Blur challenges you to question every assumption you hold about how business is conducted, and encourages you to experiment at the edges of business. Blur outlines nothing less than a revolution in business and consumer culture. Will you watch on the sidelines as the innovators overtake you, or are you ready to start playing by – and discovering – the rules of BLUR?
Make Speed Your Mind-Set
Everything exists in the fourth dimension – time – but few of us have a good handle on it in our businesses. To reorient your thinking, start by timing everything you do.
Connect Everything with Everything
Make sure that all the islands in your business connect with each other, just as the empty shelves in your refrigerator ought to connect with your shopping list. Identify what’s connected.
Grow Your Intangibles Faster Than Your Tangibles
When listing your intangibles, include all services, all software and other forms of information, all financial elements, and all emotions (which include brand loyalty, customer relationships, employee commitment and the like).
Build Product Into Every Service
How do you offer service today? The only way you can afford to meet those expectations is to productize your service: use software, kiosks, self-service, learning engines, or telecommunication to deliver service like a product.
Put Service Into Every Product
In the past, service add-ons were an afterthought for those in the product business. Today, you must make them intrinsic to the offer. If your entire corporate culture is focused on stuff, wake up.
Manage All Business In Real Time
Stop making decisions based on what happened last week – or even this morning. Get a grip on what’s happening at this instant, so the right adjustment can be made without delay. Almost always, this will require planting sensors and other feedback mechanisms throughout your operations.
Be Able To Do Anything You Do At Anytime
Nine to five has been dead for more than a decade. These days, 24×365 rules. Retail banking customers today would rebel if they didn’t have round-the-clock access to their money via ATMs, PCs, or telephones.
Be Able To Do Anything, Anyplace
With the reality of today’s Connectivity, you should be able to conducts your business no matter where you – or your customers are.
Put Your Offer Online
Today’s electronic Connectivity allows the same simple strategy to work for everybody. Your customers must be able to connect with you and your offer at least as easily and freely as the Coke drinker can pick up a Coke.
Make Your Offer Interactive
You’re truly listening only if you maintain an ongoing dialogue with them. Your offer must contain a way for your customers to communicate with you as they put your offer to use.
Samantha Johnson is the marketing manager of BusinessSummaries.com. She is in-charge of social media and business development.
Great ideas here, but I don’t understand why it is called “BLUR”.
What is the definition of BLUR?
“BLUR” ???
My understanding and interpretation of her first sentence “Blur challenges you to question every assumption you hold about how business is conducted, and encourages you to experiment at the edge of business,” means that we must look at our business from different perspectives and push ourselves out of the proverbial box.
For example, consider all of the years we’ve conducted our businesses utilizing print ads and radio. Our reach was limited and expensive. Nowadays, we can literally write a single ad and reach millions with the click of a button.
So, “blur” in this case is taking what you’ve always known to do and implementing an entirely new way to promote your service or product. It’s considering perhaps less conventional or new ideas that aren’t so cut and dry. The list she provides helps us question how we can improve upon what we’re already doing.
She says, “will you watch on the sidelines while the innovators overtake you?” Folks utilizing social media are building their lists by creating relationships and establishing credibility within their niches. You’ll have to do the same to keep up! Being able to do anything, anyplace simply requires an online presence and certainly a web page with your offer. And, the ability to interact is invaluable just as we are able to have this dialogue here!
That’s just my interpretation, but I hope that helps!
THanks Ron.