The Keller Blog

I recently reviewed the research work by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry on the Conceptual Model of Service Quality. Their work suggests that regardless of the product or service in question, customers use relatively the same criteria to evaluate the exchange. Although their research was published in the Journal of Marketing in fall of 1985–it may as well have been written in 2010, internet, cell phones and all!

Of course for an organization to take good care of the customers, the employees and workers need to know what that feels like themselves. In other words, for the most part we can step beyond your customers and think about our employees, partners, co-workers etc.

Whether you’re rating on a five star scale, by thumbs up or thumbs down, 1-10, or whatever, the criteria is summarized in the following points:

• Reliability: Are you delivering what you said you would? Are you doing it over and over? Consistently, accurately?
• Responsiveness: Are you delivering on time? Are you demonstrating a willingness and readiness to provide the service? What’s the spirit of service you are conveying?
• Competence: Do you have and can you demonstrate that you have the skills and knowledge to perform the service?
• Communication: How well do you listen to your customers? How well do you keep them informed?
• Credibility: Are you believable? Do you demonstrate it in your conversation? Appearance? Marketing?
• Courtesy: Friendliness of personal. Is the golden rule of treating others the way you want to be treated
• Access: Are you approachable and easy to contact regarding questions? (In today’s world of emailed customer service queries this can be the most frustrating).
• Customer Knowledge: Do you speak the customer’s language? Do you really know their needs and objectives?
• Security: Do your customers feel safe? Can they trust you with their financial information, account confidentiality etc?
• Tangibles: What physical impressions do you leave with your customers? Appearance and condition/quality of facilities? Reports and inspections etc…

What strikes me about this list is two fold: First, the businesses I know that do this well, do business well.–It’s the open secret of customer service. And Second, well, very few businesses do this well

John Osher in inarguably one of the most successful entrepreneurs of age. What makes him so successful is his ability to replicate his success. In todays world where we like things packaged and clearly organized, he has set forth a list of 17 top mistakes, which if avoided would certainly create the “perfect company.”

For those who would like to find a full copy, I recommend this website, for those of you who just want to know what the mistakes are and think you can figure out how to avoid them on your own, I’ve posted a condensed list below:

Mistake 1: Failing to spend enough time researching the business idea to see if it’s viable.
Mistake 2: Miscalculating market size, timing, ease of entry and potential market share.
Mistake 3: Underestimating financial requirements and timing.
Mistake 4: Overprojecting sales volume and timing. Mistake 5: Making cost projections that are too low.
Mistake 6: Hiring too many people and spending too much on offices and facilities.
Mistake 7: Lacking a contingency plan for a shortfall in expectations.
Mistake 8: Bringing in unnecessary partners.
Mistake 9: Hiring for convenience rather than skill requirements.
Mistake 10: Neglecting to manage the entire company as a whole.
Mistake 11: Accepting that it’s “not possible” too easily rather than finding a way.
Mistake 12: Focusing too much on sales volume and company size rather than profit.
Mistake 13: Seeking confirmation of your actions rather than seeking the truth.
Mistake 14: Lacking simplicity in your vision.
Mistake 15: Lacking clarity of your long-term aim and business purpose.
Mistake 16: Lacking focus and identity.
Mistake 17: Lacking an exit strategy.

This past few weeks has been an exciting blur. I recently had the opportunity to participate in the Utah Student 25 Event, where David Kasteler and I placed in Utah’s top 3 student entrepreneurs. Third place isn’t bad for a true social venture to place in a competition like this.

I expect to see more social ventures show up in the future…

It was a lot of fun to see the businesses that were represented there. It was a spectacular event with addresses from the Governor, Steve Gibson, (I’m a big fan of that social entrepreneur), Josh James, and others.

Again congratulations to first and second placers, Taylor Turnbull and Craig Guincho. Both emerging business leaders in the beehive state!
I want to thank everyone who supported and cheered for Worldwide Book Drive!

If it wasn’t for everyone else who made Worldwide Book Drive a reality, it certainly wouldn’t have been able to donate and recycle the millions of books it has to date. Thank you!

This past week I, (John Keller) had a great opportunity to participate in the BYU Entrepreneur of the Year event. This is the first time in nearly 5 years that I’ve entered a competition like this. Amid building a number of different businesses, it was a challenge to find the time and focus to put together a compelling argument. I feel extremely blessed with a talented and flexible team at Worldwide Book Drive team and an extremely supportive wife to actually help me pull together.

Hands down, one of the funnest parts of the event was getting to know the other emerging Utah entrepreneurs. Tyler Turnbull and Craig Guincho are both very talented entrepreneurs whom I expect to hear a lot more of in the future.

For a social venture to play an integral part of a entrepreneurship competition in Utah is a great accomplishment. Go Worldwide Book Drive!

It’s always refreshing to hear when new businesses are starting in tumultuous markets. There are few industries that have been hammered worse that real estate. While the Utah real estate market hasn’t been hit near as hard as Arizona or California, there’s no question that it’s seen better days.

New Homes in Utah are being produced by a few very successful builders. A number of elements are contributing to the ability for new home buyers to afford great quality homes at a reasonable cost. Among these factors, reduced access to traditional credit has lowered the cost of sub contractors, building materials and land.

It goes without saying that current market conditions have created the perfect storm for buying a new Utah home. I’ve had the opportunity to see the 1 Utah Homes model from the inside, and the attention to detail, cost and customer service is among the very best of Utah Home Builders.

Every business that stores, organizes or shares large amounts of digital information, uses a data center in one form or another. Whether in house, (often found in a retrofitted closet or larger room) or outsourced, (just about anyone who has hosted a webpage somewhere has used a data-center space).

With the large amount of Utah Tech Companies growing regularly, it’s no surprise that there is more than one utah data center. However, most data centers in Utah are either extremely old themselves, or retrofitted within an older space. Three general rules for data-center technology is 1) More power 2) More power and 3) You guessed it… More power.

That’s what makes the announcement of Consort so exciting. As a modern data center facility in Utah that offers colocation (ping power pipe, Software as a Service (SAAS), Platform as a Service, (PAAS), this data center will will draw on state of the art architecture built into one of Utah’s premier mixed use developments, The Proscenium. A unique aspect of the location and layout of this data center is that it is situated between two of Utah’s largest and most reliable power grids–Thus ensuring many years of more than enough energy for the data center technology upgrades sure to come.

Named Consort, from the “Consort”ium of experienced businesses coming together to provide this service, this combined entity has experience in both data center and building facilities management. Contributing to safe, secure and carefully managed environment.

For more information, visit the Consort webpage.

On Tuesday, June 23rd, I had the pleasure and honor of attending the Utah Angel Investor of the year award banquet.

It was fun to see and meet with so many of Utah’s active Angel community. It was also really fun to see them bestow recognition to Greg Warnock as Utah’s Mentor of the Year.

I am certainly one of the myriad of entrepreneurs who have benefitted from Greg’s mentorship from the Junto Partners Program and many of the other programs at which he frequently lectures.

Thank you Greg and Congratulations!

This past Friday, I had the great opportunity to attend the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the year award. It was an inspiring program to see so many talented and driven entrepreneurs who had been successful in their ventures. Perhaps the most inspiring part of the program was how many of the entrepreneurs shared their “big pie” mentality as a driving force for their success.

I had the unique privelage of sitting at the table with Fraser Nelson, Greg Warnock and a number of successful entrepreneurs and humanitarians. 2009, was the first year that Ernst and Young has ever had a Social Entrepreneur category. Although this year it was limited to only 501(c)3 organizations, (I understand their need to simplify, although I feel strongly that sustainability should be a top priority over classification) I was excited to see the finalists gain recognition for their efforts.

As more and more entrepreneurs are looking to tackle social challenges through innovation and sustainable programs, the Utah Community Foundation has certainly done well to provide a platform for this growing segment. As a sponsor of this year’s Entrepreneur of the Year award, the community foundation did well to stress the need of bringing entrepreneurs to the attention that our skills and talents need to reach beyond a single bottom line.

It may come as a surprise to some people, but Utah is the first state in America to have a social entrepreneurship category for the Ernst and Young Award. Hmmm… That’s a pretty big deal I think. Thanks to The Community Foundation of Utah for pushing for it.

I imagine we’ll hear a lot more about the Utah Community Foundation and things move forward. I also think social entrepreneurship will continue to gain momentum within the Non-Profit and For-Profit arenas.

When I was kid I went to the doctor because of tremendous pain in my feet after playing for too long. It was pretty frustrating to have to stop playing while my friends went on running around and jumping and tackling each other. –My neighborhood was possibly rougher than most I remember begging my parents to help me fix my feet. My mom and dad found a Utah podiatrist in the yellow pages and set up an appointment. After my first visit, the doctor was convinced that my short tendons and flat feet required near immediate surgery. I remember him describing to my parents how he would just need to elongate both of my Achilles tendons with three small incisions. Next he would perform a surgery on my left arch to clear away some worn down bones and possibly try to build an arch.

My parents politely asked for the X-rays and the next week I was in a different office getting a second opinion. This new doctor looked at my feet for about 30 seconds and said, “What you need is a sturdy pair of orthotic inserts.” –That was it. No incisions. No clearing away bones. No weeks or even months of recovery. No life time of dealing with a new arch built by a creative doctor. Just a molded piece of plastic in each shoe. To make a long story short, we tried it out and now more than 15 years later, I’m running and jumping as much as my schedule will allow.

I occasionally think about how life would have been different if my parents didn’t know to get another opinion. What if I would have had surgery? What if there had been complications. Who was that first doctor anyways? Who did he go around giving surgery to and were they happy?

When my wife and I were picking out pediatricians, there were a lot of options. Finding a pediatrician in Utah is easy, but to find one that you know will give you the best possible care can be very difficult. There are a number of different doctor rating sites out there, but I learned about one that was developed right here in Utah and my wife and I looked at it right away to make an educated decision about potentially changing doctors. This site is a social entrepreneurial venture of sorts, that is dedicated to informing the public about doctor’s histories and providing a platform for information to be exchanged in near-real-time with hospitals and doctors and their patients. The site is CheckMD.com and with over 700,000 doctors in their database chances are good you’ll find something that interests you.

There’s a video on the site that raises a question I’ve thought a lot about lately. Most people spend days shopping around to buy a car. How much time did you spend finding someone to diagnose your health?

I would personally recommend this site to everyone that has a doctor or knows someone who does… Yeah that’s right. Just about everyone

I read a recent article regarding the TARP of Troubled Asset Relief Program posted recently in the LA Times. I can’t help but watch with fear and amazement as government leaders look for additional ways to spend money without real responsibility. The remaining 350 billion dollars seems to be only a prelude to more rash spending and more expensive band-aids in the future.

Although I don’t agree with O’Reily’s tactics, it seems his conversation with Frank Barney is a perfect demonstration of what we’re up against in government spending. Check out this video clip to see what I’m talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7adJ85MSaFg

I’m concerned that what we’re facing is a TRAP, that is a Troubled Relief Asset Program.

I’m frankly quite tired of seeing people point fingers and try to fix the problem with huge, expensive packages. If I screwed up in one of my businesses, I pretty much need to fess up and face the reality of my decisions. I may request mercy wherever available, but at the end of the day, I have to balance my budget or I must close my doors and let someone else try to service the market. I missing something in terms of Government Governance?