Speaking Engagement Information

"I had a discussion with other senior executives, and they agreed you were one of the most outstanding presenters they have encountered in their careers... Your message always takes on a level of energy that impacts an organization for a very long time."
	John H. Dasburg Former CEO Burger King

In an engaging, powerful presentation, Dr. Christopher Hart, a McKinsey Award winning author, will challenge your organization to seize the competitive moment and set your sights on becoming your customers' supplier for life.

"A quick note of thanks for your keynote presentation at the Harley Dealers’ Conference. It was terrific. Your understanding of the issues facing the Motor Company and our dealers made the audience very receptive to your message. Additionally, your energy and great sense of humor kept everyone on the edge of their seats. I was very impressed."
	Rich Teerlink Former Chairman and CEO Harley-Davidson Motor Company

Recent presentation topics:

Moving Beyond Zero Defects-to Zero Trust Defects
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Are You Ready to Compete in a CGM World?
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Service Entropy: An Untapped Source of Profit
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Eliminating Customer Sacrifices
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Take Away the Safety Nets -- and Dominate Your Business
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Click to see clips of Dr. Hart in action

Conferences and audiences addressed by Dr. Hart

Moving Beyond Zero Defects-to Zero Trust Defects

What happens if you take an ostensibly secondary business activity-the generation of trust-and recast it as a company's primary function? If your company were a high-tech manufacturer, employees would not be likely to have cavalier attitudes toward the inputs (design, components, machinery, labor) that enable the production of zero-defect products. Similarly, a software company would not take a laissez-faire approach to the inputs needed to create bug-free software. In both cases, the inputs and the systems that process them would get laser-like attention and serious respect. Imagine, now, if your company's primary product was trust attitudes in the minds of your customers. You would do everything possible to "manufacture" trust of the highest quality and with the greatest possible efficiency. Rather than focusing on zero product defects, though, your factory's production system would be organized around the goal of "zero trust defects."

A quarter-century ago, Philip Crosby ignited a quality revolution by showing that "Quality Is Free." Similarly, Dr. Hart's research shows that "Trust is free."

"I want to thank you again for planning and holding a terrific meeting with my management team. Everyone came away with a far broader understanding of what it means to build trust relationships with our customers and the tremendous benefits of doing so, what it takes to build trust, and how an extraordinary guarantee could be a catalyst for “defection-proofing” our customers by eliminating trust defects in our processes. The idea of “trust defects” jolted everyone into thinking about our customer relationships from a very different perspective. I particularly appreciate what obviously was a great deal of preparation on your part—you understood our business cold, which people greatly appreciated. We are discussing our next steps and certainly plan on including you in that discussion. Thanks again for delivering an “extraordinary” experience to our leadership team." Best regards,

Kevin Casey Senior Vice President Comcast

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Are You Ready to Compete in a CGM World?

New Internet forces are drastically changing and expanding the information pool that shapes consumer opinion. Evolving interactive technology enables people to find or initiate topics of interest on the Web, link to others who share their interests, and engage in online discussions that strongly affect their views. Unlike traditional word-of-mouth, these discussions shout out through online electronic megaphones that leave digital tracks on hard drives throughout the world. Anyone with an Internet connection and a Web browser can tune in.

This new form of communication, which I call "Consumer Generated Media," (CGM) is huge-an estimated 1.5 billion postings in 2005 and growing at 30 percent per year-and it holds crucial implications for marketers.

Businesses must take immediate action to understand and manage in this new information arena or they will be at its mercy. While CGM can be stimulated and influenced by marketers, it is owned and controlled by consumers. Plus, it carries far greater credibility than traditional media. Fortunately, technology now is available to help marketers make sense-and dollars-out of what to this point has been a vast forest of unstructured data-a phenomenon that defied systematic analysis.

"Your sessions were "Home Runs." Both the seminar with the Marketing RoundTable and your talk with Georgia State's faculty were terrific. As an example, one Marketing RoundTable member e-mailed me last, saying that he thought it was an outstanding session-- the best we've had in years! I thought it was great - you really opened some eyes. Thanks again for coming and doing such a great job. Please know how much I appreciate it."

Ken Bernhardt, Ph.D. Regents Professor, Taylor E. Little Jr. Professor of Marketing Georgia State University

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Service Entropy – An Untapped Source of Profit

Every activity in a business requires energy. The Second Law of Thermodynamics dictates that every time energy is used, some portion of it goes to waste. This waste, which amounts to continuous profit leaks throughout your business, is entropy.

Service businesses are much more vulnerable to entropy than manufacturers, for reasons Dr. Hart’s latest research has identified.

Two distinguishing characteristics of service entropy are inevitability and irreversibility. However, service entropy can be reduced. Indeed, it must be reduced. At the most elemental level, entropy is the force that determines which companies will dominate their industries and which companies will be dominated.

Essential presentation points:

• Case-study examples that make clear the principles underlying service entropy and how it affects every part of your business
• The most severe form of service entropy: irreversible “fractures” that destroy business value
• How to identify service-entropy leaks and evaluate the untapped sources of profit they represent
• Service entropy as an organizational catalyst for building world-class service-production capability

"Thank you very much for your willingness to talk about your new research at our first franchise convention. ‘Service Entropy: An Untapped Source of Profits,’ provided terrific inspiration to our franchisees to re-establish goals for 100% guest satisfaction, 100% of the time."
	John L. Cutter President and Chief Operating Officer Friendly's Ice Cream Corporation

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Eliminating Customer Sacrifices

Customer sacrifices are what your customers are forced to put up with to do business with your organization. Alone, the words “customer sacrifice” mean little. When coupled with this radical definition, though, employees are jolted into identifying opportunities that are often obvious in hindsight, but simply have been overlooked.

This presentation makes a compelling case that for every day customers are forced to make sacrifices to buy from your company, you are working hard to put yourself out of business.

Essential presentation points:

• Using the idea of customer-sacrifices to crack employees’ mindsets and assumptions about what is possible, enabling them to "invent the future"
• Using the "customer experience corridor" to identify sacrifices your customers are being forced to make today
• Case examples from familiar businesses showing how customer sacrifices were identified and innovative approaches were developed, eliminating them, creating customer value and putting competitors on the defensive
• Calculating the profit-improvement potential of sacrifice-elimination opportunities
• The opportunity for leaders to use this simple-but-powerful idea as a catalyst in their organizations to discover innovative ways to build customer value and boost profits

"I wanted to express my appreciation by telling you that your vibrant style and enthusiasm brought tremendous energy -- exhilaration even -- to your session. Everyone I spoke with thought your material was outstanding! I have never been in a session where people from different companies became so deeply involved in a spirited, intense discussion. What a day! It seemed like it was only an hour long. I created a list of critical items that I am going to act on immediately. The topic I found especially meaningful was customer sacrifices. I memorized the phrase, "what a customer has to put up with, which, if eliminated, would create unique sources of differentiation,” -- and plan on introducing it to my people immediately!"

Mike Lee Vice President - Production ATF, Inc.

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Take Away the Safety Nets --
and Dominate Your Market

Imagine walking onto a tightrope with a strong safety net underneath. Now imagine the safety net unexpectedly disappearing. How does the thought of that make you feel? If you had known in advance that the safety net would be pulled away, what would you have done differently before taking your first step?

The answer: EVERYTHING.

Now, suppose your company made an ironclad pledge to satisfy your customers at any cost. What changes would need to occur before you would feel comfortable making this seemingly extreme offer? If these changes were made, however, what would be the impact on your customers? Your competitors? Your profits?

Taking away the safety nets is an approach with unparalleled power to galvanize the people in your organization to envision and create a service-production system so outstanding that customers literally "take themselves out of the market" - they only want to buy from you.

Essential presentation points:

• The radical mindset shift a take-away-the-safety-nets approach creates is an outstanding leadership opportunity to build the urgency and focused effort required to achieve dramatic performance gains
• How to create this mindset shift
• The powerful commitment to performance improvement this approach creates at every level of an organization

"Chris, You asked me for my thoughts about your presentation to Northeast Delta Dental. Here they are, with pleasure: New Ideas: Dr. Hart's thinking and communication are on the cutting edge of new business concepts. He does not recycle stale ideas and applications, but analyzes new trends, studies the latest data, and distills principles that make sense in today's business climate. He readily shares this thinking in his writings and in his work with clients. Presentation Skills: Dr. Hart is a dynamic speaker, using business anecdotes, backed up by facts and analysis, so the audience gets the point immediately. His well done slides effectively communicate his key points and he maintains his audience's attention by developing content very much in tune with his audience's needs and his charismatic style. Everyone in the audience thinks he is talking to them personally. Dedication to Client's Interests: Dr. Hart is interested in each of his many clients. He values long-term relationships. He enjoys being updated on his clients' newest initiatives and how they continue to apply principles in which he has trained them. Dr. Hart's extraordinary-guarantee concept has transformed Northeast Delta Dental's approach to customer service and total quality. Much of our double-digit growth since 1996 and our 97% account retention are directly attributed to Delta Dental's operational improvements we have made using our extraordinary guarantee as a catalyst."

Tom Raffio President/CEO Northeast Delta Dental

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