the problem? Smart and successful business leaders who have a strong knowledge of their business and their industry carefully formulated the strategy. The best thinking covering all aspects of the business had a hand in this and agreed that this was the best way forward.

So What Happened?
It is not the strategy that is at fault. The failure occurs in execution. How does an organization change its course, change its culture, and change its focus, to follow the newly minted strategy? The joke about “moving the deck chairs around on the Titanic applies. When people in the organization feel that the reorganization is superficial only, and that the course the company is taking will not change, this is an indication that the strategy is not permeating the organization.

What To Do?
A diligent and concentrated strategy implementation project is needed. Visible and concentrated commitment from the CEO down will help facilitate the change. An implementation plan that covers all aspects of the organization is needed. What does the new strategy mean to each area within the organization, their structure, their people, their skills and knowledge, their learning and growth, their daily activities, their objectives? What will they do differently and how will progress be measured?

While the execution of strategy can be much more difficult than the initial definition of strategy, the rewards are tremendous. Join the small percentage of companies that succeed in achieving their strategy by investing in strategy execution.

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Budget 2011 & The Coming Of Age Of
Aerospace In Canada

Once confined to aerospace powerhouse Quebec followed by a strong industry in Ontario and Atlantic Canada, the aerospace industry is now being recognized as important to Canada's strong economic future.

As reported by the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC), Canada's 2011 budget has specifically discussed aerospace: The Government commits to conducting a comprehensive review of the programs and policies having an impact on the aerospace/space industry in collaboration with AIAC and its member companies with the objective of developing a policy framework within 12 to 18 months."

This is an opportunity for all of us in this business who care about the future of aerospace in Canada to support the message. Let's talk it up. Our employees, our families, our friends - all Canadians will benefit from the promising future of aerospace in Canada.