All Japanese in Top 10 Cars....
American Cars: What Goes Around…
By Terry Brock
Did you see what Consumers Reports announced the other day? They are one of, if not the most respected, independent evaluator of new products. Consumers have grown to trust them for their objectivity and candor.
Well, it seems they released their top 10 preferred cars and they were ALL Japanese cars. Not one American car made it to the top ten. Ugh! Visitors 10 Home 0.
Do you think that Detroit's problems have anything to do with the quality they are turning out vis a vis the competition??? Do you think there might be a slight correlation between the quality of the product that is consistently turned out and the sales of a company? Somehow I think there could be a link!
I grew up in Michigan and worked for union-run companies as I worked my way through undergraduate school. I never heard anyone in the union talking about how to make better quality products or improve the company. The company was viewed as the enemy. All the unions seemed to want was more and more from the company. Well, that mentality will eventually come back to bite you --- big time. The open hostility between management and labor spilled over regularly. It seemed that the biggest talk in the lunch room, on breaks and even on the job itself was one of anti-company bantering and accepting the union as the only way to “fight” the company. Gee, I didn’t know that “fighting” was supposed to be part of the workplace environment.
Don’t get me wrong. The problem with the American auto companies in Detroit (we’re down to only two now) is not exclusive to unions. Management has done plenty to irritate the workers. Decisions that continue to hurt consumers with higher and higher prices along with poor quality only contribute to a miserable atmosphere.
Ford and GM are sucking wind now. The Wall Street Journal ran an article recently that the biggest cost was paying workers that don't work. That's right---they don't work and they still get paid. What kind of an incentive is that? It doesn’t take a lot of thinking to realize that those that aren’t working---and still getting paid--- have little incentive to go back to work. Bass fishing and deer hunting can take up a lot of time these days.
And don’t forget that management drawing huge salaries doesn’t sit well with others looking at what is going on there. They see management getting tidy little sums for salaries while the company is going farther and farther towards bankruptcy.
The old street saying of “What goes around, comes around” seems to apply here. The marketplace has a way of correcting egregious errors. Oh, you can slide a wee bit if you've peddled hard previously. However, eventually things have a way of working out. Economists call this "moving to equilibrium" and it means a lot for you and me also.
How are you doing these days on the quality side of your product or service? Are you slacking off on quality? How are your customers seeing you and your services? It is in the nitty-gritty day-to-day work that it matters. In a service business it is very tough because you are only as good as your last customer encounter. You have to continually improve, tweak, learn and work hard to encourage customers to do business with you.
Also, in all fairness, there are many good management people (they called them “company people” when I worked in the union) and many good employees in unions. My experience was that most of the people really were honest, hard-working people. However, the negative downward spiral has gone on for way too long.
The solution is to grab the Chevrolet by the bumper (so to speak) and turn it around. Several things have to be done and many people much smarter than me have proposed options. A sense of serving the customer, going the extra mile and teamwork are critical to make it happen.
It wouldn’t hurt to take some field trips down the road to Ohio, Tennessee and other places where Toyota, Honda and Mercedes are building the quality cars that Consumers Reports raves about. The atmosphere and attitude has to be changed before any of the other tactics will work.
But it can be done!
Come on, Detroit! You have done very well in the past. You can do it again. Stop the fighting and work together to produce quality, rock-solid vehicles that last a long time. I remember a Merl Haggard song from a while back about making “a Ford and a Chevy to last for 10 years, like they should.” Forget this planned obsolescence and 2 year life. Daimler-Chrysler faces similar challenges and has produced some very high quality cars (think 300C). Ford and GM also have some notable good cars. So, get with the program folks! You can do it. Make us proud of you again!
I hope that GM and Ford come out of this slump. The way to do it? Hard work, living in the real world and playing by market rules. Come on, folks! You can do it. Get back into reality and produce some outstanding quality cars again!
And for the rest of us, we’ll use this as a motivation to redouble our efforts for quality and customer service.
________________________________________
________________________________________
Terry Brock is a marketing coach who helps business owners market more effectively leveraging technology. He shows busy professionals how to squeeze more out of their busy days using the right rules and tools. He can be reached at 407-363-0505, by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com.
Copyright © 2006, Terry Brock, All Rights Reserved Internationally. No portion may be reprinted or used in any way without prior written permission.
By Terry Brock
Did you see what Consumers Reports announced the other day? They are one of, if not the most respected, independent evaluator of new products. Consumers have grown to trust them for their objectivity and candor.
Well, it seems they released their top 10 preferred cars and they were ALL Japanese cars. Not one American car made it to the top ten. Ugh! Visitors 10 Home 0.
Do you think that Detroit's problems have anything to do with the quality they are turning out vis a vis the competition??? Do you think there might be a slight correlation between the quality of the product that is consistently turned out and the sales of a company? Somehow I think there could be a link!
I grew up in Michigan and worked for union-run companies as I worked my way through undergraduate school. I never heard anyone in the union talking about how to make better quality products or improve the company. The company was viewed as the enemy. All the unions seemed to want was more and more from the company. Well, that mentality will eventually come back to bite you --- big time. The open hostility between management and labor spilled over regularly. It seemed that the biggest talk in the lunch room, on breaks and even on the job itself was one of anti-company bantering and accepting the union as the only way to “fight” the company. Gee, I didn’t know that “fighting” was supposed to be part of the workplace environment.
Don’t get me wrong. The problem with the American auto companies in Detroit (we’re down to only two now) is not exclusive to unions. Management has done plenty to irritate the workers. Decisions that continue to hurt consumers with higher and higher prices along with poor quality only contribute to a miserable atmosphere.
Ford and GM are sucking wind now. The Wall Street Journal ran an article recently that the biggest cost was paying workers that don't work. That's right---they don't work and they still get paid. What kind of an incentive is that? It doesn’t take a lot of thinking to realize that those that aren’t working---and still getting paid--- have little incentive to go back to work. Bass fishing and deer hunting can take up a lot of time these days.
And don’t forget that management drawing huge salaries doesn’t sit well with others looking at what is going on there. They see management getting tidy little sums for salaries while the company is going farther and farther towards bankruptcy.
The old street saying of “What goes around, comes around” seems to apply here. The marketplace has a way of correcting egregious errors. Oh, you can slide a wee bit if you've peddled hard previously. However, eventually things have a way of working out. Economists call this "moving to equilibrium" and it means a lot for you and me also.
How are you doing these days on the quality side of your product or service? Are you slacking off on quality? How are your customers seeing you and your services? It is in the nitty-gritty day-to-day work that it matters. In a service business it is very tough because you are only as good as your last customer encounter. You have to continually improve, tweak, learn and work hard to encourage customers to do business with you.
Also, in all fairness, there are many good management people (they called them “company people” when I worked in the union) and many good employees in unions. My experience was that most of the people really were honest, hard-working people. However, the negative downward spiral has gone on for way too long.
The solution is to grab the Chevrolet by the bumper (so to speak) and turn it around. Several things have to be done and many people much smarter than me have proposed options. A sense of serving the customer, going the extra mile and teamwork are critical to make it happen.
It wouldn’t hurt to take some field trips down the road to Ohio, Tennessee and other places where Toyota, Honda and Mercedes are building the quality cars that Consumers Reports raves about. The atmosphere and attitude has to be changed before any of the other tactics will work.
But it can be done!
Come on, Detroit! You have done very well in the past. You can do it again. Stop the fighting and work together to produce quality, rock-solid vehicles that last a long time. I remember a Merl Haggard song from a while back about making “a Ford and a Chevy to last for 10 years, like they should.” Forget this planned obsolescence and 2 year life. Daimler-Chrysler faces similar challenges and has produced some very high quality cars (think 300C). Ford and GM also have some notable good cars. So, get with the program folks! You can do it. Make us proud of you again!
I hope that GM and Ford come out of this slump. The way to do it? Hard work, living in the real world and playing by market rules. Come on, folks! You can do it. Get back into reality and produce some outstanding quality cars again!
And for the rest of us, we’ll use this as a motivation to redouble our efforts for quality and customer service.
________________________________________
________________________________________
Terry Brock is a marketing coach who helps business owners market more effectively leveraging technology. He shows busy professionals how to squeeze more out of their busy days using the right rules and tools. He can be reached at 407-363-0505, by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com.
Copyright © 2006, Terry Brock, All Rights Reserved Internationally. No portion may be reprinted or used in any way without prior written permission.
posted by Terry Brock @ Thursday, March 02, 2006
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