The Information Gap

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ... it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair ..."

— Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Rentals

A few years ago, one of our authors (Schiemann) lost his wallet en route to a small Midwestern airport late one evening. As he headed from the terminal to the rental car agency, he had a queasy feeling, knowing he would have to explain his loss of identity to the service representative. But as a road warrior for many years, he had duplicate photo identification and another credit card tucked away in his suitcase, and besides, he was an "elite" renter.

He approached Cindi and Kim, the reps for the rental car agency, as they packed up for the night, knowing they had just one last reservation to deal with. Then came the dreaded question from Kim, "May I see your license please?" When our intrepid traveler pulled out his emergency backup, which incidentally had recently expired, she proffered the dreaded smirk and said, "You can't expect to rent a car here with an expired license."

After explaining the situation, the elite status, and the fact that he had rented about 25 times from the company that year, the deer-in-the-headlights look appeared as she slowly repeated, "Sir, you can't expect to rent a car here with an expired license."

At this stage, the road warrior moved on to Plan B, offering a few easy solutions. "How about looking me up in the computer?" After all, he had just rented one of their cars a few days ago. No dice. Apparently the computer system — or at least the operator — did not work that way.

Now our traveler was in Code Red — with no wallet and no cash, a taxi was not an option. On a last-ditch long shot, he asked to speak to the supervisor. The two quickly exchanged nervous glances, "No, we can't call her at home."

Our desperate traveler, on a tip from an airport manager, then tried a run at another rental car cube. Alex and Anthony gave him a different reception. After the traveler revealed his plight, these two superheroes went into action. They immediately logged in to their computer and identified his prior rental from many months earlier and then woke their manager at home to obtain special permission. Even when his emergency credit card came up "expired," they agreed to speak with the traveler's wife, by phone, who dictated another credit card number. By now, it was nearly 11:30 p.m. All the other cubicles were deserted, but Alex and Anthony had him driving out of the airport, despite all the setbacks.

What caused these two different experiences? Why did one team seem more interested in going home, whereas the other was inspired to extraordinary discretionary effort? If you were the CEO of the first company, how would you feel knowing your team risked the loss of a 30-year, loyal customer, especially when your competitor next door got the job done? Would you have wondered how many of your other employees are truly aligned with your values, brand, and strategy? Or were they indeed aligned with a culture that values no risk taking and has policies intended to avoid individual variation?

We experience these paradoxical service situations every day. And the impact of outcomes such as this are multiplied daily as customers tweet and post on Facebook. We start with this anecdote because it is fundamental to the story of success and failure in the new marketplace. It also raises the role of measurement, especially as it relates to human capital and other intangibles. Departing customers and their wallet share are measures that may indicate how good our strategy is and how well it has been implemented. Sadly, by the time these measures are noticed, analyzed, and reported, it is often late in the game. Reclaiming lost loyalties takes many years. Earlier indicators gathered through the eyes of employees or other sources are needed to identify gaps and to serve as early warning predictors of future customer or operational problems.

The rental car example is more than a story of great vs. poor service. It captures many of the key differentiators between successful and unsuccessful businesses today. Cindi and Kim may not have been highly engaged, or the capabilities simply were not there: training may have been inadequate, policies inflexible, and computer systems antiquated. Or possibly the company would have wanted them to bend the rules, but they did not understand or were not aligned with the values.

This book discusses a variety of ways in which measurement can be used more strategically and more decisively to gain competitive advantage — or for not-for-profits or government agencies, it is about reaching goals or achieving objectives more effectively and with less waste and frustration.

CEOs tell us they are urgently searching for answers to several core questions:

• Do we have a winning business strategy, and is it working?

• What do our customers think, want, or need?

• Are we effectively managing our risks?

• Do we have the right talent, and are we utilizing it well to execute the business strategy, to meet customer expectations, and to anticipate future customer needs or desires?

We have found that if we focus on these strategic questions first and deploy the right measurement systems to capture these core issues, other tactical decisions and measures will...