citizen Evangelist

Part of being a good citizen is participation in the primary and election process. In that spirit, I made it a priority to visit my polling precinct to cast my vote for my preferred candidate. This is my first time participating in this process in Texas. Of course, they do everything a little different in Texas. Last night, I spent a few minutes brushing upon the Texas Primary / Caucus process. The details are a bit more than I expected. That said, I was able to put these pieces together:

• When you show up, you must declare if you’re voting Democrat or Republican. I was happy to discover that Texas didn’t require prior declaration with either party, so I was free to make my choice upon arrival.
• Voting would be for the Primary.
• The Primary would account for ~2/3 of the pledged delegates for the state
• Immediately after the polls close, the Caucuses would begin
• Participation in the Caucus would require ‘being present’ and signing a form of some sort
• Any participant could support the same or a different candidate (though I assume it has to be within the same party)
• The amount of attendance for each candidate would some how influence the caucus results
• The caucus results would then account for the remaining 1/3 of the pledged delegates for the state

My Polling location for the Primary was a high school just up the street. We faced a near catastrophe when the power switch linking the Hart InterCivic eSlate to the JBC (fancy talk for Judge Booth Controller). This snafu ground the process to a halt for 30 minutes, giving me enough time to enjoy fond memories of high school as all the students made their ways from one class to another. After a few apologies to the growing line, a support call or two (I’ll assume it was <a title=”Hart InterCivic Customer Care” href=”http://www.hartic.com/pages/13″>Customer Care</a>) the team was able to revive 5 of the 10 or so voting booths.

Now… I’ve been following the presidential primaries with great interest, but the ballot I was presented with made me realize just how ignorant I am regarding local politics. It sure seems like it would be a natural extension to allow some information (other than name) to be provided so that I can make an informed decision if I wanted to. As a result of my ignorance, I found myself not voting in any category other than the presidential primary. I don’t feel good about that, but I couldn’t cast my vote without any information or context.

The next question I face is whether I will venture back out for the caucus. At this point, it is about 60 minutes until the event is scheduled to start and it just may be worth my time to observe this additional piece of the process.

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What is the value of an idea?

Some might say that ideas aren’t worth much. In fact, there are many different people who feel the same way. Even Thomas Edison was quoted as saying: “The value of an idea is in using it.”

I think most people only consider the value of ideas when:

1. They feel ownership of the idea
2. The idea represents something they would find useful

The irony with most companies is that most of the focus is only around those ideas that are generated within the company. In those cases, yes… I too agree that ideas are worthless unless executed.

But companies need to be mindful that there is a segment of ideas that has significant value. The value could be either positive or negative, and the risks associated with ignoring these ideas can be dramatic. Do you know what ideas I’m referring to?

Customer generated ideas

Customer generated ideas are typically incremental improvements or extensions to existing products or services. These ideas are rarely ground breaking or disruptive (for example: a user of a stove would not suggest the creation of a microwave oven and the owners of horses would not have suggested the introduction of an automobile). Because these ideas are not generated within the company, many organizations and individuals cast these ideas aside with a “not built here” mentality. Other organizations willingly collect these ideas and even act upon them to deliver incremental improvements. By far, the biggest problem companies face is the fact that there is not an effective method for the company to:

• Collect these ideas in a method that is easy for the customer to participate
• Record who suggested the idea
• Easily get feedback from the stakeholders on the value of the idea
• Communicate to those stakeholders:
  • The popularity of the idea
  • The stakeholders who support the idea
  • The priority of the idea
  • The status associated with action on the idea

Building customer engagement is difficult at best. When your customers feel strongly enough to share their ideas on how to improve your product or service, you have an opportunity to engage that customer and deepen that relationship. If you make it difficult to receive that idea, fail to acknowledge that you’ve received that idea, fail to consider that idea, and fail to communicate status to that customer you’ve given that customer a valid reason to seek a relationship with another vendor.

So, the next time a customer shares a product or feature idea with you, consider this: is the real value to your company in the idea? Or is the real value in how you interact with the customer?

My opinion: treat the customer like they are important & then determine how to act on the idea. The value still comes from how you act, but make certain that you don’t set yourself up to lose the customer in the process.

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