Thinking on company time

You know you have a good idea when everybody around you says, "you're crazy," said Palo Alto, Calif.-based consultant and author Nancy Austin.

And creative ideas are essential to business survival these days, Austin added. That's a big switch from the recent past, "when the single most pervasive idea in management was, there must be one best way to do something," she said. Instead, today "we're in a brawl with no rules."

Austin, speaking at the recent Institute of Certified Travel Agents forum in Las Vegas, provided examples of creative firms whose managers "authorized their employees to think on company time."

There's Granite Rock, which is "growing like crazy" selling a generic commodity product -- rocks.

Granite grew because it delivers its products to customers much faster than competitors do. When they come to headquarters to pick up their order, Granite customers get their own personal cart to carry the rocks; they swipe their own "smart card" (an idea borrowed from bank ATMs) to keep track of their accounts.

The makeup chain Sephora, whose stores first appeared in France but are now opening around the U.S., is a big hit because it "redefined the cosmetics shopping experience," said Austin. Sephora took away the counters and salespeople who limited consumers' access to the product in traditional department stores.

The chain displays makeup in "play areas" where consumers can sample as much as they like -- and only call on a salesperson if they want help. "They made it fun," said Austin.

Also having fun is the Beancounters, an accounting firm whose business was turned around by an image and company mission makeover. Its new office went from "boring to razzle-dazzle" with decor that included flashing neon and an image of a giant chicken.

The company also outlawed private offices and had employees work in a different office space every day. Why? "They discovered that when you overhear different conversations every day, you get better ideas," said Austin.

"It's a great example of using something that happened by accident."

Seeing things from a client's perspective is never easy -- but first and last impressions really count. To be blunt, the way your business is perceived may have more to do with the front-door greeting than the specific handling of reservations.

There is one simple way to begin an office turnaround, and that is to place the staff member with the warmest and most genuine smile closest to the front door.

I don't care if this person has 20 years of experience or is a local college intern. People want to feel good about their purchases and about the company to whom they entrust some of life's most precious moments.

Airline ticketing may have turned some of us into robotic order takers, but the best of us realize that we are in the dream business. Part of fulfilling dreams is creating a sense of comfort and warmth in your office.

Finding the staff member with the best smile and having that person be the first and last desk your clients pass during an office visit will do wonders for your image. I'm going to be visiting each and every agency in the U.S. next week to personally inspect the smiles.

Richard Turen is an industry consultant and travel agency president. Contact him at [email protected].

My bottom-line question for managers is: 'would you hire Herb Kelleher?' " asked Nancy Austin.

Kelleher, head of Southwest Airlines, pioneered such "crazy" ideas as having flight attendants pop out from the overhead bin to greet passengers.

With Southwest, "You're not taking a flight, you're becoming a part of a traveling flying carnival," said Austin, a consultant who was a keynote speaker at the recent ICTA forum.

But just as you have to be in the mood for the experience of a Southwest flight, you must be ready for the challenge of hiring employees who are talented but unconventional. Hence Austin's question above. "Talent and leadership are messy," she said. "That's the price you pay."

Austin also spelled out the qualities of "uncaged leaders," who are:

Such leaders also can grow their business by "transforming the product," following the model Austin introduced. To visualize this model, think of a tree trunk with many circles.

The inner core is the generic product, such as a plane ticket. The next circle is the expected product, such as standard business hours. The third circle, called the augmented product, is where things start to get different -- such as a new way of serving customers (for travel agents, whose standard hours of business are typically 9-to-5 weekdays, that might mean opening on weekends.)

The last circle is the "potential product," where you add new things that can be "surprising and valuable." Selling travel accessories, for instance.

Ordinary firms emphasize the two inner rings; standouts emphasize the two outer ones, said Austin.