SPRING AHEAD, FALL BACK: CHANGING YOUR CLIENTS’ CLOCKS

Spring forward. Fall back. We adjust our clocks for Daylight Saving Time (DST) without much thought.

We're tricking ourselves when 7 AM [PM] magically becomes 6 AM [PM] or is it 8 AM [PM]? We accept the change because we benefit. During the short winter days, we’d rather have light in the morning than the evening.  During the long summer days, we have enough light for the mornings and evenings.

Our clocks and smartphones might switch instantly to the “right” time but our bodies don’t. There may be more accidents after we “spring forward” because we lose an hour’s sleep. Or less because we’re driving with better lighting. There are also effects on productivity. 

Conventions

Suppose you move your turn signal to a different location (say to 8 o’clock instead of 9 or 10). Customers will make mistakes especially if they drive different vehicles. The wiper settings mess me up. How do you spray the windshield? This is easy enough to figure out if your first guess is wrong. The harm is minimal. Imagine what would happen if the gas and brake pedals were not standardized.

If you follow norms how do you stand out from competitors? Android has a Back button but iOS hasn’t (except for the Safari web browser). Both systems are workable though you may prefer one. Apple stands out but companies making Android devices do not.

The Price

Changing your norm forces your current clients to undergo minor relearning (how do you heat the steering wheel now?). Your new clients skip this step, especially if you’re following conventions. Best to make the “right” decision at the outset.

How much as you asking your clients to change?

Windows 8 asked for too much. No START button!?! That was another reason to avoid Windows 8. Sales suffered. There were also reasons to avoid upgrading from Window 8 to 8.1.

The Speed

The ideal speed of change varies:

• fast: e.g., to/from DST by an hour rather than 5 minutes a day for 12 days, a chiropractic adjustment, removing a bandage
• slow: e.g., removing training wheels, shrinking snack packages without cutting the price, cheapening ingredients

What can you do to help your clients adjust? We don’t have a choice about adopting Daylight Saving Time but your clients may have a choice about switching from you.

Links

• Saving daylight, at what cost? (New York Times, Mar 2014)
• Five weird effects of Daylight Saving Time (LiveScience, Nov 2013)
• Daylight Saving Time: 6 eye-opening facts (CBC News, Mar 2013)
• Does Daylight Saving Time conserve energy? (Scientific American, Feb 2009)
• image courtesy of Darren Hester

PS Have you seen the 2013 posts on this blog?

MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS: DO THE PAINFUL PREPARATION FOR TOMORROW

Preparation takes time.
Preparation takes money.
Preparation causes disruption.
Preparation takes planning.
Preparation is essential.
Customers demand preparation.
While Toronto is a major city, we suffer from inadequate upgrades to infrastructure.

Internet

Our Rogers Ultimate Hi-Speed Internet tops out at 150 Mbps (a review), even though others pay the same price for 250 Mbps and four times the data. Why? The preparation isn’t in place.

We can’t switch to a competitor. Bell Fibe Internet reaches 175 Mbps but we can only get 25 Mbps.

Powerlines

Toronto Hydro is replacing the electrical system in our neighborhood. They’ve installed new taller street poles and new wiring. That’s taken weeks  of elapsed time. Perhaps the new system would have spared us 90 hours without electricity during the latest ice storm. The height of the poles makes damage by tree limbs less likely.

It's another extra-cold day. We may be without electricity for 3.5 hours as the wiring switches over to the new system. The disruption is annoying but necessary. That's how preparation is.
We can’t switch to a competitor because there are none.

Your Situation

Your car reminds when maintenance is required. Your business doesn’t. The costs may not be large.

What preparations should you be doing? There's never a good time. If you plan, at least you have control over the schedule and disruption. You can make arrangements to minimize the impact.

Maintenance is necessary, especially if your customers can easily switch to your competitor. Maybe that’s why Google has been spending heavily on infrastructure — even more than GM.

Links

• Google’s massive spending on infrastructure (CNET, Jan 2014)
• A review of Rogers Unlimited Internet (and how to use it)
• 9/13: Prepare your disaster recovery plan now
• How to prepare, promote and practice a brand-new presentation
• Greater harm than Superstorm Sandy
• Do you delegate or outsource the wrong things?
• Tips for setting priorities and organizing your time
• image courtesy of Thierry Planche

PS You might even get the credit you deserve for being proactive.