JIT for sustainability!

What do you see in the pic... 

Some may respond, "I see... 

- two paper cups \ glasses of water, 

- One of the cups \ glasses half full, the other one empty! 

- cups \ glasses waiting to get disposed!" and so on!

Can you make a story of it!

(Immediately after boarding a flight) I'd asked for half glass of HOT WATER!

The airhostess promptly fetched me a full glass of lukewarm water!

Second time after a while, while she was on a service round, I 'showed' her the old cup and indicated to fill in it half (glass of) HOT WATER again!

She (ignored the old paper cup &) served me lukewarm water (by mixing cold water in it) in a fresh paper cup!

What's the learning!?

My learning is: 

1.. Ask for what you want (here the HOT WATER) clearly specifying (in this cup "please" &) not to mix cold water in it! Merely showing the cup may not be enough. The supplier need to clearly communicate her inability, if any, to supply as per specifications.

2.. Never take the customer's specification for granted. Always confirm specifications of her need!

3.. It's good to share such stories to train your own staff back in your office as also at your home about the - importance of customer specification\s in the JIT¹ way as in point-1 above! - need for sustainability (to re-use) specially when the customer has specified so! - need to express inability, if any, to supply with justified reasons in an honest, caring & gentle manner - importance of observation power and alertness to learn from each moment & from each happening around in order to generate opportunities for improvement (OFI) in self if not in others. The latter may be out of one's control!

4.. Although the above behaviours look commonsensical, they rarely happen. So change in attitude is needed at personal level reflecting it in the desired behaviours.

5.. Rather than being a mere spectator, an observer around may take lead in appreciating such desired behaviours. Positive reinforcement thereby may help recurrence of such desired behaviours!

By the way, this is not a story! 

It's an actual customer-experience. It actually reinforces - how much waste (here the cup & the water served in excess over the demand) gets generated in each of such transactions between a customer and a supplier! - how badly there is a need to educate and train people to reduce waste and help the sustainability movement in order to reduce global warming!

¹ JIT is - Just (i.e. exactly) what's needed, - Just (i.e. exactly) when it is needed, - Just (i.e. exactly) how & how much amount is needed! JIT approach to work provides unending OFI's or Kaizens as done by many companies the world over.

Who's the 'mother' to the machine!

Tea spilled over in the plane!

Some droplets splashed on her child sitting next to her.

She didn't even bother about tea falling over on herself.

Instead, she repeatedly kept asking the child whether she was alright! She meticulously checked her for harm, if any, on her hands, her face, her body.

Not less than ten times did she enquire, expressing a great concern each time she asked.

Child, however, kept herself busy playing.

Nothing had actually happened to the child!

The child was perfectly alright although the mother herself was concerned!

How many of us do this at our workplaces!

May be we do it to people!

But what about to the 'machines' and of course to their problems?

In spite of the squeaky noise that some machines make, we stay indifferent .... sometimes even after they breakdown!

On the day we become 'mother' to the machines, not only the TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) has started but it's like reaching it the halfway at least! 

Going beyond the thoughts, the Kaizen culture itself has begun!

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post.

WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling

Will It Work Here?   

7-waste Process ... That's How Morons Work 

You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable

Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy

Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation

Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture

How To Make A Difference  

Old-Problems, New-Reasons !  

Who Comes First: Consumer Or Customer ?  

2-2-2-2 Winning 2-Minutes To Customer

Who Comes First: Consumer Or Customer ?

Other day in one of my sessions, the marketing staff complained about (false) sale of some products. The goods sold by the company a couple of years ago were still lying in near-unpacked condition at buyer's end. The new staff at their client company appeared non-cooperative when the seller approached to effect a new sale.

The objective of the training workshop was to improve sales revenue. The case under study turned out to be one of a wrong-sale.

Why were the goods lying in near-unpacked condition for so long?

Because the user didn't find it fit-for-use.

Why?
Because the order was finalized by purchase manager without adequate involvement of the end-user.

What had happened was the seller knew the purchase manager who happened to have 'influence' on closing the deal. So he used his relationship to materialise the order.

In the process the real user got ignored.

Not only does ego of the user gets hurt due to such indifference but also some opportunities get lost.

Opportunity to understand real needs: the voices of grassroot level customers.
Opportunity to design-in such voices in order to make the offering robust.
Opportunity to outdo competition through customized offering.
Opportunity to enhance relationship.
Opportunity to create 'word-of-mouth' publicity advocates reinforced through delightful experience of the offering.

All this loss at the cost of loss of future business.

Buyer's management might succeed in forcing the end-user to use bought goods particularly if it's a costly capital equipment. But such forceful 'selling' calls for some long-term Costs-Of-Poor-Quality (COPQ): Costs due to reluctance to use. Costs of wrong use. Costs due to inadequate serving of purpose. Costs of sour relationships among people within and without.

All this waste because of overselling or inadequate selling.

What's the learning?

Understand the difference between Consumer and Customer! End-user of the pen or pencil, the child for instance, is the consumer. Buyer, the parents, are the customer.

Consider the voice of consumer regarding functional use (her needs) first while designing an offering.

Do consider the voice of customer as well in order to design-in peripheral aspects of the offering as well as nuts and bolts of the corresponding buying process: the wants.

Sometimes however the role of consumer as well of the customer may be played by the same personality.

In any case, she might take presence of both the needs and wants for granted as a 'must'. But the seller/marketeer can't afford to because the absence of both surely won't be taken for granted individually nor jointly by both the consumer as well as the customer.

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Aesthetics Spills-Over Function, Want Spills-Over Need (Part-1)
Aesthetics Spills-Over Function, Want Spills-Over Need (Part-2)
Functional-Aesthetics
WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling
How To Make A Difference
Nauseous Communication Gaps
Judge If It's Paralysis-By-Analysis
Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy
Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!
Strategise To Achieve Targets Daily
Does recognition really matter
Customer or Custo-Mer ? 
Experienced A Delightful Payment !
An Experience of Heart-and-Soul
Do you keep curing your brand ? 
A customer gets what s/he deserves: Shoddy Quality! 
Listen to iceberg of VOC to acquire customers
Do You Force Customers To Quit
Should one care for value ? 
Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms !
Do You Ask Right Questions ? 
Talk In Order To Listen! 

Will It Work Here?

Other day there was a friendly debate on whether mobile-money service will work in Indian demographics. Although I knew it was offered in India, some apprehensions such as ease of transactions, security, cost of service, etc. kept me away from it. 

One of the debating friends working with a phone-company demonstrated a transaction including registration process within a minute. That's the time I could experience relative ease of accessing it. I could unearth a few difficulties in the process though. But I was surprised why phone companies were yet to speedily target the middle and high income group segment of the market inter-alia which is more likely to adopt it speedily than the mass-market.

If it was "successful across Africa" (as quoted by one of them) with it's inherent diversities and difficulties, then a modified business model should work in India too, I said. It might call for adopting it and differentiating it for the segments within target markets. The marketing-mix strategies may vary depending upon the segments: Demographic, Geographic, Behavioural, Psychographic, etc. Selling would take place as a sequel anyway. 

In fact such a service is a boon to any developing country provided the service is localized, made easier and faster and at the same time needing lesser efforts-n-resources; in short if it was made leaner.

Demonstration to me for instance was done on an Android device. How could it be made user-friendly and agile for various devices with differing features and technologies?

Steps performed were displayed in English language. It called for memorizing a password too. How could it be made easier for the entire spectrum of demographics covering various levels of literacy (using fingerprint lock for instance instead of password), levels of income, population, etc? How could it be made easily accessible to geographical markets?

Based on voice of the target market such as above, 'push'-type personal-marketing like that done to tackle apprehensions of a typical prospective customer like me should have been in place. It is necessary at least until a product & process of using it and educating the customer is made simpler and leaner. Ultimate goal should be to create a 'pull' for the offer for enhanced sale.

Differentiating the offer by bundling it could be an added advantage such as that done innovatively by organisers of a music programme that actually prompted me to write this blogpost. One highlight boasted of in it's advt was: "Mr Tom, Dick and Harry coming together for the FIRST-TIME". The concert was at an inaccessible venue located far from city. So the second differentiation it highlighted was, "Bus service available after the concert".

Dynamics of the 'mobile-money' and the 'music concert' as offerings do differ. But the point worth learning therefrom as denominator for any offering in general is the meticulous removal of hurdles  specific to differentiate it, to reach it to and to grab a particular target market with a sense-of-urgency. One may be able source a lot many innovations to do so if internal stakeholders in particular are engaged in the focused thought process. It should be done ethically though *unlike the concert organisers. Only then it's more likely to work sustainably!

Footnote: *Usually very few customers read between the lines and fewer still catch the 'catch' if any. Knowing such a consumer behaviour unethical organisers capitalise on getting some audience that doesn't bother to read. For instance in case of the concert some do tend to attend for the novelty effect of "FIRST-TIME" without realising that it was of 'unknown' artistes Toms and Harrys. Some also miss checking whether the bus service was free or came with an *asterisk. The organisers in this case seemed sure of getting some such audience.

Here are a couple of mobile-money services in India: Airtel's Airtel-Money and Vodafone's M-Pesa.