Transformation Every journey to the summit starts with the first small step The first step in transformation from product sales to delivery of solution is shifting the focus from the product towards the customer. It is easy to say but hard to follow We bring you three stories from people who work in organizations which transformed their products into client solutions.
Cisco – from infrastructure to collaboration. Instead of just selling equipment the company delivers solutions for people collaboration.
Virgin Atlantic – from transportation to experience. Atop transporting passengers by plane it offers people unique airport and in flight experience.
BeeLine – from communication to freedom. By adding to just mobile calls new services it gives people freedom to get in touch with each other whenever and wherever they are.
These are stories about small things which make huge difference in behavior of people in those companies which learned the art of delivering solution.
Blake had a good excuse to explain his team that the new deal couldn’t be done. However he secured full support to his people - those who stayed in close contact with the client and understood best what client needed.
Dee had to turn down an excellent product – seat that adjusts to passenger’s body – because she knew the client behavior extremely well and figured out that customer will be unable to learn how to use the innovation properly.
Alexander and his team thought that they know what customer will like about the new service. However by testing the product he learned that customers are focusing on entirely different product features that he thought they would.
Is there great excitement without hard effort?
Is there great reward without extraordinary challenge?
Is your team going through transformation?
Is it on the path of all great teams and great companies?
Is it on the path to the summit?
Cisco made a huge shift from supplier of networking equipment to provider of people collaboration solutions by focusing on customer success and intention to use technology to make the world a smaller place and to enhance life experiences.
Blake Salle, Vice President of World Wide Sales for Emerging Technologies tells a story of his team making one of the first and so far the largest solution based deal in the company’s history.
"I was a first line sales manager calling on a very large energy company in the US. The transaction was, actually, a 1.1 billion dollar transaction that Cisco was fighting for. Couple of leaders up the chain said it's not a real deal; it's not going to happen. We had worked very closely with the executive management of this company; we knew there was a real opportunity. So, my team was getting a bit down, because they knew that we didn't have the support up the chain to pursue an opportunity that in that time was the biggest opportunity Cisco had ever looked at. We rally the team together and we told them that if they focus on what they can control, than we, as a leadership team, will provide them air cover and get them what they needed. So, we not only showed them that we were at the boat with them, but that we would do things that were very challenging for ourselves to make sure that they were able to achieve their goals.
I think the team saw that we were willing to lead from the front, they saw the passion we had about trying to win this deal, and, inevitably, what we ended up doing was going to the CEO of our company. I passed a message to him through a board member and he called me back! (another great example of passion and energy) And John Chambers flew down next week. Then, we had series of meetings and outcomes and within two months we had one of the largest IPN-optical networks that Cisco had ever sold for 1.1 billion dollars. When the team saw that we had the energy and passion to go beyond the bounds that they thought we were going to do, they flourished as a result to that and did several things that positioned us for our CEO to ask for the business”.http://www.good2work.com/article/9148(questions 5 and 6)
Virgin Atlantic is an experience airline. People choose to fly it because it’s more fun. It differentiates its product and service by implementing innovations, which people enjoy, faster than competitors.
Dee Cooper, Product & Service Director tells a story of abandoning an innovation that seemed to be good but turned out difficult for people to understand.
“One of our seat concepts had airbags in the seat cushion, and obviously, that made the seat much more comfortable and it was like a lumber support, you could sit up and you could move around and you could make it more comfortable. But for a consumer is very hard to know that you have to lift up, then to sit down, to move it around. Now normally what happens especially with seats, you may have this investment and put aboard magazines to show people how to use it, but it happens that people and especially men don't read the magazine because they don't want to be instructed. And what they actually do is watching one another, so things like headrests or footrests they work out by watching other people, but something subtle like stand up, press the button, sit down, move around will be lost in the translation”.Dee Cooper, Virgin Atlantic (question 4)
VimpelCom (commercial brand Beeline) – was the first cellular operator in Russia to recognize the approaching end of extensive growth of customer base. In April 2005 it declared new mission - "to help people delight in the pleasure of communication, to always feel free".
Alexander Pavlovich, Head of Product Design tells a story of how practical needs of people can change the way of positioning a new solution in the marketplace.
"The product is already long in the market, so we can talk about it. It’s called «The Live Letter». It means that people can send voice messages to each other – a voice analogue to SMS. When the product was only being designed in the company, our core message was: «Let's paint dialogue with emotions!” We began to carry out research. We invited people, target audience for our product, – quiet young audience, – and asked them to test the product, to send voice messages to each other. Then we started to ask: «What do you need this product for, where would you use it?» And we were already prepared to write: «It is about emotions, now we can add emotions to messages» … But people started to talk about completely different things. One student said: «I usually take a bus from the university, it is shaky, I cannot type SMS there, and here I only need to press three buttons…» So people were more interested in completely practical things rather than in those things that we initially thought of. Another person from this young audience said:« In winter when I walk outside it’s cold, I wear mittens, I cannot type an SMS, I’m not going to remove them to type a long message. But with this product I need to press just two keys to send a message».http://www.good2work.ru/article/13416
Also Starring:
Shannon Cullum, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Russia, Christian Kremer, General Manager of BMW Russia, Stuart Lawson, CEO HSBC Russia, David Thomas, President of Volvo Car Russia, John O'Keeffe, Managing Director of Diageo Russia and Eastern Europe Hub.
