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NYU Executive Series
Date: July 11 & 12, 2006
Venue: Hotel Equatorial, Kuala Lumpur
By Professor Neil Lichtman
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BY THEAN LEE CHENG
THE next time you pop into a fast food restaurant, notice what the 20-something burger-flipping cashier is asking you after you have placed your order.
It will probably be something like this. “Would you like some fries to go with it?”
If you answer in the affirmative, the next question is “Would you like to super-size that?”
With each subsequent question, he is increasing revenue for the fast food chain by 11% to 25%.
Commented Prof Neil Lichtman of New York University (NYU): “The first question is cross-selling and companies all over the world do that. The second is up-selling, giving you a bigger jar at just a fraction of the cost.” Lichtman was listing out 10 best business practices that Malaysian companies could consider in order to improve sales revenue and profit at minimum costs.
“By just asking a few very important questions and with little extra cost to the company, a trained staff can be relied on to increase revenue and profits. But it all boils down to three things – management and how they view training, planning and constant reinforcement.”
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Lichtman and Balderson (right) believe in customising products and services. |
Lichtman was speaking at a seminar and workshop Strategic Enterprise Management under the NYU Executive Series 2006 organised by KDU Management Development Centre (KMDC) at Hotel Equatorial, Kuala Lumpur on July 11 and 12. Lichtman is a leading customer centric management and marketing strategy consultant in the US and his company's website www.Marketing4Profit.com, filled with flash and video, is an example of what can be done on a small budget.
About 30 participants from gaming and resorts, banking and finance, education, publishing and property related sectors attended the two-day seminar in Kuala Lumpur recently.
Organised in partnership with NYU and co-sponsors and supporters, NYU corporate learning services director David Balderson says these short-term programmes were important in a dynamic region like Asia to enhance some of global business world’s best practices.
“Companies which are planning to go global will see the value in training staff to have good customer practices,” says Balderson, adding that the subject is best suited for customer-centric companies.
Balderson helps to co-ordinate and put together these short-term courses with local partners in Asia, offering a comprehensive portfolio of speakers and subjects to suit every business and corporate need.
The recently concluded two-day programme was a short version of a 13-week Masters course.
Says Lichtman: “Strategic Enterprise Management may come across as a big term. But when it comes down to basics, many of today’s best practices – if not most profitable – come from common sense. It is just that in our rush for profits, we forget to treat another person with respect and dignity.
“If the CEO and the management, and the staff down the line, are able to put themselves in the shoes of the customers and how they would like to be treated, they are on the way to providing excellent services. Planning and reinforcement underpin this basic relationship,” says Licthman.
However, at some point down the line, there comes a time when companies need to customise their products or services.
“If I were to sell a computer system to a school, I may sell thousands of them to both students and teachers. There is a very good chance that I will be able to get the contract again when the time comes for replacement. Therefore, I have to determine whether this school system will be a better customer than individuals and customise my products and services accordingly.
“This effectively means companies must have a profile of their customers. What is the profile of the customer who buys this brand of icecream?In a hotel and resort set-up, who stays in your hotel and do they dine in? What do they order? Do you give them a small gift when they check out?”
These, says Lichtman, are questions organisations need to ask themselves if they truly want to get to know their customer.
The other eight universal tactics that multiply profits include pre-selling (knowing your target customer even before selling to them), packaged selling (bundling of products), substitution (never give the out-of-stock line, give customer an alternative colour or delivery date). Other methods include automatic renewal service until customer cancels, pre-emptive selling (offering customer yearly volume discount) and re-selling where customer are reminded to re-order a product either with a phone call or reminders.
“Your current customers are your best prospects. And the crux of customer service is: don’t make them ask. You offer the service/ product.”
Note: Other topics under this series are Executing Change (Sept 5 and 6) by Prof Dennis J Garritan and Leading for Strategic Growth and Change (Nov 7 and 8) by Carole Weinstein.
Source: The Star, Saturday, July 15, 2006
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/7/15/bizweek/14834256&sec=bizweek
Next: NYU Exexcutive Series: Executing Change, by Prof. Dennis J. Garritan, November 7 & 8, at Hotel Equatorial, KL |
