Every little helps!

Last week Cicero broke the news of his recent epiphany. And that will have come as a shock to you. This week we open with yet another shock. This will be the last time you will read Cicero’s thoughts and opinions in 2009. There is no easy way of breaking this shocking and disturbing news but the good news is that we will be back in 2010 with more insight, wit and wisdom. Hopefully you will be able to hang on in there for a couple of weeks.

But with the Saturnalian and Bacchanalian revels and festivities fast approaching you need a break from the stimulation and thought provocation that Cicero provides you with each and every week. This is a time for fun, for enjoyment and for reflection. And with over a year’s worth of Ciceronic musings you will have plenty to reflect on and to chew over. You will be able to cope. And we will all soon be back together for more of Cicero’s finest. Now that is something to look forward to.

And of course we still have today’s fine words and mind blowing musings to entertain, enthuse and excite you.

And this week’s Thought for the Day starts with a quote and let’s see if you can guess who said it.

‘’what’s important is that you are loyal to your customers rather than your customers being loyal to you’’.

These are the words of Sir Terry Leahy, the Head Honcho at Tesco and Britain’s most admired leader for the umpteenth time, according to Management Today, a glossy mag for Head Honchos everywhere.

What an insight? Cicero is so jealous. And of course Tesco Tel is so right. Get the first part of the equation right and the rest will surely follow. All our businesses no doubt talk about customer loyalty but in many cases we mean customer apathy or indifference and do we really do a lot to earn that loyalty. We take it for granted at our peril.

Look at all the little things that Tesco does very well and you will see that the whole from a customer’s point of view is much better than the sum of the parts. Perhaps Tesco Tel has read these musings and as previously advocated has appointed a Director of Small Stuff.

It is no measure aided and abetted by the data generated by its Clubcard, less a loyalty card, more a data gathering machine. However it uses this data to identify trends, to isolate niches and to develop products and services that allow it to do the right things to demonstrate loyalty to generate loyalty.

Take Tesco Tel’s ‘Finest’ range of quality foods. This came about following the identification that regular shoppers changed habits at important holiday festivals such as Christmas. At these times of the year they would switch to more upmarket brands such as Waitrose or Marks & Spencer. And this insight begat a more upmarket sub-brand to capture increased share of wallet.

Now we might not like the Tescofication of our High Streets but you cannot quibble with the brilliance of Tesco Tel nor argue with his popularity among customers who every day of every week vote with their feet and their wallet and whose loyalty is earned each and every day. So unlike Cicero’s Lords and Masters.

You have to admit it is incredibly smart business.

And so this is your challenge for the New Year, whether you work in the public, private, third or fourth sector, how are you going to show loyalty to your customers? Your resolution for 2010 must be to demonstrate that every little helps and to show this to your people and to your customers. If we can deliver on this we will earn the loyalty and the commitment of all our people and our customers and business success will be delivered.

But one final tip-don’t use the line ‘every little helps’. Cicero cannot be sure about this but he thinks someone else is using it. Innovation might be undiscovered plagiarism but this might be a bit too obvious.

Is it only me?

Am I the only one who will be wondering what kind of Christmas Roger Federer is going to have. He might be the world’s greatest ever tennis player but his Christmas this year is set to be ruined. The poor guy must be on tenterhooks waiting for the other slipper to fall.

Now you might be no doubt thinking that Cicero has had too much mulled wine already and has lost it but think about it.

For past few months Roger has been the face and stubble of Gillette along with his mates Thierry Henry and Tiger Woods. Now you are with me.

First of all Monsieur Henri through careful handling helps the Gauls to the World Cup finals in South Africa. With so much gall, you have to hand it to them. It was almost a close shave but the chance to play at the World Cup Finals must be the best a man can get. But we should point out to M Henri that it is the football world cup. The clue is in the name. And as a consequence there are now more beards in the Erin Isle per head of population than in any other nation.

And then came Tiger, the world’s finest golfer, and never did someone have a more apt name if the news reports are to be believed, giving new meaning to the chants of ‘You’re the man’ and ‘In the hole’, which is of course exactly all Mr Woods was attempting to do. Again for many, though not for Cicero of course, Tiger’s antics (alleged) might be considered the best a man can get but with a net worth of £1billion (alleged) and with substantive pre-nups in place (alleged), it might of course be that Tiger is the best a woman can get.

And so Mr Federer must now be left wondering when and where the curse of Gillette is going to strike again. Cicero hears that Mrs Federer has been checking the pre-nups and the life insurance should lightening strike again.

Indeed so worried is old Cicero about the curse of Gillette that he is now re-considering how to maintain his own clean cut, smooth as a baby’s bum, hirsute-free look. If sponsorship is all about image associations, you can never be too careful. Mind you, shaving with Gillette never did much for Cicero’s football, golf or tennis skills so it might be alright.

Have a great week and see you in the New Year.

Felix dies Nativatis.

I'm not as clever as I thought I was!

This week Cicero has had an epiphany moment. Indeed it is more than a moment. It might not be quite on the scale of a Pauline Damascene-esque conversion but it is right up there with some of the best flip flops of all time. And before this is shared with you, please make sure you are seated with no sharp objects or warm liquids to hand.

And this week’s shocks news which will come as a surprise to you, especially if you are of a data manipulating eco-mentalist persuasion, Cicero now admits that global warming, climate change, wonky weather, or whatever this week’s fashionable term might be, might be happening. Are you still there?

Now news of this import requires explanation. Why the change the mind? Well, in the absence of hard data which as the eco-mentalists know is hard to come by since they destroyed it once they had sexed it up a bit, Cicero has used other climatic and meteorological indicators to reach this conclusion.

Now you might not know this but each and every day Cicero braves the wrath of the Capital’s bendy buses and cycles on his week bike across town to the TSSB where he plies his trade. Proof that Cicero is concerned about his carbon footprint.

Anyway it is now mid December and Cicero continues to be seen about town on his wee bike in shorts. Now this might not be a pretty sight but never have shorts been worn so late in year. Surely proof positive that we are in midst of wonky weather. And so Cicero is convinced.

And in case there is an eco-mentalist out there who thinks that Cicero will now move on to challenge other moronities, think again. This is a subject to which Cicero intends to return. The case for man made climate change is far from proven and after the wilful destruction and obscuring of objectivity on this matter, rest assured we will re-visit this topic in the coming weeks. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

And in other shocking news this week Cicero has learnt that he is not as clever as he thought he was.

Now this is difficult to believe and this revelation almost caused Ciceronic depression for it seems that there is more than one kind of intelligence and Cicero might have the wrong one. You probably didn’t even know that you could have the wrong kind of intelligence but seemingly just as trains can be affected by the wrong kind of snow and water companies by the wrong kind of rain, it is now possible to have the wrong kind of intelligence.

Up until now you might have thought that proof of Cicero’s intelligence and ability was based on an endless supply of good ideas, an incisive mind and well developed technical skills. Imagine the let down and disappointment when you learn that nowadays this is nowhere near good enough. This type of intelligence is only an entry level requirement to be able to meet the requirements of working in the Top Secret State Bunker and for doing the job of protecting you.

Are you as gutted as Cicero was when he discovered this devastating news. It seems that for anyone to do their job properly the right kind of intelligence to have these days is Emotional Intelligence.

What is it? And why is it important, why is it relevant to us and our businesses?

It seems that to become as intelligent emotionally as we like to think we are as a common or garden intelligent person we need to develop and learn, if not too late, new skills.

To succeed we need self awareness and to be in touch with our emotions, drives and moods and their effect on others. This is an easy one. Cicero is never moody.

Secondly, we need to have the ability to control or re-direct our disruptive impulses and moods. Cicero will skip that one.

Thirdly we need to have a strong desire and be well motivated to achieve. No problem.

And we are now required to have the social skills needed to manage relationships and build networks Got that one unless its time to buy a round..

Lastly, emotional intelligence requires us to understand the emotional make up of other people and to empathise with the needs and wants of others. Now it’s got real hard to be intelligent.

So to be intelligent in today’s workplace requires us to understand others and their feelings, and to understand ourselves, our goals, our moods and our behaviour. Whatever happened to the other kind of intelligence? Cicero was good at that one

However to be emotionally dumb is not an option. What kind of an organisation would you like to be a customer of? Where would you like to work?

To be the kind of human and creative business we want for our customers and for ourselves, we need to continue to develop and grow in emotional intelligence. We must continue to show self awareness, an ability to control our emotions, to demonstrate a passion to achieve for customers and colleagues, to empathise with people, and to build proficiency in managing relationships.

Consider two airlines-Virgin and Ryanair. Where would you prefer to work? With whom would you prefer to fly? Which has the higher level of emotional intelligence as a business, as a brand?

Cicero has come across few with emotional intelligence. It is a rare gift. And someone with it is to be loved, cherished and kept close. The world and your life is truly a better place for their presence in it. You can trust Cicero on this one. He has experience of EI people.

Is it only me?

And so to this week’s big question-should bankers get a bonus?

No doubt you will have been wondering all week through the media and political emotional knee jerk response to this issue, if Cicero had a view on such a topic. Of course Cicero has a view. And as is the wont of this column the Ciceronic opinion is not one to make Cicero popular. No matter. Truth as always will out though it often takes a week or two before public opinion catches up.

And before dispensing views and opinions on this matter, it is worth pointing out that prior to Cicero practising his marketing genius and alchemy on your behalf, such genius was previously applied to the financial services industry though the views formed on bankers’ bonuses are formed independently of these experiences. In any event Cicero never did benefit from such levels of largesse and generosity.

Over the past year we as taxpayers have sunk billions into our banks to ensure that when we went to a cash machine our money was there. And sure these bankers now us all a wee bit more than the price of a three bedrooms semi detached house. And we might no longer think of these people as masters of the universe and indeed we might even call them a word that rhymes with bankers.

Now it might only be me, and now given that the mission of this piece is to go boldly where no one has gone before, and to go there in a grammatically correct way, you will note, but I would like my money back at some point and if this means that a few pinstripes have to be paid a wee bit more to deliver so that I can get my money back, big deal.

Please can we stop all this hysteria which has all the similarities of a KKK lynch mob? Can we end the populist appeal to the base instincts of the mob? Can we cease the political posturing and futile political gestures? It is also worth remembering that screaming foul on bonuses is a handy diversion from the very fraudulent expense fiddles practiced by our MPs. No wonder they are keen to attack the pinstripe and red braces brigade.

So can we get back to sanity? Pay the bankers what is needed so we can get our loans back and let our banks perform. But let’s make sure that we more properly align the needs of bankers with those of the taxpayer and the shareholder.

All I want are my bawbees back. And I am sure you do too.

Have a great week.

Sis felix. Et sis fortunatus.

A Chinese takeaway

Salvete.

Thank you once again for all your contributions to last week’s thoughts. Cicero would however like to correct the charge levelled at him by one of last week’s anonymous contributors that he is mean. This is a libellous and scurrilous accusation. Cicero is not mean. He is just careful with his bawbees.

Cicero has also been asked from where he gets the inspiration to write such thought provoking insight each and every week. Clearly you realise that though it is made to look easy, stimulus is required each and every week for such great thoughts to be written. The words inscribed on the tomb of Sir Christopher Wren are clearly apposite in response:

‘Lector, si monumentum requiris te circumspice’

Cicero will not insult your intelligence by translating this into the vernacular but needless to say inspiration is everywhere and nowhere.

Last week Cicero was musing for no apparent reason on the words and works of Chairman Mao. On this occasion he means the Great Helmsman, the Supreme Leader of the Chinese nation, and not the Chinese restaurant on Wigan High St.

In the 1960s this man urged the nation to let ‘a hundred flowers bloom’ to encourage radical and off the wall thinking. Now while this ended in the absurdity of the Cultural Revolution and mass murder of anyone thinking unorthodox thoughts, maybe just maybe there might be some lessons for us as marketers in this approach. And when Cicero says this he means the first bit about letting a hundred flowers bloom and not the mass murder bit even though it would open a few career paths.

Too often in business we employ people on vast-ish salaries who are under the impression that they must come up with vast-ish thoughts and equally vastishly expensive thinking to justify such vast-ish salaries. The result is often initiative after programme after project which expensively delivers outputs and rarely outcomes. Just look at the volume of initiatives pouring from TSSBs across Whitehall for proof of this thesis. The urge to do be seen to do things is like an itch and the bigger the scratch the better.

Now here’s a radical thought.

Maybe more could be achieved if businesses and its leaders focussed on doing the small things which can quite often deliver big results. And maybe if we as leaders encouraged ourselves and our people to light a hundred small fires, to let a hundred flowers bloom, we might achieve more. What do you think? Do you think Cicero is onto something here?

Many businesses will have tried to put in place comprehensive and full blown and no doubt expensive employee engagement programmes usually involving an expensive staff satisfaction survey or by chasing IIP accreditation. And no doubt a Director of Employee Engagement will be hired on a vasti-ish salary to think vast-ish thoughts.

Not necessarily wrong but taking the small fire approach much progress can be made to engage our people if we remember to take time out to show we appreciate their efforts; if we share business results and progress on a regular basis; and if we take time to listen to what they are doing and what they are feeling.

Easy. Cheap. Effective.

Maybe businesses of all shapes and sizes would do much better if they stopped hiring fancy Marketing Directors on fancy salaries who think they must develop expensive brand refresh programmes and expensive advertising campaigns to justify their fancy salaries.

And instead they employ a Director of Small Things to concentrate not on the big expensive stuff to drive business but on initiatives which cost the price of chips but deliver big results. A person whose job is to light loads of small fires around the business to improve business performance.

In the world of small fires where a hundreds of flowers a bloom, BT combined a telephone number and web address to boost response by a factor of 3 over a single call to action. Simple but brilliant.

Another example? One leading charity added a text response and immediately doubled donations especially from the young And

This even works for small businesses. One small shop Cicero knows boosted turnover by £60,000 simply by moving the fruit and veg from the rear to the front of the shop.

And in one town that employed a Director of Small Things the number of people who gave up their car and switched to walking was increased after they replaced signs showing distance to places as is the norm with signs showing time on assumption that people are short of time not miles. Again Cicero is in awe of such thinking, such an approach.

And so if this week you smell burning, you can be sure that Cicero has been lighting small fires across his TSSB and has been encouraging his team to do the same. Let’s not think about spending money on the big things but about how we can deliver big results by doing the small stuff better.

Let’s smell the flowers, let’s set our business alight, let a thousand thoughts contend. It will be good for us, for our people, for our business.

Is it only me?

Cicero is fed up. He is angered, annoyed and apoplectic. And, what you might ask, is the source of such apoplectic angst? Well it is the record industry. Why so, will be your next question?

For years the record industry has done nothing but moan about the threats posed to their business model by free downloading and the competitive threat of the internet. Indeed so loud has been their moaning that the conventional and usually broken approach is now to be followed. The government will intervene and do something. This is always a recipe for disaster. Governments of all shades are regularly implored to do something, just listen to the ‘Today’ programme for 15 minutes and count the number of times the government ‘must do something’. It rarely works.

Now it might only be me but I have never heard the manufacturers of Perrier, Evian or Buxton Spring asking the government to do something to help them compete with the threat to their business model posed by the free download of their major competitor, tap water. Even the mighty Coke, which regards tap water, not Pepsi, as its major competitor for share of throat, has raised no objection to competing with this free resource.

Unlike the record companies who just carp on and on about how unfair life is, these companies set out to build brands which better meet and satisfy consumer need than tap water does and for this they charge a premium. And it works. Indeed it works so well that the data manipulating eco-mentalist brigade are now muscling in on the act and moaning about the eco-mentalist impacts of these examples of great brand building. Stick to manipulating and hiding the climate change data, you are good at that, and leave the brand builders to do what they do best.

And so Cicero has this advice to the moaning minnies of the record industry. Get over it. Life is unfair. Deal with it. Stop moaning. And start thinking about how you can compete. You will find the answer on tap.

Have a great week. And see you again next week.

Sis felix. Et sis fortunatus.

The end of the beginning

Greetings.

Something has happened. Cicero is not sure what it is but something has sparked you into life and each week more and more comments are being posted and sent through to this wee corner of the blogosphere. Some funny. Some serious. Some rude. All thought provoking. Thank you.

Tribute must be paid at the outset this week to the immense achievement of the men from Dalriada in overcoming the challenge last weekend from their antipodean cousins on the rugby field. This is more than their chariot loving Anglo-Saxon kith were able to do though heaven forbid that you might think this is a Ciceronic gloat. This was an inevitable victory for the Picts. It might have been a while since victory over the Aborigines was last achieved but remember that every defeat takes you one step closer to victory.

And so to this week’s lesson.

Last week Cicero was wending his weary way home on his wee bike after checking as usual before leaving his Top Secret State Bunker that as per normal the borders were safe and secure. Before long he bumped once again into his Marketing Professional Friend out enjoying the Capital’s sights and sounds with his team.

‘Out celebrating?’ asked Cicero to his MPF.

‘Yes. Our new marketing campaign starts tomorrow. It has been a hard road with many late nights to get the stuff out the door. And now our work is done we thought we would come out and let our hair down. Will you not join us for a wee dram’?

‘Not tonight but thanks anyway though I am surprised you think your work is now done. Surely it has only just started. Surely the hard work starts tomorrow. You have done the easy bit now the difficult stuff starts.’

‘You kidding me?’ queried MPF ‘What more can me and team do? It’s now down the business to handle the work my marketing is going to bring in. Our work is done. We can put our feet up, let our hair down and chill. You do know how to chill, don’t you, Cicero?’

‘There is lots more for you and your team still to do. What you have done to date is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. It is merely the end of the beginning’, said Cicero going all Churchill, not meaning the nodding dog.

‘Let me see what still needs to be done. Here are some examples in no particular order.

Firstly I assume you have a telephone number and a website linked to your campaign. And I presume that these are included all on your marketing material. Do they work? Do you really know they work? Sure a customer might ring and the phone answered but how knowledgeable is the person answering the phone? Do all the online links work? Will the search engines be ble to find you? Do you know all this for sure when the campaign breaks tomorrow? If I was you I would be testing your phone and internet links to destruction, fault finding and stress testing and finding and fixing anything that is broken before your customers do.

‘Secondly what are you doing about making sure the campaign works and does the business for the business. We have spoken before about the need to impress your Finance people but you will never be able to do this unless you can show, indeed prove, that the marketing investment will deliver. Can you do this? Will you, in say 3 months time, be able to show that you delivered a great return on marketing investment.

‘And thirdly, and more immediately, what will you be doing over the next few days to make sure that your online spend is optimised. Will you know what creative, what search terms, what sites are working for you, delivering customers cost effectively? Do you have processes set up to collect and disseminate this data? Have you got meetings in place to review what is happening out there?

‘Need I go on, my friend?’

‘Ok, party over, folks’, was the MPF's shocked response, putting away and locking up his wallet, much to Cicero’s approval ‘we have still got a wee bit of work to do.

‘Know what, Cicero. You might be a bit of a party pooper. Many might think of you as anti-social. But you are rarely wrong on matters marketing.’

And with that thought Cicero wobbled away into the night knowing that his work was done for the evening and that another marketing lesson had been delivered, heard and understood. Cicero went home a satisfied man.

And should you ever see a marketing team in chill mode with hair down and feet up, please do remind them of Churchill, not the nodding one, the other one, and make sure they are not confusing the end of the beginning with the beginning of the end or even the end.

Is it only me?

Last week you might have seen the news that rail fares were going to go up. And every year when this announcement is made some intrepid reporter will take up his post outside Waterloo station and many other enquiring and investigative journalists will take up similar positions outside other stations up and down and across this green and pleasant land. They will be there to gauge commuter reaction and response to this news.

And every year the answer is the same. ‘Appalling’, says one. ‘Outrageous’, says another. ‘Scandalous’, adds a third. And so on and so on.

What do you expect them to say? You must be as staggered as Cicero to think that there is a news editor out there who seriously thinks that he is going to find someone out there who is going to welcome the news that rail fares are going to rise. Cicero would love it if they found some member of the salatariat in favour of the extra cost of their journey to work because the extra cash was needed to improve the quality of the rail passenger experience and to ensure that the shareholders get a better selection of bubbly and nibbles at the shareholders’ meeting.

Is it only me who questions why every year this charade is played out across our railway termini and station concourses. The same thing is said year in, year out. It might be cheap television but it is hardly news, hardly the scoop of the millennium, is it? We have had Woodward and Bernstein reporting on Watergate: Kate Adie in Tiananmen Square; and even John Sargeant tripping over his feet to get an interview with Thatcher on the eve of her resignation. All great examples of dangerous and intrepid reporting designed to uncover truth and illuminate wrong doing. How does the standard of reporting on rises in rail fares compare?

Have a great week.

Sis felix. Et sis fortunatus.

Learning to speak serbo croat

This week Cicero is happy, pleased and thrilled.

Happy that more and more people are engaging in debate through this medium on the big issues of the day. Pleased with the quality of the debate unleashed. And thrilled that even the enviro-mental and health and safety community, for so long silent in the debate, have at last been stimulated, or maybe provoked, to join in. Cicero believes that to this community he is fast becoming a cult, or at least he thinks that is what he is.

And a great big thank you to the third Chuckle Brother for his masterful critique and detailed de-construction of last week’s witterings. Initially sent through privately it is especially pleasing that this was re-written and submitted for others to enjoy. However sadly Cicero’s inability to use new fangled technology meant that this masterful thesis was accidentally deleted. Hopefully it has not been lost forever and it can be restored

It cannot be long now before ‘Cicero Speaks’ is being used in universities, colleges and business schools throughout the land though there is still probably more work to do to dumb down these thoughts before they might be suitable for such an audience.

In any event Cicero promises that all comment is read and gratefully received and the points made will be re-visited over the coming weeks once due consideration has been given to the issues raised and once a cogent, compelling and comprehensive response formulated. Cicero recognises that this is the least you can expect.

And so to this week’s intelligent insight.

One night last week Cicero joined a fellow Marketing Professional to imbibe a small alcoholic libation at a local hostelry.

At this point Cicero would like to stress that the borders, freedom and democracy were secure, and that your security was in no way compromised. In any event he was no more than a phone call away at all times from a swift return to work should there be any threat to liberty, security and democracy. It is important that this is pointed out.

In any event none of this came to pass. However said Marketing Professional Friend was in a highly emotional, distressed and agitated state.

‘ No one understands me and what I do’, he sobbed to Cicero, ‘ I strain every sinew to raise brand awareness and to produce advertising that really cuts through and then just when me and my team start to make some progress, that son-of-a bitch of a finance director cuts my budget. I am at my wit’s end; I see no point on going on.’

‘Pull yourself together, man,’ empathised Cicero, giving the MPF a few painful slaps on the cheeks to try to get some sense into the man, ‘this is not the time to let these people grind you down. How did your campaign perform?’

‘I told you, didn’t I? Have you not been listening to a word I have been saying, Cicero? I was driving up awareness and our ads were getting noticed. Even that pig of a Finance Director said he had noticed them.’

And therein lies the crux of the issue, Cicero’s MPF was speaking Serbo-Croat with a Bosnian accent while his Finance Director was speaking Polish with a just a trace of a Prussian dialect. It is no wonder they were never going to understand each other.

It is no use the marketing team wittering on and on about awareness, saliency and cut through when the rest of the business is concerned about ROI, NPV and P&L. Who cares about the kind of thing marketers talk about if it does not contribute to the bottom line or impact on financial performance at the end of the day somewhere along the line?

It is not the fault of the business if we are not understood it is ours. And all marketers serious about doing great marketing must learn how to present our wonderful discipline in a way that the board, the business, their colleagues can understand. We must learn to speak their language and to understand it and to talk our language in ways they understand and care about.

Cicero read recently that ‘marketers are trained to broadcast when in fact the key to success is listening’. Exactly. We must learn to listen to what the rest of the business is saying, how they say it and listen to what they are saying about what we do. Only then can we start to develop the arguments that we need to show how investment in marketing can help deliver business success. That is business success, not marketing success.

How does awareness contribute to the bottom line? Where does saliency fit? What is the ROI on marketing investment? And one final tip-stop talking about marketing spend or marketing costs. And start talking about marketing investment. It’s all about language.

3 hours later the MPF had pulled himself together and Cicero’s messages had been received and understood. If the IT boys can grasp simple business and financial concepts, for they get it more than us marketing folks do, it really can’t be too difficult. Can it?

And so the moral of today’s tale for all budding marketers - go bi-lingual and learn to speak the same language as every one else in the business, especially the finance people.

Is it only me?

Cicero has spoken before about the health and safety hazards posed by the proliferation of trolley dolly briefcases on our streets and pavements. Today Cicero would like to return to this subject and to raise a new danger posed by these weapons of mass destruction. Indeed Cicero would like to urge the enviro-mental health and safety person who got in touch last week for his view on these killers.

And before going on, and possibly on and on and on, there is a need to explain the origins of the term trolley dolly briefcases.

The term comes from air stewardesses, or trolley dollies, who were among the first to use these monsters. At the time this was ok. There were few in circulation and largely confined to aerodromes. Now they dominate our pavements posing unnecessary dangers on our crowded pavement to the health of other bi-peds. Has anyone ever calculated just how much extra room these things take up? It must be massive. And you don’t even need planning permission or a license to have one. It’s crazy.

And now I must point out a new hazard. And Cicero is sure that once you see this danger lurking in our midst that you too will be shocked and appalled.

Now one reason for the sales success of these beasts is that they make it easy for people to move around their office or wardrobe or, if you are a woman, the complete stock of an electrical retailer. This strength is also its greatest weakness. The wheels on these weapons make weight irrelevant. Until you reach steps. At which point teams of Sherpas are required to shift these missiles. Have you seen what happens when people wheeling around their worldly goods hit steps? You get a log jam. And as queues of unencumbered bi-peds build up behind those straining every sinew to lug their now highly immobile missiles up and down steps and stairs, the health and safety hazards too start to mount and become more and more risky and dangerous with every passing second.

And so is it only me who says that something must be done before these wheeled health and safety risks cause injury and death? And so today Cicero calls on like minded and sane and safety conscious people to join in a crusade to dis-encourage the sale of all trolley dolly briefcases. Ban them, we say. Get rid, we assert. Exterminate all, we cry.

Have a great week. But be careful out there. The pavements are a dangerous place.

Sis felix. Et sis fortunatus.

It has to be you

It seems that last week Cicero awoke ‘a sleeping giant’. It is amazing how many of you saw fit to respond to my equality remarks. Some in favour. Some against. And it is amazing to how many of you are known as ‘anonymous’. Cicero is still not sure if all the remarks came from one ‘anonymous’ or several ‘anonymous’....or should that be ‘anonymii’? Now there’s an interesting question to start this week’s debate. Anyway Cicero would like to thank all those who took the time and trouble to respond to last week’s remarks. Cicero did enjoy reading the vies, comments and opinions expressed.

Now let’s see if we can be as controversial this week as last. As they used to say ‘it’s good to talk’.

The other night Cicero was watching the old flickering cathode ray tube in the corner of the room and caught an ad for Yahoo proclaiming its devotion to serving you. And there are other brands out there similarly communicating that you make it happen. Vodafone, for example, is talking about ‘Power to you’. There will be countless others talking about making you the centre piece of the brand.

Is this good or bad? Let me give you a point of view, I know you would expect no less.

Now it might be argued that brands which announce that they are all about you will be pledging their adherence to the false prophet of customer centricity, whatever that might mean. Well, yes, you could argue that but surely brands must be about more than that.

As consumers we want to love or hate it brands. We want them to stand for something real and specific, tangible and definite. We do not want wishy washy statements of intent, empowerment and affection.

Brands which talk about being whatever you want us to be is lazy marketing. Clever brands and intelligent marketing are about understanding what your customers want, showing that you understand this and delivering it. A brand cannot be all things to all people. As someone once said, and on this occasion I have no idea who said this, ‘great marketing is about making choices’. It is based on four principles: know your customer; segment accordingly; target sparingly; position specifically. A brand which says we will be whatever you want us to be does and cannot deliver against these principles.

Think of the easy going friend you have. The one with no ideas or suggestions of their own. The one who is always happy to go along with what you suggest. The one who lets you do whatever it is you want to do, whenever you want to do it. Now compare that friend with the one with interests, views and opinions. The one with whom you clash and argue.

Which friend bores you the most? Which friend stimulates you? Who do you want to spend time with?

And whatever is true of friends is also true of brands.

So should some acne ridden account executive come to you with self indulgent ideas of building a co-creative, self empowering and you based brand, talk to him ,or her, about boring and interesting friends. Your brand must have an identity that is clear, compelling and cogent. Just be yourself. Don’t be about you.

Is it only me?

Did you read recently that eco-mentalism is now deemed to be a religion which means you can’t be sacked for believing that the world is about to end unless we sit in the dark, unless we end all economic growth and unless we stop leaving the DVD on stand by? I kid you not. The world has now taken leave of its collective senses.

This has now been proved in court and a man has been told that he can take his employer to tribunal on the grounds he was unfairly dismissed because of his views on climate change. Have you ever heard such errant nonsense? This claim was made under regulations designed to cover any religion, religious or philosophical belief. Eco-mentalism, which in my view is more a medical condition than a belief system based on a philosophical idea, has the same status as Christianity, Judaism, Hindu, Islam or any of the other great religions on the planet. It is now faith.

I have a belief that Scotland will win the World Cup, that I am going to win the lottery, even that I am attractive to women, even though I am fast approaching my dotage. Yet I would not claim that any of these beliefs or faiths is in any way religious. Indeed many would think that such beliefs are more fantasy than faith.

And yet believing that global warming, or dodgy weather, will lead to the end of civilisation as we know it means you are now seen as having religious belief. Ye Gods. Of course if the eco-mentalists are now claiming religious belief surely the converse must be equally true and that those who consider climate change as natural and cyclical must also be considered religious. I bet that is not the case though.

I would also like to know what kind of a kooky lawyer when given the brief to sue for wrongful dismissal thought ‘I know, we will argue that eco-mentalism is a religion and you are therefore protected’. How do the minds of these people work? I swear they are wired up differently from you and me.

Now all I need to know is that health and safety adherents have been given religious protection and I will know the lunatics have taken over the asylum. It will not be too long now before Cicero’s thoughts on eco-mentalism, equality, health and safety, and other pc nonsense, will be deemed blasphemous. I see it coming.

Have a great week.

Sis felix. Et sis fortunatus.

Thanks for the memory

Ave atque salve.

Well it seems that ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ could not be bettered and so if Anonymous reveals his or her identity then a wee prize may be forthcoming unless Cicero’s recognition is reward in itself which Cicero is sure will probably suffice. It was an inspired selection and does go to prove that the young can write fitting, motivating and inspiring autobiographies. And for all I know perhaps Ms Lewis’s autobiography may also meet these criteria.

And now for the greatest philosophical question of all time.

A question so big that many businesses have given up trying to answer it. But for those who stick the course and who do answer it, they find the elixir to everlasting wealth and prosperity. And today Cicero is going to try to provide an answer to this one simple question……what is a brand?

For many the brand is about advertising and becoming well known. It’s about having ads during Coronation St. Wrong. Did you know that until recently Marks and Spencer did not spend a penny on advertising? True. And yet no one would deny that M&S is not a great brand. And what about Google, Starbucks, Amazon? Does anyone think that these are not great brands? And yet, and I think this is true, these businesses have become successful and well known without advertising their wares. And think too about Marlboro and Viagra, both can’t advertise and yet both are well known brands. Anybody got an issue with this thesis?

Another school of thought is that a brand is a logo or a mark or a strap line of some sort. Wrong again. A brand is much more than that and the logo or mark or strap line should be an outcome from the brand communicating what it stands for and its values. It is not the brand. Think of a brand as a great big iceberg of the sort that sunk Kate Winslet and Leonardo di Caprio and should have sunk Celine Dion but missed. Now if we are to believe what the eco-mentalists tell us, our brand iceberg will be much reduced in size due to global warming or climate change or whatever wonky weather is called this week. However the basic physics remain the same and no matter the size of your iceberg 90% remains below the water line. The same can be said of a true brand. The logos, the marks, the visual design stuff which many see as the brand are only the tip of the iceberg with the substance of the brand hidden from view.

So now that I have told you some of the things that a brand is not, you are probably waiting impatiently for Cicero to spill the beans and to share with you the elixir of business success. Well if we are patient Cicero will do exactly that.

Traditionally a brand is described as ‘a promise’. A promise that is unique, compelling and which delivers rational and emotional benefit to meet customer needs. And because this promise is unique and compelling it is able to charge a price premium.

And so Disney offers ‘entertaining fun’, Coke offers ‘refreshment’, Apple offers ‘innovative design’. Now should be the brand manger of any of these great brands be around you might take exception to these descriptions of your brands but for the purposes of my musings these descriptions will suffice.

But Cicero being Cicero believes that this definition of a brand is too simplistic and does not go far enough. Anyone can make a promise. The trick is to deliver against it, to deliver an experience that fulfils that promise. And so for me a brand is a promise and an experience, an experience that lives up to the promise across all touch points consistently, day in and day out.

And yet it is more than that. Great brands stay in the mind. They are not dismissed from the memory banks. The experience lives up to and even exceeds the expectations set by the promise that they linger around among the old grey matter influencing future brand choice and making sure the brand, its promise and its experience are talked about with friends and family, producing word of mouth marketing.

And there you have it. A brand is a promise. An experience. A memory. No mention of price and price premiums (or should that be premia?)

And from this flows things like logos, visual identity, photographic style, tone of voice and the like.

Finally here’s a thought to leave you with and indeed is this week’s homework-given what has been said about brands so far in this rambling monologue, is Ryanair a brand? Answer next week but your thoughts welcome.

Is it only me?

Cicero had occasion recently to visit an exhibition. It was very interesting but the amount of floor space given over to various kinds of equality and minority units would amaze you as it did Cicero. And should you be perusing the job pages of any of our national newspapers, and especially the Guardian, the house magazine for taxpayer funded busy bodies, (though Cicero is sure that if you read these words you are so unlikely to read this organ) take careful note of all the positions advertised to promote equality and engagement. This is an important phrase among the tax spending classes, though hands up if you know what it means.

I came across a workshop held recently by an organisation which will remain nameless which was, and I quote, ‘designed to support senior job applications and is open to the following staff:
• women
• black and minority ethnic staff
• staff with disabilities
• lesbian, gay, bi-sexual staff
• transgender/ transsexual staff. ‘

Can anyone spot who is missing from this list?

Now don’t get me wrong. I am strongly in favour of equality, equality of opportunity that is. And I passionately loathe discrimination or prejudice anywhere it occurs. However is it only me who thinks that it is now about time we had equality for white, middle aged, middle class males? I see no units being established or funding provided to help support and give a hand up to this endangered species which is lingering and soldiering on despite the barriers being put in place to stop this group becoming as extinct as the Amazonian green cross snake. Does this group not have the right to progress their careers? Do they not require similar levels of help and support when applying for senior level jobs?

Let me know what you think. Perhaps now is the time to man, or should that be person, the barricades.

Have a great week.

Sis felix. Et sis fortunatus.

View from the bridge

Greetings, amici.

Cicero is a wee bit disappointed this week if you a regular reader of these musings.

I know you are well-read and intelligent otherwise you would not be here but there has been a paucity of responses to the challenge laid down last week to come up with the youngest person to write an autobiography.

The one, yes one, submission received to date is a very good one though and was well worth waiting for. And it could be that you could not better it. For ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ is a great and inspired choice and does go to show that it is possible to write a meaningful, inspiring and moving autobiography at such a young age. It does however just go to show how vapid an autobiography Leona Lewis must be in comparison.

Now you might quibble that ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ is not really an autobiography. Tough. This is Cicero’s column and will be allowed. But get your thinking caps on and let’s see what other suggestions there might be for young autobiographers. You have another week. Perhaps you might like to go to the other extreme and come up with youngest autobiographer with nothing to say. There must loads to choose from.

Before moving on to meatier subjects this week, once again it’s lift watch time. And this week Cicero would like to commend and applaud those responsible for the maintenance of the facilities in the TSSB. For the past 2 weeks a full complement of lifting lifts has been in operation. I knew you would be pleased and relieved.

Now a few years ago a bunch of Australian entrepreneurs came up with a crackingly good idea. No your eyes do not deceive you. There is more than one entrepreneur in Australia. And yes from time to time even Australians are capable of coming up with a good idea.

Anyway it seems that this bunch of Brucies came up with the idea of running tourist trips to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. See it was a great idea. So they approached the authorities with this idea and the authorities no doubt influenced by the Australian health and safety gauleiters came up with a hundred and six page document filled with reasons why this was not such a good idea and why it was not going to happen.

Now the Australian psyche is nothing if not persistent. The Australian will not take no for an answer. The Australian will not accept being told what to do by health and safety gauleiters or by anyone else in authority. (I swear there is Australian blood coursing through Cicero’s aged veins even though Cicero does not and cannot play cricket).

And so Bruce and his chums went away for a few years. They spent a few bawbees. And then came back to the authorities with every single objection fully addressed and with a foolproof and totally safe approach to getting tourists onto, up and down, and off the bridge.

The authorities were impressed and, no doubt to the chagrin of the health and safety police who as we know so hate to see people having fun and enjoying themselves, Bruce and his chums were allowed to start Harbour Bridge Tours. And if you ever get to Sydney it is well worth the trip.

Now there is a moral to this tale and Cicero was reminded of the tale this week when surrounded by refuseniks in the TSSB where he tries to ply his trade day in, day out, working for your safety and convenience. And I am sure that you too will face from time to time refuseniks in your place. You know the sort of people I mean. You will be trying your best to make your business easy for your customers to do business with and you will be faced with a reason after excuse after issue avoidance why making life easy for your customers is an approach bordering on heresy, a philosophy akin to witchcraft, an idea derived from the occult.

If we follow Bruce’s example and approach, and I do commend this approach to you, we will be patient, we will listen to the refuseniks and their reasons why not, and we will address each and every one of these in turn. We will not charge in. We will not be bombastic. We will not overwhelm with fury and with unreasonableness.

In this way through patient reasonableness and rigorous rationality we will get our way. And more importantly bridges will be built and not destroyed. And even better we get to climb our bridges and get a great view from the top.

By the way, and before anyone points this out, Cicero is aware that this is a splendid example of do as I say, not do as I do.

Now is it only me?

Has anyone seen the size of prams these days? When I was a wee lad growing up among the Pictish tribes to the north prams were small and compact which folded up into something not much bigger than a folding umbrella. Today prams have taken on the size of cruise liners with the turning circle of an oil laden supertanker. When did it become de rigeur to purchase one of these monstrosities? What happened to my type of pram?

With prams the size of jumbo jets and people toting trolley dolly briefcases the pavements of our towns and cities are fast becoming dangerous places for anyone without wheels of some sort. In addition pavement space is rapidly becoming a premium for pedestrians walking along on their own without some truck and trailer approach to their perambulations.

And then there are the buses. For reasons that escape me vast sums of public money, in other words your money and mine, have been poured into our bus network in a fit of taxpayer largesse to ensure that these leviathans for infants can get on and off with ease and to facilitate their ability to block the aisles of said omnibuses.

Is it only be but has anyone else noticed that the ease with which we make it for these beasts to get on and off our buses is in indirect proportion to the size and manoeuvrability of sprogs’ perambulators? Anyone got any thoughts on this burning topic?

Have a great week.

Sis felix. Et sis fortunatus.

X factor Reports

I note with some surprise and incredulity that last week’s thoughts were likened to Radio 4’s ‘Thought for the Day’. I am not sure if you meant this as a compliment or not but I shall assume the former unless I hear to the contrary. It is incredibly flattering to be likened to an iconic broadcast institution.

Now let’s see what I can do this week. Can I live up to such an exalted standard?

Working as I do in a bureaucratic machine I spend much of my time writing reports or reviewing the reports of others. I like to point out to my salariat colleagues that there is no archaeological or documentary evidence that would support the thesis that a great civilisation is built through report writing. My complaints on this matter, as so many of my complaints do, fall on deaf ears. And so I and those around me continue to write reports.

Still if I look at this more positively I see reports as an advert for my thinking and insight that I want people to buy. And like producing any other ad, report writing is a skill, a craft, an art.

So if you will forgive and indulge Cicero’s arrogance yet again I thought I might share you with my golden rules of report writing.

Rule 1: Remember the reader and the result

Like any other ad or piece of marketing communication understand who will read the report and why. As with so much else the golden principle of the marketing 3 Rs applies here as in crafting an d-remember the reader and the result.

Establish at the outset the objective for the communications or (in report writing terms) understand your Terms of Reference. Your objective should encapsulate:
 What you want to communicate …
 … to whom …
 … and why-what do you want the reader to do

Once you’ve established a focused objective, this should act as the guiding light for the rest of your report. This will help make the structuring and writing processes much faster and easier.

Rule 2: Structure your report – quickly and easily

When Steven Spielberg starts out to make a film he will storyboard it which allows him to put down on paper how he sees the film before he starts to film anything and which helps bring the film to life for him, the cast and the crew. A good director will use the storyboards as a starting point but will adapt this when filming starts as new ideas and situations emerge during the production process.

My reports start out like ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ though there the similarity ends. I start out with a storyboard with list of main headings and sub headings and points to make under each. This helps me see how my argument is developing and ensures that I remain constant to my objective.

Reports like films can be fairly long documents. To make their production as efficient as possible, it pays to think like Steven Spielberg and to structure your thoughts, you arguments, your report as early in the production process as possible.

When structuring, it helps to remember that reports are highly formulaic and there will be a formula for your business but most will include some or all of the following elements:

• An introduction which states the aim or objective of the paper
• Outline your research approach
• Presentation of your results.
• Analysis or discussion of the results
• Conclusions and recommendations.
• Resource impact including costs and benefits and timescales

Rule 3: Be ruthless and relevant

No matter how interesting the content might be, if it doesn’t help you meet your objective, it should be sidelined. Be ruthless. If you really can't delete it altogether, then relegate it to the appendices. After all, if content is not relevant it is confusing. In report writing, as with so many things in life, less truly is more. Think that every word, sentence or phrase has to justify its space on the paper. If you can’t justify it, delete it. Maybe I should apply this logic to Cicero Speaks though a blank page is nowhere near as interesting.

I know report writing is not the most riveting topic for a marketer but believe me it is an essential skill to master. Hopefully my thoughts are help to mastery. Maybe we should introduce a judo type approach to report writing. Please get in touch if you are a Black Belt in this.

Is it only me?

I would guess from your slavish devotion to these pages that you are not an aficionado of celebrity tittle tattle. If so last week’s news that Leona Lewis, a chanteuse from some TV talent contest, was punched in the face when signing copies of her recently published autobiography by some other celebrity wannabe, might have passed you by.

I was shocked on reading this. And I am sure you will be too.

Leona Lewis is only 24 and yet she has managed to write a 304 page autobiography. That is 12 pages per year and if we accept that her memories for first 5 years might be a wee bit hazy and that in these years all you pretty much do is poo, eat, sleep and cry, and I would doubt that celebrity chanteuses do these things in a more interesting way than mere mortals like you and me, then pages per year count goes up.
Is it only me but how can anyone so young have had full enough life in their first 24 years to write 304 interesting pages? Ye Gods, I am more than a wee bit older than this celebrity songbird and I would struggle to fill 304 pages with anything interesting to say.

As is the wont in today’s society, I am going to propose that the government sets up a Celebrity Autobiography Authority to regulate and license the publication of celebrity autobiographies ensuring a good age per page quotient and to set standards on dealing with the celebrities early years.

I am now on a mission to find the youngest autobiography with the most pages. With your help I can do it. Please send your suggestions to me through these pages.
Have a great week and I look forward to receiving your finds.

Sis felix. Et sis fortunatus.

Cup of coffee, anyone?

You will no doubt be pleased to see that Cicero is on time this week. Indeed I might even be early. I am truly sorry about last week’s wee lapse but I hope I make up in quality what I might sometimes lack in timeliness.

And this week like the politicians Cicero will be offering help to the hard pressed in these difficult times.

For Cicero recognises that times today are tough for people and that this is taking its toll on people everywhere. Even state bureaucrats are not immune, even if we are striving on a daily basis to protect the safety and security of its people. And in this environment we can often lose sight of what is important to us and to our people around us.

To help us remember what is really important and to help the people we lead keep a sense of perspective, and I think this is a key attribute of a leader, I would like to share with you a story. It is probably apocryphal but it does teach us a valuable lesson and I pass it on that it might help you in your own life as well as encourage you to pass it on to help those around you.

And I am indebted to a really good friend and long standing subscriber to Cicero Speaks for the advice and insight provided. Maybe Cicero Speaks should become Cicero Listens.

Anyway if we are all sitting comfortably Cicero will begin……..

Once upon a time there was a learned philosophical lecturer who one day stood before his philosophy class with a very large mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee before him. Without saying a word he picked up the mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls .He then asked the students, if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. But they were wrong.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly and the pebbles filled up the space between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. Again they were wrong.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar and the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.' They were still wrong.

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed. Now the jar was full.

'Now,' said the professor to his students, about to start the lesson, and this is where Cicero wants you to pay full attention, 'I want you to imagine that the mayonnaise jar represents your life. The golf balls are the really important things - family, children, health, and friends. In other words if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

‘The pebbles are the material things that should matter less like your job, house, and car. The sand is everything else --The small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first,’ the philosopher continued,
'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. Similarly if you put in the pebbles, the material stuff, first you will have no room for the things that really matter like golf balls.

‘The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

‘So, and here endeth the lesson,’ said my philosopher friend, ‘pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness like friends, family and health. There will always be room for the other stuff if you start with the big stuff.

'Take care of the golf balls first -the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and asked what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled a knowing smile, ’I'm so glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.'

And so whenever things start to get tough for you, your business and the people you lead, please remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee and pass it on.

Is it only me?

I happened to be travelling back home the other night from my Top Secret State Bunker, my exertions done and the safety of the citizenry protected for yet another day.

Inadvertently I happened to travel in a so-called quiet carriage where all noise from extraneous sources like telephones, portable musical devices and no doubt crisp and sweetie wrappers is supposedly banned. And boy are such petty regulations enforced as I know to my cost when my mobile began to chirrup its tone. The looks, the stares, the tut tutting that went on. You would have thought I was in the bowels of the British Library rather than a diesel engine train groaning and straining to return the Reggie Perrin-types to their nuclear families in their mock Tudor executive ghettos.

Now is it only me but can anyone explain the difference between a short phone call and an animated conversation between three passengers for the entire duration of the journey home? Why is my telephone conversation verboten and yet it is ok for people to talk as much as they like, for as long as they like on a topic so banal and trivial that it makes you questions what is the point of educating people? Why is small talk allowed and conversations of national importance banned just because it goes through Mr Apple’s finest plastic? I would love to know the answer.

And in meantime and until this enduring mystery is cleared up, have a great week.

Sis fellx. Et sis fortunatus.

Send three and four pence we are going to a dance......

Cicero would like to apologise most profoundly and sincerely if you arrived here at the weekend expecting to read new, fresh and updated intelligent insight and wit. Cicero has been slothful and regrets it. It will not happen again.

In Cicero’s defence the work of protecting the State and its citizenry has taken precedence in past few days and though Cicero is known for his indefatigability, there are so only so many hours in the day even for one as devoted, diligent and dedicated as he.

Cicero would also like to thank last week’s respondent who privately expressed some rather critical thoughts on the musings on teaching men to fish though he is disappointed that such critical thoughts have not been expressed publicly. And please note when the word ‘criticise’ is used it is used in the proper meaning of the word.

And so to this week’s musings…………

Have you heard of the game ‘Chinese Whispers’, where you try to whisper a word or phrase down a line of players with amusing results as the message gets distorted as it passes down the line? And did you know that the world record for the longest line of people playing ‘Chinese Whispers’ was set in 2004 with 614 participants? And do you know what the message was?

Now this may be a guess, a long shot, a shot in the dark but I would surmise that you are going to depend on me to provide the answer. Well it seems that when the world record was broken the original message was ‘Mac King is a comedy magic genius’. The end result was ‘macaroni cantaloupe knows the future’ which only goes to prove that the more complex the message the greater the distortion as it passes down the line.

So what has this to do with marketing?

Brand strategy, great marketing, can be likened to a game of ‘Chinese Whispers’ if you are not careful. Indeed the way many brand identity consultants and brand managers think, it could well be.

How many times have you as a marketing professional sat through wonderful PowerPoint presentations from brand managers, consultants or agencies endeavouring to articulate what the brand is all about. It is death by PowerPoint, slaughter by copy, buried by slogans. It looks great and sounds fantastic but remember ‘Chinese Whispers’. Brand strategy is not a game which starts with the brand manager and reaches the customer via the ad agency, the salesperson and the people in the business. The only place that matters is the final person in the line-the customer. And anyone doing great marketing knows how important it is to ensure that the message is not distorted before it hits the end of the line.

Great brand strategies need no more than three words to convey what they are about. Anything more will be too complex for others to remember, activate and ultimately execute. You may have a great PowerPoint presentation but the strategy won’t work. And the probability of achieving any kind of impact on the customer and the market will be close to zero.

Great brand positioning is pithy, cogent and relevant. It focuses on the two or three things that will mark the brand out as different. It is born from insight, forged through heritage and destined to differentiate. And it must pass the t-shirt test. If it can’t fit on the front of a t-shirt it won’t do. Pass it on.

Is it only me?

Have you checked the date in your diary or in your calendar recently? I only ask because I am confused. It is only the beginning of October, or at least I thought it was unless I have somehow entered a parallel universe through some worm hole in the space time continuum. We have not yet had Halloween or Guy Fawkes Night, but I have just seen my first Christmas promotion. And already my incredibly talented marketing team have feverishly started making preparations for celebrating the holiday period which as State employees we must call it now in these multi cultural days lest we offend more sensitive souls.

Is it only me but I thought Christmas was December 25th. Has it been moved? Has a governmental enquiry been set up to consider the best day to celebrate Christmas and its report been published? Or are we now just living our lives at such a frenetic pace that it just seems if it has been moved? Our suntans have not yet faded and we are already planning Christmas.

Even though I am a man, and for this gender Christmas preparations will not start until December 23rd at the earliest, I do not understand for whom messages that Christmas is coming are aimed. Is there a tribe of incredibly stupid people out there who need to be reminded when Christmas is and who need a long lead time to prepare? Given that we seem to be being encouraged to start to think about Christmas earlier and earlier each year, I contend that by 2014 we will be being encouraged to celebrate His birth a fortnight before He has died. Even for the Son of God that is some feat.

Be assured that Cicero will not be starting his preparations any earlier despite the exhortations and as usual my Christmas card will arrive on or about January 7th. But please do let me know if you are on Santa Alert already.

Have a great week.

Sit felix. Et sit fortunatus.

Gone fishing

Avete atque salvete, amici

And for those of you who believe that Cicero might make up these Latin flourishes, how can you even think that, the above means ‘hail and welcome, my friends’. Check Cicero’s use of his native tongue and leave a note if you find Cicero to be wrong.

Before spreading this week’s words of wit and wisdom, Cicero has been asked for an update on the lifts in his Top Secret State Bunker where each and every day Cicero stands on the wall twixt freedom and anarchy, holding back the tides threatening to overwhelm democracy and civilisation as we know it. Well, despite the importance of my mission, we have singularly failed to maintain a full quota of functioning lifts for past few weeks. Last week two out of our three lifts failed to, well, lift or elevate. And a lift which does not elevate is just a box. It is not good. Still if it helps reduce or limit the budget deficit who is Cicero to complain.

Last week Cicero was in conversation with one of his incredibly talented team and I say and highlight this should some of my incredibly talented and experienced team be reading these fine words, who told me that she felt that her team thought she was letting them down and that they were not getting the answers from her they thought they were entitled to.

On hearing this Cicero set to work to help the incredibly talented (same reason as above applies when this is said) manager seeking help and support and guidance from the Wise One.

To cut an incredibly long, complex and detailed story short, Cicero’s advice was pithy and precise and was to encourage said manager to respond to requests for help from team members by asking them what they would do if she wasn’t around.

This is an incredibly powerful trick.

It is amazing how many of us know exactly what to do, know the right answer, know the correct course of action to take, if we are encouraged or obliged to take responsibility. Believe me our people don’t need as much help, guidance and support as they seem to think they might or, and this is equally important, we as leaders think they might need.

Now this might come as a shock but as leaders we are not indispensable. Nor do we have a monopoly of wisdom. And more times than not we think we have to add value, to dispense wisdom, to provide the right answer. Too often our suggestions are interpreted as instructions for others to follow. And instead of adding value we destroy it. Our people don’t grow and develop. We undermine confidence. We disempower. Not good for our people or our business.

Someone wiser than me, if you can believe that, once said ‘feed a man a fish and you feed for him a day but teach a man to fish and you feed for him life’. Helping and supporting and encouraging people to find answers for themselves works in same way.

And one other point to consider before I let this topic drop. How many of the decisions your people might make will cause a major problem if they get it wrong? Damn few I would posit. Surely there is more value in encouraging them to learn and grow and develop.

And so next time someone asks you for help, instead of giving them what they want, give them what they need and encourage them to find the right answers, challenge them to tell you what they would do if you weren’t around. More often than not they will be right. And know what, you have just taught them to fish. I leave these thoughts with you.

Is it only me?

This week I want to talk garages and cars. And I would like for us to ponder two points.

My first point comes from a very special subscriber who asks why it is that we can drive our cars onto the garage forecourt to fill our vehicles with fuel, a really dangerous substance, I’m sure we would agree, and yet the health and safety gualeiters, in their desire and drive to look after the welfare of incredibly stupid people, believe us to be so incompetent that we are unable to drive our cars into the workshop without incident even though we might have driven hundreds of miles to get to said garage.

Clearly filling cars up with a highly dangerous, explosive and inflammable substance is a competence that incredibly stupid people are deemed to possess and yet driving a few extra yards is considered beyond their and all our capacities. Go figure.

But is it only me who considers the way we buy our fuel a wee bit weird. Not only am I expected to have a point.99 pence coin in my possession should I only want to buy a litre but why do we buy petrol in litres yet fuel efficiency is measured in miles per gallon?

Now I was brought up with gills, pints, quarts, and gallons but to today’s yoof such measures must be as quaint as The Black Death, the spinning jenny and profitable banks. How do we expect them to work out what mpg means? It might only be me but I do think it strange that for most of the time our lords and masters go out of their way to protect and defend the incredibly stupid and yet there are other times when their policies can confound even those with some intelligence. Seems strange to me. Surely instead of mpg it should be mpl. Even Cicero might be able work out how the fuel efficiency of his internal combustion engine on this basis.

Have a great week.

Sit felix. Et sit fortunatus.

Geeza job

Cicero is pleased with you this week. I know that that will put a spring in your step, a smile on your face and bring joy to your heart. It is for Cicero great to see the increasing levels of interest and engagement and even sensible comment being left on this corner of the blogosphere.

And Cicero would like to thank in particular those correspondents adding to and developing ‘5 Why’ theory. Hopefully this week’s thoughts will inspire similar levels of interest.

Now I would like you to ponder on this.

Does your business routinely ignore its customers? Or does it employ third parties who might do same while acting in your name? Or does it refuse to justify decisions to its customer even though these decisions might have a significant effect on their lives?

I am hoping that as a devoted reader of this column and as a disciple of Cicero that the answer to all three questions might be no and if it’s not then I am ashamed of you and you ought to be too.

But do you know what happens when you recruit people to join your business?

I ask this because all too frequently in these hard economic times, and I’m sure the practice also went on in the times of plenty, I hear of businesses, either directly or through agencies, who don’t let applicants know the fate of applications; where applications disappear into black holes never to be heard of again; or where the feedback to rejected applicants is pitiful and derisory.

This is not on.

Now you may wonder why this is important. It is important because this is your brand we are talking about and your brand promise must be consistently delivered through your recruitment processes for staff as much as for customers. It must surely occur to you that people wanting to join you might be customers. That their friends and family might be customers too, And what kind of message does it send to existing staff when they see or hear how applicants are treated? Either way bringing people on board can, if done poorly, have a real effect on the reputation of your business and your brand. And brand reputation must be the most important thing to worry about.

I know that recruitment is normally the domain of HR people but do you know how it gets done? How do applicants get treated? Do you ask them?

And if these processes are not up to scratch your HR people need to be told in no uncertain terms that the way they do recruitment is seriously having an impact on the brand and reputation of the business. Tell them to get a grip. This is serious and for real.

Now it might surprise you that no matter how hard I might try Cicero is not always a solid gold exemplar of good management and marketing practice but on this I am passionate.

And so, should you be given the chance to work for Cicero, you can be assured that all applications will be acknowledged, that all people not interviewed will be communicated with, and should you not be offered the choice, an unlikely prospect, I know, you will be given the opportunity for full and frank feedback. And anyone recruiting in my team and any third parties will work to the same principles. Guaranteed.

It is the least we can do. It is not just a job. It is your career and life. It is my brand and its reputation. And I don’t want to damage any of it. Maybe, just maybe, we could all adopt similar principles if and when we recruit. And maybe just maybe, we can become the change we want to see in the world.

Thoughts? Comments? Ideas?

Is it only me?

Men hate shopping. I think I can say that with a fair degree of certainty and I would challenge anyone to question this. Men shop when they need to and they will shop for exactly what they need. To a man, shopping is a necessity to be endured.
Women on the other hand see shopping as a leisure activity to be enjoyed. For them it is a pleasure.

Now Cicero is a man. Ergo shopping is a chore. And the other day while perambulating along a major retail thoroughfare Cicero passed some major retail emporia and it was evident that in just about every one of these emporia women’s goods were always positioned at the front. No matter the shop women’s clothes, lingerie bits and bobs and make up were without fail the first things you saw.

Now it might only be me but surely this is wrong. A woman wanting to shop will investigate every nook and cranny to find what she wants or thinks she wants. Women need no temptations or bait to be seduced into shopping. Men on the other hand do. Men are not going to spend any more time than they need to shopping. Men are not going to make the effort to search out their stuff. It is men who need tempting inside not women.

So why is it that it is always women’s baubles at the front of the shop and not men’s must-have necessities? Think of it for a nano second. You know Cicero is right. Again. And I am sure that should this insight be adopted along the High St, retailing in this country will be transformed and will not just survive the recessionary onslaught but will prosper.

Have a great week.

Sit felix. Et sit fortunatus.

Tell me why

It will no doubt please you that this week Cicero is so full of energy and life that he is dangerous. So beware.

Cicero does however have some news that will shock you. Indeed the news that is about to be imparted will be so distressing to you that it will be best if you sit down and make yourself comfortable. Please make sure that there are no sharp objects or hot liquids near you. Cicero does not want yet another visit from the health and safety gauleiters. There is enough stress in Cicero’s life at the moment. Are you sitting comfortably? Are you ready for this devastating news? Are you prepared to be shocked?

It seems that Cicero is annoying.

Can you believe it? It is true. Cicero was informed by a colleague in his TSSB last week that by constantly asking ‘why?’, he had started to become annoying.

Although it is true that my favourite word is ‘why’ but in my defence I would argue that ‘why’ is the most powerful word in our language and it is my belief that the ‘why’ word offers all of us in any business the opportunity to create ever lasting change for our people, our customers and our business. Ok, you might want to choose to use it a wee bit more sparingly and less annoyingly than me but it is still a great word to use.

And one thing you will rapidly learn is just how many times you pose the question and how few times you will receive a positive and constructive answer. For the truth is that many people around us, and I include head honchos in this, do things because that is the way they have always been done without really understanding why they are being done that way in the first place.

And so today I want to introduce the 5 Why theory and encourage its use throughout your business.
There is a saying that "Knowledge means nothing without wisdom to profit by it." It's not who we are, who we know or what we know that is important but it's what we do with that knowledge. We all have tremendous power to do good or ill depending on how we put our knowledge to use. Our minds are constantly gathering knowledge of all kinds, both intentionally and subconsciously. If we understand, we can begin to use this knowledge. Too often we focus on collecting knowledge but we lack understanding. 5 Why is the pursuit of understanding. That is why asking "why?" is a most import habit for those of us concerned with making things better.

Sadly this theory is not mine but comes from a Toyota head honcho who introduced the theory to teach people to look beyond the obvious causes of problems and issues to the underlying systemic root causes

The 5 why process works not with asking only five times. Rather it is a practice of persistently asking "why?" until we peel away the layers of apparent reality to the true facts until we have uncovered the real root cause of a problem or have exposed the sheer stupidity and illogicality of the way we do things. Not asking why, and instead believing that we know the answer, causes us to solve the wrong problems or to persist in doing things badly to the detriment of our people, our customers and our business.

Leaders need to be curious, to question, to seek out the truth so they can take more effective action to solve problems and address issues rather than believe they are right and not ask why. Our brains are designed to filter out extra information, to ignore much of what goes on around us and to go with the path that feels right, rather than take time to question deeply. When this works it is called intuition, when it does not it is called confirmation bias. There may be developmental reasons for this related to a species' survival in the wild. Yet we can't afford to ignore evidence that lead us to false paths.

Cicero understands that it must be annoying to be constantly facing a barrage of ‘whys’ but surely it is better to ask why than be condemned to live in the Dark Ages. Why is it wrong to seek progress? Why is it wrong to want to drive change? Why don’t we accept that as leaders it is our duty to challenge our business? Why is…….sorry I am getting carried away, I can’t help myself. Apologies.

Let me finish by quoting Kipling

‘I . know a person small—
She keeps ten million serving-men,
Who get no rest at all!
She sends 'em abroad on her own affairs,
From the second she opens her eyes--
One million Hows, two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys’

Now that must be really annoying. Even I’m not that bad.

Is it only me?

Cicero is indebted this week to his most devoted and bestest subscriber for this update from the Royal Society for the Protection of the Incredibly Stupid.

It now appears that any business that offers any kind of liquid refreshment facility to its customers is supposed to, according to the health and safety gauleiters, install a dish washer so that said drinking bowls can be washed without risk of contamination to its employees. Note contamination to employees not customers.

Is it only me who thinks that is so wrong on a number of levels? Firstly such news will be a devastating blow to our eco-mentalist friends. For while they are going flat out to save the planet, they will not be best pleased that their friends in the RSPIS are equally going flat out to protect individuals from the non existent risk of customer contamination and thereby increasing global warming.

Also this is a ridiculous expense for a small company, and where's the sense in it? When we're at home, do we only ever wash our own crockery? Maybe the health and safety gauleiters should close down any business which serves customers just in case an employee picks up bad habits.

To whom are such people accountable?

Have a great week.

Sit felix. Et sit fortunatus.

Two little magic words

Well it seems that my question last week as to why accidents are now incidents stirred up a wee bit of a debate. And Cicero would like to thank those of you who wrote to explain the difference between an incident and an accident. Cicero is not fully convinced that the explanations are at all credible and remains committed to the thesis that someone had nothing better to do one day.

When Cicero was a wee laddie (yes, folks, Cicero was a wee laddie once), Cicero’s mater and pater would constantly chorus when he had been given something ‘what are the two little magic words?’. Now Cicero always was a quick learner and quickly discovered that people would be pleased when he said ‘thank you’. And so it came to pass that thank you became an automatic and well meant response when offered or given something. It was a matter of manners and Cicero always was well mannered, even to this day.

But it seems that like in our business life we have forgotten the two little magic words.

Research has recently been published which divides us is into ‘thankers’ and ‘thank nots’. In other words, those who recognise the importance of appreciating and recognising the effort of their people and those who don’t find this simple courtesy necessary. On which side of the divide are you?

A staggering 16% of people, our people, stated that they never receive a thank you from their line manager. And this figure has increased two-fold from the previous year! How can that be? Is the credit crunch making us less appreciative? Is it something do with health and safety? Or maybe its swine flu, it seems to be blamed for everything else.

Two words, which take approximately one second to speak and less than four seconds to write down, can mean so much to our people and yet so many business people seem to struggle with the concept. Why? Can you help explain this? Maybe those of you with views on the correct use of ‘accident’ and ‘incident’ can help explain why this might be?

Are we embarrassed? Are we ignorant? Are we afraid? And, should you be a ‘thank not’, don’t you dare use the excuse that no one thanks you. Cicero People don’t think like that. Cicero People pick up the napkin and lead. Always.

Think about the number of times during the course of a day we say thank you and for what. Yet it is obvious that there are people out there who find it so difficult to say thanks to those who are working hard to make life easy for customers or helping to make their bosses look good.

43% said that not feeling valued or appreciated contributed greatly to their decision to leave a job. Speaking those two little magic words could prove to be a cost effective solution for staff retention. But more importantly think how much extra effort could be got from our people if we just remember the two little magic words.

A simple ‘thank you’ has a significant effect on how people feel and perform at work so why not test drive my two little magic words today and see the positive effect you can share with the world. Cicero would like to ask you to commit that after reading this you write or say thank you to someone in your business for a job well done. Do it now. Do it today. And let me know how you get on. I look forward to hearing from you. Believe me this is far more important than accident or incident.

Thanks for reading this. It is really appreciated.

Is it only me?

It seems like I can no longer move tables. I don’t know when this happened or why but I am no longer qualified to move a table and if I want a table moved in my workplace I need to log a call and book in advance for a fully qualified table shifter to move my table on my behalf. I kid you not. It seems that only fully trained and certified table shifting operatives have the necessary skills and training and experience to move a table a few feet. I have no doubt that the State has battalions of table shifters waiting to be booked. We might not have enough helicopters for our brave Army boys but never fear we have enough table shifters for our bureaucratic classes. I bet you can sleep easy now you know that.

Of course this is the latest directive from the health and safety gauleiters and I can tell you I am not best pleased. It might only be me but sometimes I shift tables spontaneously. I don’t plan or diarise to shift a table so how am I supposed to pre-book my qualified table shifter.

Don’t worry though I am fighting back. Since the reason given for this policy is health and safety, I have exercised my Freedom of Information rights and have asked for details of all accidents, or incidents (see last week), caused by unplanned and inexperienced table shifting in past 5 years. And in meantime I will continue to shift tables spontaneously until the Health and Safety police take me in for water boarding.

Still good to know how seriously state employees take the protection of the incredibly stupid.

Have a great week.

Sit felix. Et sit fortunatus.

Nudge nudge wink wink!

Greetings. And welcome back. .

I would like to apologise in advance if you were tempted to read this by my title because you thought that this week Cicero might be a wee bit naughty. You are going to be sorely disappointed.

I bought a book last week. I am sure that this will not come as a great surprise to you. There must be some source for my great wisdom and enlightenment. I bought it online and before you could say Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’ I was being presented with a list of other books I might like to read given the subject of my initial purchase. Brilliant.

And then I went on to the music section of said dotcom survivor and having purchased my recording of the latest beat combo, I was presented with another list of recommended titles I might like to acquire. Again brilliant.

A day or two later I was induced to make a donation to some charity or other in support of some person or other who was undertaking some totally pointless, daft or dangerous activity to raise money Still it was in a good cause. I knew how many bawbees I wanted to invest but was then shown a list of donors who had donated substantial sums, and not wishing to be thought mean (heaven forbid,) I invested a few more bawbees in this charity. Now that is not bad going for a Scotsman. It was interesting that I was not shown the details of those who had made nickel and dime donations

Whether buying books or CDs or making donations, I had just become a serial victim of nudge marketing and damn clever it is too.

So what exactly is ‘nudge marketing’ and how does it work? Well I am now going to tell you.
None of us want to be very different from those around us. Instead we want to belong to our social norm. We want to be on the side of the good guys so if we can provide proper information to consumers about the acceptable norm plus a gentle push in the right direction then they will be persuaded to change their behaviour. Just like me and my donation. I wanted to belong to on the side of the rich donors. I did not want to be seen as a Scots meanie even if I am one of those. I wanted to belong and to be seen as belonging. And by the way I like to think that my social norm is Brad Pitt.
We are all strongly influenced by those around us, even though we may think we are not. To prove it there is an experiment in which people are shown a number of lines and asked to identify the two that are the same length. The answer is clear, and on their own, people make the right choice. However, if people are told that a majority before them has made another choice, in many cases they will give the same wrong answer. Now that is really worrying.
Let me give you a practical example from another sector of nudge marketing at work. In an effort to satisfy the eco- and enviro-mentalist, the people who put mental into the environment, one American utility company introduced smiley faces on customers’ bills if they used less energy than the norm and a sad face if they used more. The result-high users reduced their consumption by even more and low users kept their consumption down.
Even supermarkets are getting in on the act. I got an extra reward point the other day for eschewing my free plastic bag. Seemingly my eco-mentalist friends have persuaded the supermarkets that plastic bags are bad for us. I’m not complaining for an extra reward point I was nudged to change my behaviour.
And perhaps if the EU adopted similar practices we might still have 100 watt light bulbs. Instead we have to grope around in the dark, our eyesight fading fast, just so we save enough energy to allow one or two eco- or enviro-mentalist to have two baths a years. I always think that if a government has to ban something it is because they don’t have enough good arguments to persuade.
I am sure that in your business with a little bit of thought you can find ways to nudge your customers to buy more or to behave as you would like. But there is a downside and our marketing nudges must be used sparingly and with caution. We are not trying to be pinball wizards here and too many nudges will leave customers feeling manipulated and second-guessed, in the same way that I now want to say “nudge off” when Amazon dares to presume what books it thinks I will like. Get it right and the world can be your lobster.

So let’s get nudging.

Is it only me?

I was talking last week with a health worker. I don’t mean the kind of health worker you go to when you are ill but the kind of health worker in a suit who manages and measures the people we go to when we are ill.

Anyway it now seems that we no longer have accidents as in road traffic but incidents. I guess that means that when you accidentally drop or spill something or bump into someone you incidentally do it. I don’t know why this has been changed or who changed it but I bet it was some state employee with too much time on his or hands who woke up one morning and thought ‘I know what I will do today. I will abolish accidents and replace them all with incidents. Should keep me busy for a day or two’.

It might only be me but I know what they mean when they say accident. We all do. So why change the meaning of a perfectly good word. Unless of course it was an incident and the change was a typo.

If anyone can enlighten me and explain this change or come up with a theory for the change, please do share. Sounds to me like another example of regulation gone mad.

Have a great week.

Sit felix. Et sit fortunatus.

Columbus and the Statue of Liberty

Welcome back.

I cannot tell you how pleasing it is to see that once again you have navigated your way safely through the communications super highway to see what insight, drivel and bile has been spewed forth this week. Cicero shall of course not let you down and shall make your visit and efforts worthwhile.

No update from my TSSB this week.

And following on from last week’s discourse on ASBO kids with photofit features, most of the feedback received tends to be around what kind of grapes Cicero likes. Cicero has also been informed that this topic has become the subject of an active Twitter debate….whatever that might be. I do not understand why this topic should be of such concern to bird watchers. Anyway, no matter. For the record Cicero likes his grapes green and peeled.

Is your business customer centric? Course it is. Your Chief Executive tells you it is and your marketing chief will tell you that it is their role to make your business customer centric. How do I know this? Just a hunch and years of cynicism.

But has anyone ever stopped and thought what exactly it means to be customer centric. I only ask because I heard some head honcho say this recently and I asked him what he meant and what he was doing. The panic on his face and the bluster in his voice revealed so much. And it set Cicero thinking. What exactly is customer centricity? And how do we know when we are customer centric?

Cicero is reminded at this point of Columbus when he poses such a question. When Columbus set out for America he did not know where he was going. When he got there he did not know where he was. And when he got back he did not know where he had been. Is the same true for customer centricity? Although I don’t understand Columbus for surely the Statue of Liberty was a bit of a clue to where he was.

Anyway back to the meaning of customer centricity.

For some it’s about making products and services that customers want to buy based on meeting a real need. Sorry but that’s what marketing is all about. Surely customer centricity means more than that.

For some businesses, customer centricity is about leadership and culture where staff are motivated to go the extra mile for customers. So now we have two definitions.

For others it’s about data and they would argue that by gathering as much data as you can about and from your customers and then employing people with brains the size of planets, so unlike me, to analyse this to the precision and depth of circumcising gnats, they can develop offers driven by this data. Others will re-design processes so that these fit around the customer rather than making the customer fit around their processes.

And as the Irish comedian said, come here, there’s more.

Yet another school will define customer centricity in terms of customisation and personalisation. Every customer is different so we need to organise products, services and communications to fit individual preferences and priorities.

So what is it? Is it about products or culture or process design or data or customisation? Now do you see the problem? Might I suggest you ask in your business and see how many definitions you get.

Now you could answer that maybe it’s the whole lot. And you might be right but no business could face in so many directions at once. Where is the priority? Where is the focus? And if there is no clarity around which everyone in your business can agree and if the same words are being used but to mean different things, well that is just a recipe for chaos.

Maybe there is no standard definition of customer centricity; maybe as a phrase it’s too glib. Maybe the flavour of customer centricity your business chooses is dependent on the business model, the market category, the strengths and capabilities of your business.

I know many of you will by now be waiting with bated breath for Cicero’s well thought out analysis and definition. As someone far more eloquent than even I once so succinctly put it, it's time to ‘stop doing dumb things to our customers’. Maybe it is that simple. Maybe true customer centricity comes from a top to bottom focus on fixing things that drive customers away. Or as Cicero has said many times before, it’s all about making it easy for customers to do business with us.

Is it only me?

Cicero had to travel at the weekend on Britain’s fine railway network and I must report that it was a surprisingly pleasant experience. Apart from one thing-the dreaded engineering works which turned a normal one hour trip into a three hour slog involving extra changes and buses.

Now I do understand why our Victorian railway system must be maintained and I do applaud the efforts of the train companies to let me know in advance that my journey was going to be extended and their creativity in getting me to my final destination, but I do think that they have got the engineering works thing the wrong way round. And so in an effort to be helpful Cicero has looked at the problem commercially.

It is traditional for engineering works to be done at the weekend to minimise disruption. But weekend travel is largely for leisure traffic and the spend discretionary. Weekday travel is largely commuter based and the journeys necessary. Ergo for train companies to maximise revenue engineering works should be done through the working week hitting commuters who are going to travel by train anyway rather than at weekends where the leisure traffic will find alternative ways to get from A to B.

What do you think? I suspect that this week it is only me thinking like this.

Have a great week

Sit felix. Et sit fortunatus.