YOUR INDOLENT CAN EITHER KILL OR RENDER THAT FIRM USELESS

You can’t just sit there and adopt a one-size-fits-all approach to duties and responsibilities at your workplace. Rather, think outside the box of ways of improving and being more creative. Remember you are the company, without you there will be no workforce cum business.
Are you scared of creativity because it exposes you to criticism? You are afraid to take risk? You are just comfortable at your comfort zone? Hmm...You're gradually killing your company.

According to some Customer Satisfaction Survey; most industries have a lower customer satisfaction score today than they did ten years ago. It measures how buyers feel about what a business is selling them. So despite all of the technology innovations, advertising catch phrases, and low costs, people are less satisfied with corporations than they were a decade ago – and even less satisfied than they were two and three decades ago. If you’re responsible for branding and/or PR, this should scare the hell out of you.

Moreover, we hear about customers being #1, most organizations do not focus on their needs or listen to their wants. They focus on short term Wall Street driven improvements. They focus on cost cutting, mergers, and outsourcing to increase EPS by a penny. In other words, the company that can make its widget the cheapest wins. Customer satisfaction plummeting is the natural side effect.

What most companies tend to forget is that we live in a time of surplus. There are too many choices. If a company would develop a break-through product, they would win – and win profitably. And I’m not talking about simply raising quality. I’m talking about a break-through, something new, something out of the blue, something creative. Coca Cola did it. Apple did it.Samsung did it. P&G did it.

We talk about it on this site all the time. Make a product that your audience will LOVE, not like, but LOVE. You have to think of yourselves differently than the competition. You almost have to hate what your competition stands for – and maybe even your industry. You have to want to improve it so badly that you develop something new. Sometimes it’s the opposite of an industry norm; sometimes innovations come from modeling a completely different industry. Sometimes, it comes from left field. But either way, success today comes when you are different.

And to be different, you have to be creative. If you model your competition or your industry, you’ll die slowly in the minds of your customers. We’re all consumers. Put yourself in the shoes of your audience. If you make cereal, how do you feel when you are standing in front of the cereal aisle at the local grocery store or market? I feel overwhelmed. The cereal aisle goes on forever. They all start to look the same. All of the cartoon characters and movie sponsorships blend together. How are you going to stand out?

I ask you to be creative. I ask you think differently.

I challenge you to find a new way to out-think, out-innovate, out-sell and out-work your competitors.

If your company freaks out when someone wants to try something new, I’d bet that you’re losing customer satisfaction points too. And we all know that loyalty is the true key to long term profitability, right? Loyal customers make business life a lot easier.

What are you going to do to reverse the trend? Please don't kill that brain.
It's in you.

Chidiebere Emmanuel Nwosu
twitter: @chydy4love