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Customer Manufacturing Update |  |
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Dear Mitchell,
Welcome to the April 2006 Customer
Manufacturing Update. A few times each year we
focus on innovation issues since this is a competitive
necessity in today's world. This month's white paper
is on Your Primary Innovation Challenge.
If you have friends or colleagues who would appreciate receiving this e-zine, feel free to forward a copy to them using the "Forward e-mail" link at the bottom of the e-zine.
Highly creative people tend to believe that innovation is the product of a mind-set that cannot be duplicated and of intellectual adventure that defies replication. In order for organizations to thrive, however, a process and management philosophy must be in-place that provides the foundation for channeling creativity into sustainable market leadership. This month's white paper, "Your Primary Innovation Challenge" considers the underlying issues.
Many years ago there was an uproar about subliminal advertising. The idea was to insert an advertising message within a video (television or movie) that was only a frame or a few frames in length. So brief that you would not consciously see it, but it would sub-consciously register in your brain. The idea was that, done enough times, the subliminal message would influence your behavior. That practice was outlawed in the U.S. But that doesn't mean that there aren't still legal ways to subliminally influence purchase decisions. A recent study done by Adrian North and colleagues at the University of Leicester in the UK found some very interesting things about influencing consumer behavior. In a controlled study in a supermarket environment the researchers found that playing French or German music had a significant impact on whether people bought French or German wine. (French music caused the purchase of French wine and German music caused the purchase of German wine for those cynics among our readers.) Significant was a 3x to 4x change in purchase behavior based on which music was playing. And the buyers were unaware that the music had any influence on their behavior. There is no indication that the music increased wine purchase, just which wines were bought. If the folks at Musak learn about this it may cause them to refocus one of the purposes of background (or so-called elevator) music. Maybe you'd better start paying attention to background music where you shop if you want to make sure no one influences you.
Many of you have referred either Mitch Goozé or Jeff Krawitz to speak to your Association meeting or have used one of us at a company sales meeting or company-wide meeting or event. We thank you. For those of you who haven't, please consider that Jeff and Mitch are highly rated speakers and experts in the areas of marketing, sales, customer service, and innovation. If your company or Association is looking for a great speaker, please keep Jeff and Mitch in mind. If you'd like to know a bit more about some of their topics, click the link below.
In February we noted that one of our favorite companies, Jet Blue, lost money for the first time and lamented that they could at least break-even if they could raise fares by an average of $10/seat. We found it odd that they did not think they could do that. In March they got some help from Southwest, whose fuel hedges are becoming less valuable, when Southwest raised their fare cap to $309 from $299 (gee, that seems like $10) However, we noted something even more interesting going on in the airline business that gives us hope that somebody is finally learning to "think like a customer." One of our least favorite airlines is Northwest, but we have to give them credit for what we think is a great idea. (Although others are panning the idea as "cheap," we see it otherwise.) They appear to have finally recognized that not all coach seats are equal and maybe they could charge a slightly different fare for some of them. (Like about $15.) Northwest is testing the idea of charging $15 extra for exit row seats and "some aisle seats with extra leg room." United Airlines has an Economy Plus section where they seat their most frequent flyers (except when someone else sits there). Maybe they could charge a bit extra for that section. (Which apparently they do for non-frequent flyers, but then does that leave frequent flyers without the coveted seat?) Further, everyone knows that middle seats are generally the least desirable, maybe a different charge for window and aisle could be in the future. We know, you say it's complex enough now, but most of us would pay a small premium for the seat we want. Of course, there is at least one downside to taking this too far. If you make all middle seats cheaper, too many of them may be occupied by people trying to save $10-$15, thus making the aisle and window seats less desirable because more middle seats are full. Ah, but isn't that what all that fancy capacity planning software is for? And, of course, no matter how simple or complex they decide to make it, these airlines can have one satisfaction with this program (aside from the increase in average ticket price): Southwest can't copy it because they don't offer reserved seats. (Though we guess they could charge a premium for boarding group A, but somehow we don't think that's in their DNA.)
We appreciate any feedback you can provide to help us make sure these Updates give you value each month. Feel free to respond to this e-mail with any comments or suggestions for future topics or ways we can make these Customer Manufacturing Updates more valuable to you.
Thank you for your interest, and if we can provide
any
additional assistance in sales, marketing, strategy, or
innovation to help you increase your sales,
let us know.
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