Category: organizational effectiveness

I recently attended a new car show where consumers were free to roam the exhibit hall and inspect a large selection of new vehicles. There were sales staff present, but unlike the stereotypical car dealer, these sellers were remarkably low key and almost invisible. Potential customers could “kick the tires”, look under the hood and generally do anything but test drive without interruption from staff.

I am not sure that any sales resulted during the event, but I’m sure it has long-term effectiveness. People like having the freedom to check things out in depth and at their own pace – to look beyond the glossy exterior to see what something is really like. Most people who look under the hood have little idea of what they are actually looking at but feel better having seen inside anyway.

While your enterprise may not lend itself to a fancy show in the exhibit hall, think about whether there is a way you could allow your clients to do the equivalent of looking under your hood. Can you host an open house where people are free to see your facilities or resources? Is there a way to offer a tour or show behind-the-scenes? Can you provide samples or short-term services to allow people to experience your enterprise without a commitment?

Affording potential clients closer look at what you offer provides congruency between what they can see and what they usually can’t. What can you do today to open your “hood” to others?

When I worked in college admissions, the admissions counselors internally described applications like bananas. If a student applied without scores or transcripts, it was like a green banana that could sit for a few days before follow-up. On the other end of the spectrum, the longer an incomplete application sat, the more rotten it became until, like an overly-aged banana, it reached a point that it was useless. This classification system allowed us to prioritize and target follow up with appropriate messages for each group.

Think about the process components in your organization that operate like bananas. Maybe you have a job platform where candidates submit partial credentials as they apply for employment. Perhaps your organization is seeking new members and those who show initial interest without follow-through may become “overly ripe”. Or it could be that your organization has people who start a registration without completing it, putting them in various stages that parallel banana maturation.

The term “banana” served as a shorthand for everyone to track the all-important completed application rate in a way that was actionable. It simplified the classification categories and aligned with strategies and priorities. It also allowed the counselors to focus their efforts on applicants that were still viable – or to ignore or to attempt a different strategy to “make banana bread” out of those that weren’t.

Maybe your organization could benefit from “going bananas” with one of your key processes. Just as with the fruit, timing is everything.

An entrepreneurial Girl Scout (and her parents) recently took to the road to sell more cookies. She decorated the family van in can’t-miss messaging and then sat in the parking lot near a busy intersection at lunchtime. It was a novel approach to appeal to new customers and to meet them – literally – where they were at.

I think of selling Girl Scout cookies through door-to-door, a sheet passed around the office or a phone call from family or friends – not in the Cookiemobile, but it seemed to work.

How can you think about your organization’s offerings in a different light? Maybe you, too, can go on the road and fill your customer’s needs in the moment.