Wal-Mart Pushes the Green Agenda

It happened in 2003, Wal-Mart declared that it would require all of its vendors to use RFID tags in their packaging by the end of 2006.

Said tags would allow the retailer to wirelessly track all inventory in real time, thereby saving millions of dollars in inventory-management costs and hugely simplifying its logistics. On the negative side, the cost and burden of integrating RFID into a product's packaging would largely be borne by suppliers.

2006 has come and gone and RFID is far from being ubiquitous on Wal-Mart's shelves. A new mandate at Sam's Club, a Mal-Mart subsidiary, calls for RFID to be present in all of its products by 2010. Will the mandate be heeded this time? Unclear. However, both initiatives have caused a flurry of innovation around RFID technologies and the world will probably be the better for it.

Miguel Bustillo recounts today on WSJ.com how Wal-Mart has announced that it will "build what it terms a comprehensive sustainability index, that measures the environmental impact of each product [it} sells. For example, an index might flag how much each contributes to global warming and if it contains wood harvested in ways that deplete natural stocks." Each product will have to have a label explaining where it falls within the index, in other words, how green it is.

I have no doubt that Mal-Mart's initiative will spark a flurry of innovation in sustainable product design. Given the retailer's clout, the net long-term impact on the environment should be positive. What I worry about is small suppliers' ability to cope, in the midst of the current downturn, with the increased cost of materials and changes in their processes.

Sometimes, it takes drastic measures, like Wal-Mart's recent mandate, to bring positive change. In this case, I would favor a solution that does not put a further squeeze on small business: how about a public-private partnership where businesses that place high on Wal-Mart's sustainability index get a fiscal "vacation." I can't think of many better ways to invest public resources.

Read Bustillo's article here.

Bookmark this post with:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

5 Ways to Create a Great Customer Experience

As consumers we all have had good and bad customer experiences. How can we, as sellers of goods or services, create a "Wow" experience for our customers? The Wharton School and The Verdi Group set out to discover what makes a Wow experience.

While many factors contribute to the overall customer experience, 5 key elements played a large role:

• Engagement: being polite, genuinely caring and interested in helping, acknowledging and listening.
• Executional excellence: patiently explaining and advising, helping to find products and solutions, having product knowledge and providing unexpected product/service quality.
• Brand Experience: exciting store design and atmosphere, consistently great product/service quality, making customers feel they're special and that they always get a deal.
• Expediting: being sensitive to customers' time.
• Problem Recovery: helping resolve and compensate for problems, upgrading quality and ensuring complete satisfaction

You can read the article here.

The Radical Clarity Group believes that these elements should be part of every company's core story. When you provide excellent customer service, you win loyalty, repeat business and generate positive word of mouth. And isn't that what every company wants?

What does your company do to create a Wow experience for its customers? Does your company have a culture that encourages Wow experiences?

Bookmark this post with:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Learning the Art of Listening

"Entrepreneurs by nature are anti-authoritarian juvenile delinquents. Taking advice isn't their thing."

Interesting statement by Steven Berglas, PhD who blogs on Forbes.com about people's, and in particular, entrepreneurs' difficulty in truly internalizing what they are hearing. In fact, claims Berglas, "people accurately comprehend or internalize a dismal 25%-50% of what they hear...entrepreneurs flicker in and out of conversations, often missing the good stuff."

He then goes about explaining how one can become an "active listener" and tune in more often to what is being said. His piece contains a few tips on how to become that active listener.

Read the post here.

Bookmark this post with:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

4 Places to Find Funding

In the current economic situation it is hard for start-ups to find funding. Writing for SmallBiz.com, Diana Ransom offers 4 suggestions:

• Super Angels: Unlike traditional venture capital firms that invest in later stage companies, Super Angels or micro-cap venture funds invest in start-ups. Their investments are usually in the $50,000-$1.5 million range for 10-15% of the company. Maples Investments, Baseline Ventures and First Round Capital have these funds.
• Early Stage Venture Firms: Like Super Angels, they make investments in start-ups, but their investments are larger ($250,000-$3 million) and they typically take 20-40% of a company. They also offer substantial business development help.
• Family Offices: Some families invest directly, rather than going through venture funds. They typically invest $400,000-700,000 in seed-stage companies for 2-40% of the company.
• Angel Groups: Groups of wealthy investors that pool their funds to invest in start-ups. They typically invest $20,000-50,000 (although we know of angels that have invested up to $1.5 million). They typically take 5-20% of the business.

You can read the entire article here.

While it may be more difficult to secure funding, there are sources available. The Radical Clarity Group recommends that entrepreneurs carefully craft the core story of their business. Detail how much money is needed and how the funds will be spent. Focus on the size of the market and how the company will make money. All too often, we have seen companies with good ideas fail to obtain funding when they did not present the concept well. We strongly believe in entrepreneurs and new businesses. They are the future of economic change.

Bookmark this post with:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Co-Branding's Pros and Cons

Steve McKee of Business Week discusses the pros and cons of co-branding. He starts by relating the story of how the recent acquisition of the Saturn brand by Roger Penske from GM led to an immediate 30% boost in monthly sales at Saturn dealerships throughout the country.

He then goes about explaining the possible reasons for co-branding: borrowing other brands' equity ("Intel Inside"), attempting to benefit from a mutual "Halo Effect" (Nike & Michael Jordan) or saving costs (QSRs Taco Bell and Pizza Hut - both YUM brands - sharing space).

In fact, says McKee, co-branding and the above benefits can also be used to good effect by small companies, as long as the brands have complementary values and the risk of "dilution" of a brand's equity " by association" is minimized. A brand also needs to make sure it is associated with another brand that is "best in class" and that it retains right of approval on the use of its brand identity and message.

In addition to the benefits identified by McKee, I believe that co-branding is a great tool for small companies to minimize their cost of sale. In fact, by creating co-branding relationships with retailers, certain brands may be able to avoid slotting fees, chargebacks and other fees that retailers usually charge manufacturers. It may also help small manufacturers avoid turning their brand into a commodity by having to private label for retailers.

We've talked about the importance of having a strong story and as a result, having a clear understanding of a brand's values and all of the other elements it can leverage in a co-branding scenario.

You can read McKee's story here.

Bookmark this post with:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

What's Your Story?

At The Radical Clarity Group, we love stories. Every company should have at least one. Why a story, and what can stories do for your business? Writing for BNet, Stacy Blackman provides 4 reasons for every company to have a strong organizational story:

1. Build trust and strengthen relationships
2. Sustain a company’s culture during tough economic times
3. Create unity by giving every department a common narrative
4. Increase influence and lead more successfully

The human brain is hard-wired to listen and react to stories. We listened to stories for hundreds of years before the invention of the printing press and no matter where technology takes us, stories will continue to resonate and bind us together.

What does your company do? What are its values? And what are its goals? Every employee, vendor and customer should know. What's your story?

Bookmark this post with:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Is Your Company Well Positioned?

Positioning is what differentiates one company from another. Readers of this blog know that a basic tenant of The Radical Clarity Group is that every company needs a strong core story. That story should include where a company fits into the world of its customers.

Writing for BNet, Steve Tobak highlights 5 companies that have done a superlative job of differentiating themselves from their competition. Their positioning sets them apart and is part of their core branding strategy. Of equal interest are the comments from readers which call out many other companies that have done the same. You can read the article here.

How does your company differ from its competitors? What can you do to help it stand out from the crowd?

Bookmark this post with:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•