Category Archives: Customer focus

Improved Web Search

Posted on January 14, 2006 by John Hunter

In my recent post on improving Google one suggestion I made was: Let me remove web sites from my default searches. Today while using Yahoo they provided this option (named “block” by Yahoo). Good. Using Yahoo Search I can now block site that hide content behind pay, or registration, walls and spam sites. Obviously it would be better if they blocked the spam sites themselves but this is a useful feature for those that sneak through. I would also prefer … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Google

Lean Consumption

Posted on January 12, 2006 by John Hunter

Lean Consumption [the broken link was removed] by James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones, Harvard Business Review. An excellent article on the topic of their book: Lean Consumption. The Principles of Lean Consumption The concepts underlying lean consumption boil down to six simple principles that correspond closely with those of lean production. (For more on these principles, see our book Lean Thinking.) Solve the customer’s problem completely by insuring that all the goods and services work, and work together. … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Customer focus, Lean thinking, Management | Tagged

Customer Service is Important

Posted on January 10, 2006 by John Hunter

Double Trouble, Don Oldenburg, Washington Post: Digging into the details, Stevenson, a mechanical engineer, did a double take at what looked to him like a double charge. Verizon was billing his sweetie for the local plan, for the new regional plan and also for a la carte services that are included in the regional plan. Sorry, wrong numbers! He called Verizon to complain. “The customer service representative said that they knew they’ve been having an issue with their system double-billing,” … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

Poka-Yoke Assembly

Posted on December 12, 2005 by John Hunter

Got Boondogle asks, Do you Read Instructions Carefully Before Assembly? Nope, I don’t. I expect I can make a quick judgment if I really need to or I basically get it and can put things together well enough. I expect the supplier to make very obvious anything critical. I am much less likely to read instructions that seem to be written by a lawyer, as I imagine are many others. If they provide simple, clear instructions I will use them … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Customer focus, Deming, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged | 1 Comment

Superior Customer Experiences

Posted on November 19, 2005 by John Hunter

Grow Your Business Through Superior Customer Experiences [the broken link was removed] by D. Randall Brandt and Rodger Stotz: In that study, Oakley found that there is a direct link between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction, and between customer satisfaction and improved financial performance. Employee satisfaction is a key antecedent to employee engagement. He also found that organizations with engaged employees have customers who use their products more, and increased customer usage leads to higher levels of customer satisfaction. Managing … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Management Articles, Psychology | Tagged , ,

Deming’s Ideas at Markey’s Audio Visual

Posted on October 24, 2005 by John Hunter

Last week at the Deming Institute seminar: How to Create Unethical, Ineffective Organizations That Go Out of Business, Mark Miller, General Manager, Markey’s Audio Visual spoke on Markey’s experience adopting Deming’s ideas. It was a great presentation. He did a great job of explaining what it was like to work at a company focused on applying Deming’s management philosophy. I capture some of the points he talked about below. 1986 Markey’s started providing Audio Visual support to all Deming’s seminars. … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Deming, Management | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Toyota as Homebuilder

Posted on July 8, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement Toyota Home – Applying the Toyota Production System to Home Building (broken link removed) from Evolving Excellence Toyota is all about cars and trucks, right? Not quite. I was just pointed to the Toyota Home [the broken link was removed] page on Toyota’s website, which briefly describes Toyota’s activities in the home building industry. From Toyota’s web site: Toyota Home – building 21st century comfort and luxury into houses in Japan. Come inside and see for yourself. … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Google: Good Service not Arbitrage

Posted on May 16, 2005 by John Hunter

My comments on: Seth on Arbitrage from John Battelle’s Searchblog Thanks for the great blog. I have to disagree with this post however. First, I think Google chooses not to disclose more to investors mainly because the founders don’t go along with conventional wisdom. They would rather examine whether something is a wise use of management resources, and if not, don’t just do something just because most everyone else does. I don’t think the keeping trade secrets has much to … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Google, Management | Tagged

Web Search Improvements

Posted on January 30, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Internet – Search Improvement I have been waiting for Google to provide a way around an obvious problem with their search results for a long time. They choose to provide results that do not display matching content when you click on the result link. Since this was such an obvious failure to meet the needs of web search customers I figured a solution would be quick. After a time I decided I should tell them I don’t want “results” … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Google | 1 Comment

Price Discrimination in the Internet Age

Posted on January 18, 2005 by John Hunter

Re: Boing Boing post – Why HP’s region coding excuse is bogus There is a simple method for large multi-national companies to use to protect against currency fluctuation. They can use foreign exchange futures to do so. Companies do this all the time (some also chose not to for their own business reasons). “Foreign Exchange is the largest of the global financial markets. Daily trading volume in the currency markets is estimated to be 1.1 US trillion dollars.” – Smith … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Economics, Management | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Digital Rights Management

Posted on January 2, 2005 by John Hunter

From Cory sets DRM strawmen ablaze: “For starters, any market-correction for DRM will surely involve informed customers making good purchase decisions about the DRM in their devices. That’s what this debate is all about. The implicit, “Stop complaining and let the market sort it out” in these comments ignores the fact that complaints about DRM are vital to the market sorting it out.” This quote cuts to one of the critical issues in the current debate on digital rights management. … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Economics | 2 Comments