Strategic Thinking Snippets - Implementation

Here are a few strategic thinking snippets on implementation. Yes, thinking does need to turn into actions and results:

• On things that don't really matter, it's okay to conserve your effort & take the easy way out.
  
• On something that DOES matter, do it when you're ready to do it well. Don't just fit it in when you'll do it half-way (or worse).
  
• When others are timid and worried about what the right next step is, decide to BE BOLD!
  
• Attitude Check Question: Are you looking for and sharing good news with those around you? Please start....now!
  
• Embrace the power of symbolism in communication. Not everything has to be literal.
  
• Don't ever let an opportunity slip away through failing to go back & ask for it one more time.
  
• Keep ideas with great potential around even if you don't use them now. They may be ideally suited for a future situation. - Mike Brown

A Brainzooming Creativity Manifesto

Getting Ready for This!

Today includes a lunch presentation at the Fort Hays State University Business and Leadership Symposium. The presentation title is "Getting Ready for This," and it focuses on six vital success competencies for graduates coming into the workplace amid a dramatically changing business world.

The premise is that it's fundamental for new graduates to own skills in co-creating, contorting, and abandoning ideas and strategies based on what's relevant at any time. It's not so much "what" they know, as "how" to continually deconstruct and reassemble their knowledge in dramatically new and relevant ways throughout their careers.

It starts with several amazing factoids from the video "Do You Know 3.0?" recounting dramatic demographic, technology, and information-based changes worldwide. It's been viewed millions of times, and in the event you haven't seen it, take a few minutes to watch it.

As a brief overview and reference for the presentation, here are the six areas for educators and students to more concertedly embrace:

1. Knowing Answers Is Good - Knowing How to Find Answers Is Vital

Since facts change and information deteriorates, it's vital to be able to know how to seek and vet potential answers since no one can be expected to have a full command of all available knowledge.

2. Balanced Thinking Allows You to Be More Strategic

USA Today featured an article in July on retraining a left brained orientation to a right brained one in order to cope with a changing job environment. We talk plenty about the importance of knowing your thinking orientation, surrounding yourself with a complementary team, and the strategic impact of being able to work with contradictory points of view.

3. Possibilities and Emotion are Important in Business

From someone whose more natural orientation centers on facts and logic, this has been the most challenging of the 6 areas to retrain my own view. The best place to go on this topic is Benjamin Zander, who has been mentioned frequently here. As a homework assignment for attendees at the FHSU presentation, I asked them to watch these two Zander videos and get a genuine sense of the importance of emotion and possibilities thinking:

• Benjamin Zander on the Art of Possibilities


• Benjamin Zander on Emotion and Possibilities

4. You Have to Be Able to Communicate in Multiple Ways

Communication is in the top 10 topics addressed on Brainzooming so far because it's so critical to successful creativity, innovation, and strategic thinking. Students need to be pushed to go beyond the typical team presentation that summarizes a semester-long project. They need to be adept at using formats of varying lengths (simple recommendations, elevator speeches, tweets, etc.) and mediums (songs, video, acting, etc.).

5. Leadership Starts Day One on the Job

Leadership is about service, not titles. That means day one is the time for new graduates to start leading on the job. Taking on a strategic leadership role can be simple. You just have to be willing to do something about it!

6. People All Around You Are Making Decisions Based on Personal Branding

Personal branding isn't a meaningless concept authors dreamed up to sell more books. It's truly the driver behind why anyone gets hired, advances, and has intriguing opportunities develop. Step one is understanding your talents and exploiting them. Here are two great books to read on how to further develop and sustain a personal brand:

• "Radical Careering" by Sally Hogshead


• "Orbiting the Giant Hairball" by Gordon MacKenzie

I look forward to comments from those in attendance (and non-attendees as well) with thoughts on the topic since it applies to all of us as dizzying changes occur around us. Stay close to the Brainzooming blog for more on change and dealing with it in the near future! - Mike Brown

Brainzenning - Not Feeling Gravity's Pull

Brainzenning - A video moment of calm and reflection.

Storytelling to Frame Research Reports - Guest Post by Sean Buvala

I'm chairing the American Marketing Association Marketing Research Conference October 4 - 7. It's going to be a great event, with three educational tracks all tied back to theme, "Making Business Sense of What's Next."

Our main programming objective for the conference is providing ideas, tools, and networking to help researchers approach business more broadly and with a clear means to help lead their companies successfully into the future. Through the conference social media effort, you'll be able to track the conference's progress using the hashtag #amamrc on Twitter and on the conference website, where I'll be blogging along with others next week.

To give you an early sense of the conference tone and content, today's guest Brainzooming columnist is presenting a workshop this Sunday at the conference's start. Sean Buvala is an award-winning trainer who teaches businesses and nonprofit organizations how to improve their business results through the power of storytelling. You learn more about his work at www.seantells.net.

In this piece, Sean challenges researchers (and really anyone communicating in business) to better incorporate framing to fully realize the impact of great storytelling.


The more esoteric your work, the more you need storytelling in your job. Those of you in research, I am talking to you.

Sometimes it is hard for others to understand the ins, outs, and mysteries of research. By using the power of storytelling in your communications, you can create "frames" to highlight, carry, and explain bigger concepts.

Every house I have ever been in has place filled with pictures of family and friends. Rather than just glue these pictures to the wall, the pictures are placed in frames that help draw the eye to the subjects within. In the most artistic homes, frames surrounding pictures have been carefully chosen to emphasize the content of the pictures. More important pictures (the "everybody in the family" type) have the most expensive and sturdy frames. Done well, frames are an extension of the pictures.

Just like picture frames in someone's home, framing complicated and important data in the context of a memorable story protects and carries your message to your listeners. Here's an example.

You could talk about the collection methods used to complete a survey and how that proves the validity of the data. However, folks want results first. So, instead of talking first about how the data means you must completely drop an ingrained and "sacred cow" program from your company, you could start with the story of "Jack and the Beanstalk," (JATBS) emphasizing how Jack's mother was furious with Jack for trading her sacred cow for a few magic beans. In the end, however, Jack ends up with a goose that lays golden eggs, giving Jack and his mother more than they ever dreamt.

You'll still present your data, but after you tell your version of JATBS, showing the data that correlates to your conclusion. Then, you might lead a discussion based on the data asking, "Just like the mother in JATBS, what do we fear in what the data tells us? In what ways is this data like magic beans for our company's future?" Finally, end your presentation with a recap of JATBS.

Now, you have framed your data (which is important and needed) in the center of a very familiar and comfortable story. I can assure you the first time you do this you will wade through some discomfort and come out with a presentation that will cement the conclusions into the minds of your listeners.

Here are three things you should know about story and narrative as framing tools:

1. People just want to know, "What's in it for me?"

Co-workers aren't as interested in you job's mechanics as you are. I know you have gone to school to learn how statistics work. However, the people you work with haven't. For most of them, how you collected the data is not nearly as important as what the data means for their work. Storytelling lets you talk about benefits of research, not just mechanics.

2. Stories remind you to speak in the language of the people: your fellow employees.

Although stereotypes of overly detailed researchers may seem unfair, there are those in your company still slightly afraid of you. When they know you will speak understandably, they are more open to hear what you have to say. When you share the story of how others have benefited by what you are proposing, they will feel better about providing tools and time to fulfill your projects. It's far better to talk to others about how Susan at the other office was twice as successful after incorporating research results you reported. In a sense, storytelling allows others to know you are "on their side."

3. Your CFO approves funds for results not information.

Most people hate the process of change. Results are better than promises. Stories are frames that carry results. You will get much more support for a project when folks know how others have benefited from your proposals. How the office across the city became so successful that they now have doubled sales is 100% more effective in getting results than any presentation mired in how the research was conducted.

Your work in research and statistics is vital. Even more vital is your ability to communicate the benefits of your work to the rest of your company. Information framed in the context of story, information carried by understandable narratives, will stick with your fellow staff members much longer than data alone. Take a chance and frame your next presentation in a story. - Sean Buvala

Spicing Up a Long-Term Relationship

We're all likely involved in relationships tied to coaching, mentoring, or just plain supporting one another. They're tremendously helpful in personal and business growth, yet at times, these relationships can become stale.

What can you do if you find yourself in such a relationship? Here are a few options to spice things up:

• Add a Person: I've been working out for more than three years with the same trainer. The results have been great, yet at times, we tend to fall into the same routines. When my niece was visiting last month, she went along as a guest trainee. The spirit of competition improved my effort and also created some new enthusiasm from my trainer.
  
• Reverse Roles: I've got a great career coach who can amazingly have one meeting with me that creates about nine month's worth of activity and progress. Recently we got together for lunch and turned the tables: I was able to provide some coaching for her on new possibilities she's considering. It was of benefit to her, and it was really exciting for me to give something back to someone who has done so much to help me!


• Schedule a Reunion: Early in my career, a group of us working as analysts for a challenging boss formed a tremendous bond as we tried to survive and figure out what we'd do with our careers. We don't get together often anymore, but we met for a happy hour recently to renew our friendship and share perspectives on what each of us is doing now.


• Take a break: If you find a once thriving coaching relationship has stalled, consider seeing other people. The break could be temporary or permanent, but may be just the thing to open up time to find other relationships that work better for both of you right now.

Give one or more of these a try so you can keep moving forward with renewed enthusiasm! - Mike Brown

What Did We Learn?

Craig Ferguson ends his Late Late Show program nightly with a brief segment called, "What did we learn on the show tonight Craig?"

For him, it's a regular comedy bit and a time cushion for the program's close where he reflects on specific moments from the show.

For us, it's a valuable question to ask and answer at any inflection point in a project that's in progress. It's a way to force stepping back and looking for broader, more general lessons to add to your personal or business survival toolkit (and potentially share with others).

Consider variations of the question as well. I try to ask myself at the end of each day, "What experiences from today could turn into Brainzooming blog items?" The discipline of asking the question and jotting down (or even tweeting) a few answers helps keep Brainzooming running each weekday.

BTW - If you're on Twitter, there's an effort today to move Craig Ferguson into the top trending topics list. To help, post a tweet that includes this hashtag: #CraigFerguson. For more info, you can check out a video on the effort and help the cause out!

5 Get Ahead Ideas

1. Be friendly to people who may not seem to "count." Chances are they do count, and you simply don't realize it yet.


2. Ask questions, or at least listen more than you talk. You'll appear smarter, in part, because of all the things you'll learn.


3. Say "please" and "thank you" very often. You'll seem nicer than you probably are.


4. Be "quick" to apologize. That means both doing it sooner than later and getting it over with fast. Don't dwell on the mistake.


5. Actually do and repeat the four previous ideas!!! - Mike Brown

Brainzenning - Rubber Duckies

Brainzenning - A video moment of calm and reflection.

Strategic Optimism: Tips for Staying Positive in Any Circumstance - Guest Post by Elissa Shuck

Today's guest post was contributed by Elissa Shuck, another cool innovation, creativity, and improvement connection met through Twitter. Based in the Phoenix metro area, Elissa is CEO and President of ES-STRATEGIC, LLC. With more than 2 decades of multi-dimensional leadership experience, Elissa has made a lifelong commitment to innovation, creativity, and improvement while striving to help other experience personal and organizational excellence.

In her guest Brainzooming post, Elissa makes the case for the daily decision to be optimistic!


Life happens; it can be good, bad or ugly and even the most positive outlook has a lifespan.

We get beat up on the job, in traffic and in relationships – all of which can drain even the most committed of optimists of every ounce of water in that “half full glass." In order to stay positive amid the simplest or most challenging of circumstances, we must consciously and constantly feed our optimistic propensity for it to serve us in times of trouble. A Native American parable calls it feeding the wolf that represents this positive outlook.

Unfortunately, many of us have been feeding the wrong wolf for so long our brains have been conditioned to automatically look for the negative in a situation rather than the positive.

So how do we make a change? We must deliberately choose to “feed” the positive by retraining and renewing our way of thinking.

The good news is our brain physiology supports us in our efforts to make these changes. For instance, cognitive therapy offers some insight on how thoughts, emotions, and behaviors interact and suggests a technique that can be utilized to identify automatic negative thought processes and redirect them toward a new optimistic course. The technique is to not dwell on the negative thoughts when they pop up. Instead, we must stop ourselves at the moment of a negative response and then intentionally refocus our minds toward a better reaction or self-talk message. Practicing the new response by writing it down and reviewing it regularly will help strengthen the newly formed neurological pathway and reinforce the new habit of optimism.

Reading books and listening to speakers encouraging constructive, truthful self-talk can also be a way to condition our minds toward alternative, positive thoughts.

Glasses half full. Clouds with silver linings. Optimism is available to everyone, but it is a daily, moment by moment choice and must be deliberately cultivated. News flash to pessimists: you don’t have to be “realistic” any more. With a little practice and tapping into our natural brain physiology, the habit of thinking positively in any circumstance can happen in no time. - Elissa Shuck ©2009 Elissa Shuck and es-strategic, LLC

Twitter Hashtag Days - #BeOriginal

Joan Koerber-Walker started the #BeOriginal hashtag as a response to all the recycling of old ideas going on in Twitterville. Joan's been a great friend of the Brainzooming blog, offering encouragement and great guest posts - including several extra for a rainy day if I run short on content!

Here are a few thoughts on creativity I've contributed to Joan's #BeOriginal Twitter list:

• Les Paul guitar. Bo Diddley rhythm. Chuck Berry guitar licks. What have you or I done to create enduring "signatures"? There's a point where a signature element can become a creative rut. But for most of us, we have a long way to go to get to that point. Step 1 is identifying our talents and consistently applying them to develop a creative signature truly our own.


• Something to strive for: Respecting your critics & seeing the beneficial points in their comments. You'll be better for it. It's not fun to have people criticize your work. But often, your critics are doing more to move you toward creative excellence than your most enthusiastic cheerleaders. You'll be better off if you can realize that and use it to your advantage.


• It may be even harder to stop self-censoring than to quit censoring others. Cut yourself a creative break! As valuable as your critics can be, the critic inside your own head may be a fatal enemy. Learn to drown out the internal voice thwarting your creative exploration. Remember: creating art requires the ability to never say to yourself, "That's not really art."

And one final #BeOriginal thought born out of a real-life work experience where I was on the receiving end: Don't refuse to smile at someone you think is nobody. It will make it easier when you realize later they are somebody. - Mike Brown

Twitter Hashtag Days - #TwitterTwist

I recently started using the hashtag #TwitterTwist for lessons and ideas inspired by tweets other people made. Here are some of the first of these:

• Want to expand your perspectives on social media? Try explaining it to someone who isn't active in it. I've done various presentations and one-on-one conversations on social media recently with people who aren't very (if at all) active in it. Having to justify its value and dissect strategies for getting started really forces you to be on top of your game.


• Read your jargon-filled email/memo/report. If it were written without jargon, how much clearer could it be? Jargon is the bane of modern business speech. Want to get rid of it in your own language? Check out "Why Business People Speak Like Idiots."


• Don't watch the clock when talking with cherished friends & loved ones. Others things will wait. When you're with the important people in your life, stop the clock. Pay attention to them, not to how much time you're spending or to other things going on around you. They'll appreciate it. And you'll be a better person for it.


• Recall how often the first time you did something turned out surprisingly well. Get over your apprehensions. This one's a challenge since I spend a lot of planning time thinking about all the bad things needing to be planned around. You too? Let's make a pact to visualize the best possible outcome and make it happen! - Mike Brown

Twitter Hashtag Days - #StrategyLesson

Hashtags function as keywords on Twitter, making tweets more easily searched and grouped by topic. I've been using various ones lately, and blog pieces the next few days will expand on a few hashtag themes beyond Twitter's 140 character limit.

Today's starts with the #StrategyLesson hashtag I've been applying to tweets recapping strategy observations from the work day:

• You're right to be suspicious when someone says they want your best thinking, and they want the answer tomorrow morning. Strong strategic thinking takes time. Great strategic thinking tools shorten the time needed and make it much more efficient, but time still paves the way for new possibilities to emerge. Ask for more time.


• You don't HAVE to do things because of customers or competitors; do the right things for what you want to achieve. Ask, "What matters?" to ensure you're focused on results and not manipulated or bound by expectations - even customer's expectations. Start with the desired result and work backward to set your strategic agenda.


• A really solid, clear strategy can usually get taken apart, put back in a different order & still make sense. It's hard, but if you think through and hone your strategy to the essentials with each word packing lots of meaning, you can typically start from the broad or the specific and still demonstrate sound logic.


• You don't have to say everything you know: Mystery = Maneuverability. This is tough for many people, who aim to answer questions thoroughly. Answering a question doesn't mean you have to share everything. Leaving some virtual white space allows you to expand, contract, shift, or redirect without anyone having to know any better.


• It's possible that your best strategic thinking COULD come over drinks & appetizers at happy hour. Sometimes part of thinking about your strategic opportunity differently simply comes down to thinking about it in an unfamiliar place. Something that worked recently was going to a great happy hour where two of us were able to generate a fantastic list of ideas amid incredible tapas, good wine, and several innovation techniques.

What strategy lessons have you learned this week? Share them in the comments section or on Twitter using the #StrategyLesson hashtag. - Mike Brown

A 9-11 Reflection

In early 2001, my parents gave me a book based on Bible verses and Norman Vincent Peale's writings called "Positive Thinking for Every Day of the Year." It offers daily reflections to cultivate a positive attitude.

The passage for September 11 focuses on how it often seems evil prospers while good people endure roadblocks and suffering. The reflection focuses on a farmer who surmises that "God doesn't pay all His debts on the first of January." The implication: patience is required to see the results of positive devotion and attention to others.

Considering the book was published in 2000, it's prophetic this passage was there for readers on 9-11-2001 when it certainly looked like evil won the round over good that day.

How much patience and fortitude do we have to see bigger, positive plans played out? This is especially challenging when uncertainty appears to be the prevalent theme in the news.

Here's a recommendation: today, pause to say a prayer for those who lost their lives in the 9-11 attacks and the subsequent military activities that have resulted. And tack on a special request for help in being patient and a part of bringing goodness into the world. - Mike Brown

Flowers Are Red - Guest Post by John McClung

This week's guest post is from Twitter friend John McClung, who describes himself as having been, "a student, college debater, debate coach, manager, food consultant, builder marketer/home & community designer, and real estate agent with a mission of helping people make good decisions. I love my wife, wine, food, Kentucky basketball and traveling. I am currently working on new twists on food, and interpreting wine tastings on canvas using all appropriate shades of red. " What a variety of interests and activities!

And John's varied interests are further confirmation why it's great to have guests bloggers with varied experiences: his post uses a Harry Chapin song as inspiration. Trust me folks, you'd have never gotten a Harry Chapin-related post from me. Yet, John's take on it is a great example of how we can all try to get back to the creativity children so readily express:

Harry Chapin wrote a song about a young boy starting school, being told that “Flowers are red, and green leaves are green.” His response of seeing “so many colors in the rainbow” and using every one, was not well received and eventually gave way to the teacher’s criticism and philosophy of seeing things “the way they always have been seen.”

Want to be more creative? Let your inner child out.

If you feel that you aren’t as creative as you could be, there is a good chance you are looking at things through the rules and the “no’s” you have received over the years. We tend to apply things we are taught and have experienced to criticize ourselves. It is the self-critique that tends to kill our creativity faster than anything. The young boy above was not looking to criticize: he was in wonder of the possibilities. He wanted to incorporate all that he saw and started out not understanding “the rules.”

When I say “let your inner child out,” I’m suggesting you look at things with wonder. There is the sometimes overused command to think outside the box. I’m suggesting that you understand that there is no box to start. “The box” is an imaginary limit programmed into our psyche by others. Go back to the place where the programming doesn’t exist.

It doesn’t matter what you are trying to create: art, literature, a garden, a business, public policy, or perhaps a new dish for dinner. Look at the possibilities and not the tradition. After all being creative is no more than looking at and doing things in different ways.

Can’t release the inner child? Be evolutionary, not revolutionary.

Let’s face it, most of us are not going to abandon the “traditions,” “rules”, and “deep seated attitudes” about what is and what is not appropriate. Change is hard, and creativity is change others have not thought about.

To be evolutionary, you simply look at what is and ask: How could I change it to be different in a way that works? Here’s an example of how evolutionary change can work.

We have friends who occasionally join us to drink some very nice wines and have dinner. One friend once told me he didn’t like grits. Ever since, grits have been on the menu!

First, they were cooked with chicken stock, cream and finished with smoked Gouda cheese and served as a side dish. The second time, they were used in place of rice, with prosciutto substituting for nori and rolled with pablano, roasted red pepper, and andouille sausage resembling sushi. Finally, I cooked the grits in peach nectar, and rolled with fruit, and served on sauce for dessert.

Each rendition was an evolutionary step leading to a new, no rules variation. Sort of like the little boy who simply saw all the colors of the rainbow and wanted to use every one. So go ahead and release your inner child! - John McClung

What You Can't See - A Mini Rant

Say you have a conference call scheduled with geographically dispersed parties. You decide to email the multiple documents needed for the meeting 2 minutes before it begins.

Don't assume:

• I'm in my office.


• I have a clue why this meeting with no agenda is being held.


• The meeting before this didn't put me behind schedule.


• You have my undivided attention, especially when things are frantic.


• There's a computer in front of me - with current versions of the necessary software.


• If there is a computer, it's functioning properly.
  
• Your email is the most important thing I'm dealing with right now.


• There's time for me to print the documents.


• Someone's available to print and retrieve the documents if I'm running behind.


• You won't be sitting around waiting for me to open / save / print / retrieve documents that could have been handled more efficiently with adequate prep time.

You know what? All these assumptions are manageable by sending the documents in adequate time.

So manage the situation, make sure we have the information, and are setup for strategic thinking and productive work.

Stop playing the "we don't want you to look at the documents ahead of time" game. Please. - Mike Brown

Be Lazy, Sort Of

Next time you get a new assignment, project, or question to answer, ask yourself: Who knows more about this than I do? Consider all the possible answers you can think of to the question:

• People you know personally


• People you know online


• People networked with people you know


• Current experts


• One time experts


• Journalists, authors, bloggers


• Anybody else?

Now, get lazy, and reach out to the people you've identified and see if they can do a better job than you in helping complete the task more effectively.

I'm not completely advocating being lazy, because you still have to distill their insights into a coherent response. But there's nothing wrong with letting real experts weigh in with perspectives when they're better informed than you are. - Mike Brown

Brainzenning - One Dalmatian

So what do you think? Brainzenning started as a summer feature, and it's now Labor Day weekend. Would you like to see more Brainzenning videos? Let me know via email or in the comment section.

Upcycling: The Greener Path - Guest Post by Nancy Martini

We've spent time on Brainzooming talking about recycling ideas, yet haven't touched on recycling physical materials. That changes with today's guest post from Nancy Martini. She's an Art Director and EcoArtist (as she's known on Twitter), working with reclaimed materials.

Nancy's currently working on a collection called, “Lessons from the Dinner Table.” All the pieces contain environmental messages translated from simple lessons learned at the table. Her work consists of 95% upcycled materials: plastic bags, soda cans, coat hangers, plastic bottles, bottle caps, foil, wire, cereal boxes, egg cartons, tin cans, and gift wrap tissue. You can see her process through videos on her YouTube channel.

Today, Nancy provides her view on the need for creativity as the concept of upcycling expands:


Reduce, reuse and recycle are three words that haunt me everyday. How can I use less? What can I do to reuse what I already have? And, what more can be recycled? Now, the latest environmentally conscious word “upcycle” has proven to be even more of a challenge. It is easy to understand the process of recycling by means of breaking down a material then using that material to make something new. However, the idea of creating a second life for a package or product from its inception is a complex concept that needs more explaining and exploring.

Ten years ago, you didn’t see many people bringing cloth totes to the grocery store. I remember having to explain my totes repeatedly to cashiers. Sometimes they would even pack my groceries in a paper sack and then put it in my cloth tote. Change does happen, but it takes time and education.

When I see people bringing their own totes to the grocery store now, I can’t help but wonder if they think about all the plastic in their purchases. What happens to the packaging after we use its contents? Recycling should be the last resort, not a justification to buy whatever we want because we can always toss it in the recycle bin.

Recently at the grocery store, the early morning staff was stocking shelves. Each worker had a few garbage bags filled with plastic shrink-wrap and cardboard from unpacking merchandise off wheeled crates. “All the shipping packaging is going to be thrown away,” I was told. Disheartened by this obvious disregard for the environment behind the backs of the consumer, I thought about products and their packaging and pondered:

• What if containers were designed with an upcycled second life for the packaging so it wouldn’t go to the recycle plant or landfills?


• What could we build or create with discarded packaging?


• And, what if we could then change the way food companies produce packaging?

As I continue on my quest to upcycle packaging to create art, I encourage you to think of the possibilities that upcycling brings. I would love to hear your comments - the more creative collaboration, the greener the path. - Nancy Martini

What Will It Take to Cover Me?

The past few weeks, I've been schlepping around fabric stores since Cyndi wants to recover several pieces of furniture. This is unfamiliar territory for me, which usually means an opportunity to hunt for different takes on Brainzooming-related ideas.

One can imagine the most asked question in a fabric store is, "How much material is it going to take to reupholster __________?" With many ways to fill in the blank, store staff must spend a lot of time answering the question, especially since customers could likely struggle to accurately describe (from memory) items they're looking to recover.

That's where this photo shows such an innovative services marketing idea: a poster depicting 60 pieces of furniture with the approximate square yardage needed to recover them.

With the poster in place, the exchange on "How much material is it going to take to reupholster __________?" becomes a smile and a finger point to the nearest poster where a customer can find the item and the answer with much greater speed and certainty.

The poster creates higher performing customers which turns into time savings for customers and staff, which leads to better service and lower staffing costs. That's a strategic idea put into practice.

So what stumbling blocks to efficient customer-employee interaction exist in your business? What simple ideas might be lurking to address these issues as effectively as this poster does?
Spend a few minutes thinking about it and see what you can do to improve how you cover the situations you face. - Mike Brown