Friday, June 17, 2011

Apple and Their Retail Stores

Just ran across the Wall Street Journal article, Secrets from Apple’s Genius Bar by Yukari Kane and Ian Sherr. While I’m not an Apple guy, I love their stores and loved this article. As entrepreneurs, there is much we can learn from this piece. Now, you might be saying to yourself that Apple is a huge company with lots of resources, how can you possibly compare us to them? However, as you read the article, think about their focus on customer service, details, and training…and then think about how you can do this better in your own organization.

From the article:

Apple lays its "steps of service" out in the acronym APPLE, according to a 2007 employee training manual reviewed by The Wall Street Journal that is still in use.
"Approach customers with a personalized warm welcome," "Probe politely to understand all the customer's needs," "Present a solution for the customer to take home today," "Listen for and resolve any issues or concerns," and "End with a fond farewell and an invitation to return."

Apple's control of the customer experience extends down to the minutest details. The store's confidential training manual tells in-store technicians exactly what to say to customers it describes as emotional: "Listen and limit your responses to simple reassurances that you are doing so. 'Uh-huh' 'I understand,' etc."

Friday, June 10, 2011

Babson Conference at Syracuse University

The Babson College Entrepreneurial Research Conference is in full-swing at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, and the Post Standard wrote an article on the event. Written by Charles McChesney, the article describes the conference and provides insight into some of the research which is all about entrepreneurship. The Conference, hosted by the Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises Department at the Whitman School of Management, brought together 330 academic researchers from 29 countries around the world.

From the article:

Steven A. Edelson, of Walsh University in Ohio, presented on research regarding what attracts would-be employees to start-up companies. Research has shown that the success of startups can depend on getting the right kind of employees so he and his co-writers, J. Michael Haynie and Alexander McKelvie, both of Syracuse University, wanted to find how entrepreneurs could present their companies so they would appeal to potential workers.

Graduating college seniors were surveyed and said they preferred was a company that perceived to treat workers like family. That, they said, beat out innovation, style, market dominance and clearly defined job duties. “More than all the other factors combined,” Edelson said.

That’s good news for entrepreneurs, Edelman explained, because clearly defined job duties and market dominance are traits more typically found in larger, older companies. Since startups can’t compete for workers for those attributes, they can focus on the trait that research shows is most important.

Workers want “good, wholesome make-you-feel-good-at-work companies,” McKelvie said during the discussion after the presentation.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

A Little Disney History

As someone who really learned business while working for The Walt Disney Company, there was something in the following story from the Associated Press on June 5 that really struck me. Thanks to Robin Dickerson for sharing this story!

Disney legends Betty Taylor, Wally Boag die within a day of each other

ANAHEIM, California — They shared a stage at Disneyland five days a week for nearly three decades and died within a day of each other.Betty Taylor, who played Slue Foot Sue in Disney's long-running Golden Horseshoe Revue, passed away Saturday — one day after the death of Wally Boag, who played her character's sweetheart, Pecos Bill.The 91-year-old Taylor died at her home in Washington state, Disneyland announced on its website. Boag, who was 90, died Friday. He was a resident of Santa Monica, California.The causes of death were not announced and attempts to contact relatives for comment were not immediately successful."Betty's role as leading lady in Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe Revue helped turn it into the longest-running stage show in entertainment history," George Kalogridis, the president of Disneyland Resort, said in a statement. "It is a tragic coincidence that her passing comes just one day after the death of longtime co-star Wally Boag."Boag, a former vaudeville performer, signed a two-week contract with Walt Disney in 1955. He originated the role of Pecos Bill in the revue, taking the stage three times a day and logging nearly 40,000 performances before retiring in 1982.Most of those shows were alongside Taylor, who joined the revue a year after Hoag. Her run on the show — which closed in 1986 — lasted nearly 45,000 performances.The Golden Horseshoe Revue is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running stage production in show business history."Wally was instrumental in the development of live entertainment during the early years of both Disneyland Park and Walt Disney World Resort," Kalogridis said. "His characters will continue to live in the hearts of our guests, while his larger-than-life personality will forever make him the true Clown Prince of Disneyland."Boag's comedic timing influenced generations of performers, including actor Steve Martin, who called Boag his "hero." Martin tweeted Saturday that Boag was "the first comedian I ever saw live, my influence, a man to whom I aspired."Boag and Taylor both appeared on television in "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color."And before joining Disney, Boag appeared in a number of films during the 1940s, including "Without Love," starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, and "The Thrill of Romance," with Esther Williams.He later appeared in Disney films such as "The Absent-Minded Professor," ''Son of Flubber" and "The Love Bug."Born in Seattle, Taylor began taking dance lessons at age 3. At 14, she sang and danced in nightclubs across the country, and by 18, led her own band called Betty and Her Beaus, which included 16 male musicians and appeared regularly at the Trianon Ballroom in Seattle.In 1956, while living in Los Angeles and performing as a drum player with a musical group, Taylor heard about auditions for a song-and-dance job at Disneyland. She got the gig, which she held for 30 years, leading to appearances on a USO tour of Greenland and Newfoundland and a show for President Richard Nixon and his family at the White House.She performed at the park until 1987, but continued to appear in special events, such as Walt Disney's Wild West, a 1995 retrospective at the Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles.

Monday, June 6, 2011

It's Good to Be Back

After a wild end of the semester and a daughter’s wedding, it’s good to have the chance to blog again. While I have lots to get to, for starters, take a look at Me'Shae Brooks-Rolling’s article in today’s Post Standard, 12 tips for emerging entrepreneurs, which included some great thoughts on resources as well. Of the tips, my favorites were to be sure and do a business plan, seek out mentors and (especially) help others along the way. As I tell students, I've started businesses with business plans and without...and I will never, ever, ever start a business or a department within a business without doing a business plan.

Mark Russell from EMA, sent over a wonderful article... Ten Entrepreneurship Rules for Building Massive Companies from Greylock Partners. While a number of the rules resonated with me, two of my favorites were rules seven and eight.

Rule #7: Aspire, but don’t drink your own Kool-Aid. Rule #8: Having a great product is important but having great product distribution is more important.

It's good to be back!