The Power of Accessibility

Accessibility is defined as the quality of being easy to approach reach enter speak with use or understandEvery individual and business should audit themselves on how accessible they area Do we speak simply without using buzzword bingo and with authenticity clarity and empathyb Are we easy to get a meeting and appointment with or are there an armada of apps phone trees executive assistants and other flora and fauna that camouflage us and weeks pass between a request and a meetingc Can a customer access and return products and cancel services across all channels whenever and wherever they want or does one have Roach motel model where it is easy to get in but impossible to get outd Is there a pricing and sizing model that enables people to easily try a product or fit it into their budgetAccessibility is a Sign of Excellent LeadershipAccessibility enables leadership to be more effective because it helps in alignment enhances speed and upgrades the quality of feedbacka Alignment When a leader communicates clearly and simply it often results in high performing teams since everyone knows what needs to be done how it is to be done and by when it needs to be doneb Speed If it is easy to reach a leader this enhances the tempo of an organization and reduces the time between the signal and the reaction We should measure the time it takes between when someone has requested a meeting and the meeting happening and ask if there is a significant gap will it not detract from the agility flexibility and rapid response we say the firm should havec Feedback If leaders are very approachable they are likely to learn more about what is going on in the organization both good and bad Every leader should ensure that they are not surrounded by sycophants gatekeepers and other senior leaders The signal comes from the edges where people are connected closely with manufacturing customer service and competitionAccessibility Drives Business GrowthToday whether it is Microsoft or Walmart or McDonalds or so many other successful companies one will find they are highly accessible companies almost amp8220elasticamp8221 in nature built over a very strong DNA and Brand VisionThey are all highly accessible in the following waysa OmniChannel They can be bought in many ways leveraging apps drivethroughs offline and onlinechannels Amazon makes it easy to both get products delivered to lockers and to return products at Whole Foods and other storesb Permeating and Leveraging Culture Whether it is McDonalds aligning with and leveraging culture Walmart enabling entertainment and streaming and many brands aligning with influencers sports or local events these Brands feel both human and relevant to peopleamp8217s livesc Embracing Technology During the recent Walmart Quarterly results they shared how AI was being used to enhance certain capabilities by 100XWalmart president and CEO Doug McMillon told investors during its fiscal secondquarter earnings call on Aug 15 that the company has used multiple large language models to create or improve more than 850 million pieces of data in its product catalogamp8220Without the use of generative AI this work would have required nearly 100 times the current headcount to complete in the same amount of timeamp8221But as importantly the new tech has significantly enhanced searching for products where today on the Walmart platforms one can search using terms such as amp8220Help me plan a football partyamp8221 or amp8220How to get prepared for a newbornamp8221 versus searching for individual productsAccessibility Enhances Brand Buildinga Customer Service Forget the advertising and bombastic claims of a brand Instead check out customer service The biggest mistake that many Brands have made is to consider customer service an expense they need to reduce by automating phonetreeing and offshoring versus it being a tattoo moment that can quickly calm an irate customer and turn them into a longterm advocate Customers are most likely to connect when things go wrong and this often happens at the same time in many industries such as airlines and often takes time to resolve Yet most companies plan for peak capacity assuming the normal run of business and get overwhelmed This happens again and again and one wonders who is in charge By being highly accessible customer service can become an asset and brand builder versus and expenseb Customized Interactions Different people like learning and interacting with a Brand in different ways Some prefer written information and others voice and others video Some would like to interact with a User Interface and others with a Human Face The most important parts of customization may not be how one personalizes the ad or the media but how creates a spectrum of interactions that make the brand or the company to be accessible in a personalized way Today this is often done using AI scaled content and responses that augment human touchc Variable Financing The more ways someone can pay for a purchase or service the more accessible it becomes From a variety of credit cards to pay overtime programs to different tools including Cash App Pay Pal the more a brand enables a spectrum of purchase options the more it ensures accessibilityAccessibility is a superpowerThere is no charge to for this thought letterPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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The Power of Accessibility

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