Thoughts on Competitiveness
We were sent the following e-mail, which allegedly
came
from an employee at one of the Big 3 auto
manufacturers. Whether it did or not, it is
certainly "telling."
How a Honda employee bakes a
potato:
1. Preheat new, high-quality oven to 350 F
2. Insert Idaho potato
3. Go do something productive for 45 minutes
4. Check for doneness, then remove perfectly baked
potato from oven and serve
5. Observe customer enjoy the potato
How a "US Automaker" employee bakes a
potato:
1. Instruct an Idaho potato supplier to preheat the
oven
to 350 F
2. Demand that the supplier show you how he turned
the
dial to reach 350 F, and have him come up with
documentation from the oven manufacturer proving
that it was calibrated properly
3. Review documentation, then have supplier check
the
temperature using a sophisticated temperature probe
(send the calibration data for the probe, also)
4. Direct supplier to insert potato and set timer for 45
minutes (send the cal data for the timer, also)
5. Have supplier open oven to prove potato has been
installed correctly, and request documentation proving
that 45 minutes is the ideal time to bake a potato of
this size
6. Check potato for doneness after 10 minutes
7. Check potato for doneness after 11 minutes
8. Check potato for doneness after 12 minutes
9. Become impatient with supplier (why is this simple
potato taking so long to bake?). Demand status reports
every five minutes
10. Check potato for doneness after 15 minutes...
11. After 35 minutes, conclude that potato is nearing
completion
12. Congratulate supplier, then update your boss on all
the
great work you've done, despite having to work with
such an uncooperative supplier
13. Direct the supplier to remove potato from oven
after 40
minutes of baking, as a cost save without loss of
function or quality versus the original 45 minute baking
time.
14. Serve potato, observe customer reject the
half-baked
potato
15. Blame the supplier for the defective potato
16. Wonder aloud what on earth those Japanese folks
are
doing over there to make such good, low-cost baked
potatoes that people seem to like better than US made
potatoes
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Dear Mitchell,
Happy New Year.
Welcome to the January 2004 Customer
Manufacturing Update. This month's white paper
focus is on marketing's role in successful (or not) new
product and service creation. Too many companies
neglect, or misunderstand this critical marketing role.
To learn more, be sure to read this month's white
paper written by Ralph Mroz
(rmroz@customermfg.com), our Principal in the
Hartford, CT/Western MA area.
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| Marketing's Role In New Product/Service Creation | | |  The success rate of new products and services
introduced into the marketplace is appallingly low. For
some industries the failure rate exceeds 90%. While a
majority success rate may not be desirable due to the
trade-offs required to achieve such a rate, there is
clearly room for improvement.There is ample evidence that the problem is solvable,
but it does take work. You can gain a competitive
advantage by making the investment in the proven key
to success discussed in this month's white paper. Download this month's white paper... | | |
| Teaming Inside & Outside Sales | | |  A few months ago, we discussed some of the issues
involved with creating an Inside Sales function. That
white paper also briefly discussed teaming Inside Sales
and Field Sales together.If you'd like to learn more about how a real
company increased their lead conversion to sales rate
from 9% to a lead conversion to sales rate of 35%
using the power of Inside Sales teamed with Outside or
Field Sales, click on the link below to read their story. Read the story... | | |
| Closing Thoughts | | | 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. Our mission is to help you improve the
performance of your System to Manufacture Customers. | | |
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