Improve My Business

I’ve recently returned from a business trip in South Africa (I was a keynote speaker at an occupational health and safety (OHS) conference there) and the trip was truly a life-changing experience. I was a bit apprehensive about going there on my own; and since I didn’t want to be traveling more than I was working (2 days in each direction for a 3 day conference) I added on a safari at the beginning of the trip (so I could time zone adjust, rather than go at the end of the trip).

I found out several things about myself, and thought I’d share some of that here with you both today and in the next several posts.

Lesson #1: When something is new, it’s usually interesting.

I drove 4.5 hours from Johannesburg to Ladysmith to start the safari. Before departing on the trip, I thought the long drive would be a good opportunity to write some blog posts, start working on a presentation that would be due soon after I returned from the trip, etc. I dutifully packed my laptop in my small bag that was to accompany me in the seat rather than be stowed in the rear of the van. I had my camera, too, in case I came across anything I wanted to snap.

Fast forward 4 hours, and almost 100 pictures, later… I found the drive to be fascinating. Parts of South Africa in the winter reminded me of California (everything is a golden brown); other parts reminded me of a former vacation in Zion National Park; and other parts were purely South African in nature, and in the future other sceneries like this will remind me of “my first trip to South Africa”.

Lesson #1A: Make whatever you’re teaching interesting or relevant.

If you are trying to get a new concept across to others, it may be a bit scary to them (uncharted territory). If you can make the concepts interesting, or help them relate it to something that they are already familiar with (this looks like the rock formations in Zion!), then they will become more comfortable with the concepts quickly. But don’t be afraid to introduce new concepts into the mix (this is pure South African!) as it will also give your intended audience something to carry away with them.

Lesson #2: It’s not always about the destination; sometimes it’s about the journey as well.

I spent 4 hours talking to Thamba, my driver. I learned about typical South African life – family, housing, jobs, training, schooling – during our conversation. I also learned about controlled burning – the practice of burning the thick and inedible thatching hay in order to stimulate growth of new green shoots, which are edible by livestock. Accordingly, there were controlled burns going on all around us during the drive.

Lesson #2A: the more interesting you can make the journey, the better the journey will be.

Although I was ready to get out of the vehicle after 4.5 hours, I didn’t consider that portion of my vacation to be ‘wasted’. The more interesting you can make the delivery of your message, the higher the probability that the message will be heard, understood, and absorbed. Make the delivery of the message as important as the message itself. Can you use graphics, visuals? Do you have an audio portion? Do you engage the listener? Whatever you can do to make the message heard more easily, the better received the message will be.

Technorati Tags: living your life, preparation, Streamlining, travel

As summer plans get underway, what improvement techniques can you consider?  What will make a difference to your company (or you)?

1)  Shopping for the best lodging rate - this can be done by using an aggregator site that compares hotels for you; or you can go to a favorite brand and shop them.  However, look at ALL rates when booking - often the ‘best rate’ doesn’t take into account pay-in-advance pricing, corporate discounts, or discounts for groups such as AAA or AARP.

2)  Flexible pays off - if your travel plans are flexible, and you are flying, many airlines now allow you to see up to 3 days before and after, and compare rates.  This is great if you can control your destiny (can pick your own travel dates).

3)  Ask the hotel to service your room less - many hotels tell you that they care for the environment, yet still change out towels daily although they state that if they are “hung up” they will not.  Spend an extra minute to provide feedback to the housekeeping management staff that you’d like them to honor that (if you don’t mind using the same towel for a few days in a row - since all I do is towel off a clean-from-the-shower body, I never mind…).  Ditto for changing sheets daily.  I don’t do that at home; why do I need it on the road?

4)  Do you really need to lug the laptop?  When traveling remotely, clients will often provide a workstation (complete with computer) for me; so a USB flash drive is really all I need to be productive.  Hotel business centers often have 2-3 workstations available for evening work, and even have a great printer in most cases.  So consider whether the “less is more” mantra can be applied to your carry-on, and leave the laptop (unplugged) at home.

Technorati Tags: preparation, Streamlining, travel

I was potentially stranded by two natural events during my return flight from China - the typhoon threatening to hit Taipei, Taiwan; and the hurricane (Ike) threatening Texas.  Turns out that Ike was no threat since I wasn’t flying through Houston; however, the typhoon delayed me in Hong Kong (transit city only - just ‘flying through’ as I had no business in HK this trip).

Long story short - EVA Airlines would do nothing for me - not even give me 1 HK dollar for a phone call although they gave me a non-toll-free number to call to rebook since they ‘couldn’t help me’ at the counter (WTF?!!?).  [Image:  Mary wandering through airport asking "do you speak English?" and finally finding someone who does, who explains why I can't dial the phone number correctly - the number provided included the area code, but since it was a local number, I was dialing too many digits...]

I went to travelers aid and found out that Cathay Pacific had a flight leaving in 2 hrs, directly to San Francisco.   After getting a persistent busy signal from EVA, I went to Cathay, whipped out the ol’ AmEx Gold Card, and bought a one-way coach ticket for a whopping $1600+.  My reasoning:

• I didn’t have anyplace to stay in Hong Kong, and delays were predicted at 2-3 days.  So, that’s 2-3 days at a HK hotel, with attendant food, transportation, etc.
• I had clients to service on Monday, and if I was delayed, would have to cancel or postpone.
• To top it off, it’s the mid-Autumn festival this weekend in China, which means that everyone travels, hotels, transit, etc. are all super-busy (imagine 3 day weekends in the US, to get an idea of airline lines/hotel bookings) so I was concerned that I’d be gouged for a hotel while waiting for the flights to clear (predicted at 1-3 days, I’m guessing 2-3 at a minimum).

Sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet and make something happen - even if it’s not in the original plan.

Technorati Tags: china, flexibility, hong kong, travel

I’m sorry I haven’t gotten around to blogging more often - if only I could blog via Vulcan mind meld, or some other “Think it and it actually happens” method… as I’ve thought of a million different great ideas for blogs in the past couple of weeks…

To go back to the beginning:  I left my gorgeous new home in Austin, TX back a while ago - in fact, the week before Labor Day, and went to Dallas and Los Angeles for work for a week, then on to China.  OK, so you’ve got the picture - not many places in the US bigger than either the Big D or LA.  Then, I flew to Taipei, Wuxi, and Shenzhen in China.  These cities make the previous two look like quaint little towns — Shenzhen, where I am now, is a city of 18 million (so they tell me) - and this was all open land 30 years ago.  Shenzhen was built specifically to help China enter the (then) 20th century, and is home to several large high tech businesses (I should know - I’m at one of ‘em that employs 50,000 engineers, and across the highway from another, that employs 200,000, mostly operators/unskilled labor.  They each have their own exit off the highway, as they are larger than several cities back at home.)

Now, despite this, there are very obvious differences between the US trip and the China trip.

US trip:  client affiliated hotel was the Fairmont in Dallas - top shelf, great service, etc.

China trip: affiliated hotel is a ‘business hotel’ on campus (think: dorm room with double bed - and I use the term ‘bed’ loosely as it is only a box spring on a frame - no mattress unless you ask (and even then they bring you a 1″ mattress- literally, 1 inch!))

US trip:  Hertz rental car is major form of transport that McDCG uses

China trip:  both ends of the spectrum — car and driver meets me at airport and whisks me away to my hotel; but otherwise, to get to work I have a nice 15 min brisk walk each way daily (this is where I get lots of blogging ideas - the walk is invigorating).  Knowing how much rain Shenzhen gets, I packed some  rubber clogs and an umbrella so I can slog in clogs rather than get my business shoes wet.

US trip:  go to client with laptop, swap files via thumb drive, connect to client network wirelessly.

China trip: go through 10 min procedure every day - twice (on way in and on way out) where laptop is taped up everywhere - over network ports, cards, USB drives, and CD drive - with tamper-proof tape to ensure that I cannot copy anything.

US trip:  meal choices were varied, in both price and selection

China trip:  the local cafeteria, or the local restaurant on campus.  The cafeteria serves Chinese food; the local restaurant has an eclectic western menu - if I go there, I’ll usually get an omelette for dinner since my other choices are hamburgers or other breakfast foods, in addition to chinese foods.

US trip:  a nice 45 min lunch

China trip: a 30 min lunch followed by a 1 hour nap (no word of a lie - they play music at the end of the hour to wake everyone up).  The lights are all dimmed, and there is no noise there (not even the quiet tap of my keyboard as I was politely asked to rest at my desk quietly, which I now do.)  Many if not all of them have mattresses and/or cots to sleep on.  Since they are a short people in general height-wise, most sleep under their 6 ft. desk with room to spare.  I could get into this - don’t know if my US clients would be thrilled to see me roll out a nap mat after lunch though…

US trip:  go into a store, buy something for posted price

China trip: go into a vendor stall, select what you want, roll eyes when they tell you the price, pretend to walk out, let them ask you for “best price” which you lowball even lower than you want to pay, and start negotiation from there.  I look upon it as a sport and I’m pretty good at it - my chinese hosts told me that they were ‘impressed’ with my skills at the market yesterday, telling me I’m as good as a Chinese person at it! High compliment indeed!

US trip:  everyone lives somewhere else, usually in a good-sized house

China trip:  most live in campus dorms or in small/tiny apts and take company-provided buses to work if remote.

All in all, I’m enjoying the trip here, including the walks to and from work and the naps (not sure if I sleep or not, but I do slow down my breathing and let my muscles relax.)  Definitely a change of pace from big city life in the US.

More when I return next week, and discover if I go through culture shock again…

Technorati Tags: china, mcdcg, mcdonald consulting group, travel

After you’ve gotten through the automated tree of service options (”for dept A, press 1; for dept B, press 2…) you finally get a real live person on the phone. If your employees are not ensuring that they’ve met all of your customers’ needs, you’re setting yourself up to have dissatisfied customers.

So, how can you serve your customers better and faster? By ensuring that you’ve met all their needs, not only the one that they’ve called for. As an example, I fly Continental Airlines as I think they are the best for the types of travel I do. When calling their reservation line to make a change (I book online directly but sometimes will call in to explore options), the agent calls me by name, has my reservation pulled up in front of them when they take the call, and we can get down to business right away. [Have you ever entered your 16 digit credit card into the phone, plus the expiration date, your mother's birthday, and your zip code, only to be asked all of that info again when the live operator comes on the line? Why punch all that in if it's not going to help you find my file any faster?] In addition, Continental Airlines will offer to connect me to their car rental partners, Hertz and Budget, and will even provide me with special discounted offers. And before we hang up, I can promise you that they’ll also ask if I need a hotel reservation that they can help me with. They’ve met my stated needs (a different seat assignment, or an alternate routing) and also surmised that I might need additional travel assistance when I land (car and hotel). Most importantly to me, when the operator comes on the line, they’re ready to start working with me - my reservation is up in front of them already. Other companies can take a lesson from Continental’s customer service department.

Technorati Tags: customer service, travel