IN THIS ISSUE...

• Tis the Season: Why ARDA - Why any Convention?
• Do your employees know how their productivity is measured?
• Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics: How Numbers Can Deceive You
• Custom Analytics Platform Using IoT Data Sources
• BBB Business Tip: 7 out-of-the-box employee benefit idea
• “If you want better answers, ask better questions” –?Bringing Relevance and Topicality into your Survey Outreach
• Navigating the Challenges of a New Era in Vacation Ownership

Tis the Season: Why ARDA – Why any Convention?

By – Bob Kobek, RRP, President

CustomerCount by Mobius Vendor Partners?

Conferences, conventions, regional meetings and local chapters all have one thing in common – business development opportunities. The attendees, like me, are looking for new money and looking to protect old money. Prospect and clients both have places of honor in our company.

?As with any NPS – there are promoters, passives and detractors about membership and attendance to trade association events. In one year, I will attend HIMSS National, HIMSS Local, Spring ARDA, Fall ARDA, ARDA-ROC TBMA, SHSMD, the ITIA, AMA and a few others that will crop up.

And there are 2 predominant cycles, the spring and fall shows.

We are headed to the Spring ARDA convention at the end of March and as I was just discussing it with a colleague it is one that at one time was absolutely very rich hunting grounds. As in the health care market, consolidation has had the consequence of shrinking the market Not the sales of timeshare, rather the prospects for new clients. That is the downside.

The upside – sales of new product enhancements to existing customers, the extending good will, socializing with longtime friends, making new ones, and importantly supporting the only association that serves the industry we happen to serve. ?

If you are attending, see you there. If you play in the resort industry and aren’t attending, I will find out what your clients and prospect are being told because I will know what our clients and prospects are learning and being told. Advantage – ME!

Do your employees know how their productivity is measured?

By Michael W. Hill, Mobius Vendor Partners Executive Consultant, Author of Measuring to Manage

You may have seen this headline: “Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been given little more than 48 hours to explain what they accomplished over the last week.”

I’m often asked why you should measure an employee’s performance? The inquirer then states: I’ve given the employee a job description – they “know” what to do. This is a cop-out because the manager may not know how to measure an employee or is afraid of being confrontational with the results.

It’s important to measure and share the results for several reasons. Let’s look at a few. One reason is that it helps the company. Your company cannot reach its full potential unless the employees are reaching theirs. Secondly, it benefits the employees. No employee wants to perform a job and not know how they are doing. It also helps identify what the employee is doing well and what the employee may need to work on. Thirdly, there is a benefit to the managers. The measurements give insight to the managers as to what needs to be addressed with regard to the employee performance, both good and not so good.

So, what should the manager do? Sit down with the employee and list all the measurable criteria that show the employee is making progress toward his or her job performance goals. Brainstorming these measurements assures that you and the employee are on the same page as to what success (meeting the criteria or exceeding) looks like. Then, record these measurements in writing with a copy going to the employee so that at feedback/evaluation time, there is no subjective discussion. When objective measurements are used, confusion is eliminated.

With a measuring-to-manage system in place, the employee can track his or her own performance. Your remote employees can now be evaluated in the same manner as your in-office employees. This is a win-win for the employee and the company. Another benefit of this type of system is that it works for companies of all sizes.

The answer to the question “do your employees know how their productivity is measured?” can only be answered by the employees themselves. Maybe a survey would help? You might be making some assumptions that are just not correct! Some of your employees may feel they know how you are measuring, and others may not. Some of your employees may currently be looking for employment elsewhere because they don’t feel that they are being measured in a fair manner.

You may want our help.

At Mobius’ Employee Experience –?EX Consulting Employee Experience - Mobius Vendor Partners (mobiusvp.com) –?we have the software to survey your employees so you can make the best decisions for your company and respond to your employees’ needs. Contact us to get started.

Mike’s book: Measuring to Manage is available on Amazon.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics: How Numbers Can Deceive You

Dr. Simon Crawford Welch

There’s an old saying that goes, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." The phrase, often attributed to Mark Twain (who credited British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli), perfectly captures the tricky nature of numbers. Statistics, which should be the most reliable form of evidence, are often manipulated, twisted, and used to mislead rather than enlighten.

In an age of big data and analytics, numbers hold immense power. They influence elections, determine policies, and sell products. But here’s the catch: statistics don’t lie - people do. The way numbers are gathered, presented, or interpreted can make them tell almost any story.

The Many Ways Statistics Can Be Misleading

1. Selection Bias: Choosing Data That Fits the Narrative

Let’s say a politician wants to prove that crime has dropped under their leadership. Instead of looking at all crime rates, they select data from one particular city where crime happened to fall. The broader reality may be that crime is actually rising nationwide, but by cherry-picking numbers, they create a misleading impression.

Example: In Freakonomics, authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner discuss how crime rates in the 1990s were attributed to tough-on-crime policies. In reality, the most significant factor was an unexpected one - the legalization of abortion in the 1970s, which led to fewer unwanted children being born into difficult circumstances that might have led them to crime. If you only looked at the surface-level statistics, you’d reach an entirely different (and wrong) conclusion.

2. Misleading Graphs: How Visuals Trick the Mind

Ever seen a bar graph where one bar is huge, and another is tiny - only to realize that the y-axis doesn’t start at zero? This is a classic trick used in advertising and politics. By manipulating the scale, companies and governments can make minor differences look dramatic.

Example: A toothpaste brand claims that “dentists recommend our product twice as much as the competition!” But if you look closely, the actual difference might be 51% vs. 49%. Not exactly groundbreaking.

3. The Average Trap: Mean vs. Median vs. Mode

Statistics often throw around "averages" without specifying what kind of average they mean. The mean (simple average), median (middle number), and mode (most frequently occurring number) can paint very different pictures.

Example: If Jeff Bezos walks into a coffee shop, the average wealth of customers in that shop skyrockets to billions of dollars. But the median wealth - what the middle person actually has - barely changes. Politicians and marketers use this trick to exaggerate economic improvements or business performance.

4. Sample Size Problems: When Small Numbers Cause Big Problems

If you hear that “80% of people love this new product,” that sounds impressive - until you find out that only five people were surveyed. A small sample size can lead to unreliable results, yet businesses and media outlets frequently use them.

Example: Pharmaceutical companies often conduct drug trials with small sample sizes and select the most favorable results to market their product. Only later do larger studies reveal serious side effects.

5. Confusing Correlation with Causation

One of the biggest statistical mistakes is assuming that if two things happen together, one must have caused the other. Just because ice cream sales increase when drowning rates rise does not mean ice cream causes drownings. The real cause? Summer heat leads to more swimming and more ice cream consumption.

Example: Freakonomics explores how a child’s success in school correlates with the number of books in their home. Does owning more books cause kids to be smarter? Not exactly. The real factor is parents who buy books also tend to value education and spend time teaching their children.

How Surveys Can Go Wrong (And How to Do Them Right)

Surveys are a great tool for gathering statistics, but they are ridiculously easy to manipulate. Here are some common pitfalls:

1. Leading Questions

If a survey asks, “How amazing was your experience?” instead of “How would you rate your experience?”, it’s subtly pushing respondents toward a positive answer.

2. Non-Representative Samples

If you conduct a political poll by only surveying people in one wealthy neighborhood, you’re going to get skewed results. A truly representative survey needs diversity - age, gender, location, income, etc.

3. Self-Selection Bias

People who answer surveys voluntarily are often those with extreme opinions. This is why online polls (like “Do you support this policy?”) are unreliable. The people who care the most about an issue - positively or negatively - are the ones who answer, while the majority remains silent.

4. Social Desirability Bias

People often lie on surveys to look good. If you ask, “How often do you exercise?” many people will overreport their gym visits to seem healthier. This is why professional survey designers use indirect questioning techniques to get more honest responses.

The Solution: Hire a Professional

If you’re collecting data for business, research, or decision-making, don’t DIY it. Hire a professional statistician or survey designer who understands how to eliminate bias and structure questions correctly. A well-designed survey can lead to meaningful insights, while a poorly designed one can lead to bad decisions based on false data.

Why This Matters More Than Ever

In today’s digital world, we are bombarded with statistics in the news, social media, and marketing. Understanding how statistics can be manipulated helps us think critically and make better decisions.

Before believing any statistic, ask yourself:

???? Who conducted the study, and what was their motive?

???? How was the data collected?

???? Is there missing context?

???? Could there be an alternative explanation?

As Freakonomics brilliantly shows, numbers don’t lie - but people using them often do. So next time you see a jaw-dropping statistic, pause, question, and dig deeper. Because the truth is rarely as simple as the numbers suggest.

Founder, The Critical Thought Lab. Author of “American Chasms: Essays on the Divided States of America” & “The Wisdom of Pooh: Timeless Insights for Success & Happiness” (Available on Amazon) www.dhirubhai.net/in/simoncrawfordwelch

Custom Analytics Platform Using IoT Data Sources

By Expeed Software

An innovative platform to retrieve data directly from various IoT touchpoints and convert them into easily configurable user-specific dashboards.

With the plethora of information source points that IoT ecosystems have brought to the table, our team devised a data analytics solution that could gather all the information in one place and present real-time data using visual dashboards that can be configured according to industry specifications and preferred matrices. While data analytics services are available in plenty, an easily customizable solution that offered better connectivity to an IoT ecosystem is hard to come by for certain industries.

Problems That Needed To Be Addressed

There was a need to integrate the IoT ecosystem more effectively to business processes by converting data points into industry-specific analyses. Data analysis platforms that were currently being used along with IoT also required to be updated when a new evaluation standard or process was added to the system, which was often time-consuming and fairly complex from the business/client perspective.

The Solution We Provided

We designed and implemented an AI-enabled data analytics platform that offered better connectivity to the IoT ecosystem and let businesses configure their dashboards easily according to their requirements using stream and batch analytics solutions. The plug-and-play feature also enabled faster implementation of revisions or changes to analytical parameters.

The Impact and Long-term Results

Our solution has helped clients from various industries linked to the IoT ecosystem to quickly retrieve important data from all connected devices and draw decision-worthy conclusions in a speedy way. This leads to faster and efficient business processes and improved problem-solving capabilities.

The platform has the ability to fetch data directly from the data source and offer real-time analytical insights to businesses including data anomaly detection.

So, Here’s How We Did It

Data Layer Management: Our solution accesses data at the management layer where information is received from IoT networks, channels and devices. From here the relevant data is then pushed to the application layer where businesses or users can quickly configure dashboards/KPIs/Reports based on their specific industry requirements.

Configurable Actions: Many a time, clients end up spending too much time sifting through data analytics solutions that might be either too complex or irrelevant for their industry. Our platform offers them a simple data analysis solution where they can set custom conditions and criteria to configure actions and alerts.

Real-time Analytics Dashboard: We have simplified the whole information processing flow leading up to consumable data analysis and reports and enabled clients to access real-time analytics reports. This data is presented in a visually cognitive dashboard that gives a comprehensive view in just a few glances. And since the dashboard is customizable to user requirements, our platform has helped businesses tied to IoT ecosystems improve their overall operational efficiency.

AI-Enabled: The feature to plug-in predictive analytics modules enables clients to react proactively to even the slightest market changes and adapt their processes more efficiently to changing requirements.

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BBB Business Tip: 7 out-of-the-box employee benefit ideas

Recent statistics show that job turnover has stabilized, with voluntary resignations in the U.S. returning to typical levels. In 2024, approximately 39.6 million workers left their positions, an 11% decrease from the previous year and a 22% decline from 2022, when the "Great Resignation" was at its peak. This trend suggests that businesses are adapting to attract and retain talent. However, many companies still face the challenge of balancing competitive compensation with budget constraints. To help, check out these seven out-of-the-box employee benefit ideas provided by the Better Business Bureau (BBB).?

“If you want better answers, ask better questions” –Bringing Relevance and Topicality into your Survey Outreach

?Brian LaRoche, Customer Engagement Consultant

No doubt this captivating title has elicited one of two responses from you:?

1. Duh! Tell me something I don’t know! or,,,,,,,,,,,,
2. This resonates with you as the victim of one too many “generic” survey requests.

As practitioners in the “Voice of the Customer” space, uncovering the root causes or drivers of customer dissatisfaction or delight is at the heart of what we do. With that said, no matter the CX outcome, how we solicit further feedback should also leave the customer with a positive “they really care” feeling about our organization, thus earning their loyalty or further consideration of future engagement for our products or services.

So how does an organization best achieve these dual objectives?? The first part of the answer starts with a strategy an increasingly larger number of companies are doing or planning to do in leveraging 360 degree or multi-point customer feedback systems. These single or multi-vendor customer engagement platforms combine solicited and unsolicited input and typically include conversational (speech) analytics from either your or outsourced customer contact centers, text, chat or verbatim based analytics and of course initial survey results.

Once an organization has these single or multi-touch CX insights, the opportunity to both further uncover the reasons behind those customer perspectives and better position your business for future engagements with these patrons can be yours. So how does one both ask and position at the same time?

From a real-life standpoint we can look to several professions such as medical practitioners, mental health workers, learning specialists, etc. whose success is dependent on gaining both insight and trust from an individual. They will tell you the most effective method in achieving these dual goals is in posing their initial inquiries around the recognition of the obvious experiences or symptoms those individuals have incurred. This tactic has proven to be a succinct way to identify core issues and create an empathic relationship with an individual.

So, let’s apply this methodology to your organization’s solicited feedback outreach. First, forget about sending a generalized post experience survey with your typical email subject line of “Tell us how we did?”. Instead leverage the insights gleaned from your unsolicited and solicited feedback systems to “headline” your email with a subject line that aligns with their actual experience. Secondly, sequence the survey questions to prioritize headline questions. For instance, you could make the email subject line “How could we have made your Check-in Experience better” and then ask the check-in survey questions first.

Employing this strategy will no doubt improve your survey response rates and all the benefits you accrue through higher input levels while providing a powerful impression to your customer of your awareness and genuine concern for their customer experience. After all, while customers will always prefer the frictionless experience, they give equal value to an organization or individual who may have faltered but acknowledged their shortcoming with the quest to improve upon that issue.

I encourage you to contact your Customer Count or Patient Count customer representative to learn how to implement this game-changing strategy.?

Navigating the Challenges of a New Era in Vacation Ownership

By Daniel Linares Domínguez, amdetur

The vacation ownership industry in Mexico has long thrived on its ability to adapt, innovate, and redefine the guest experience. However, we are now entering a new era—one not just marked by change but defined by it. The rapid evolution of consumer behavior, driven by digital transformation, is reshaping the way we must operate.

Today’s consumers are more connected than ever, managing nearly every aspect of their lives through mobile devices. Travel planning, booking, and purchasing decisions happen in seconds, at the click of a button. But the consumers of the future—digital natives—will expect more than just convenience; they will demand unique, hyper-personalized experiences from the very first online interaction, regardless of the platform.

The Need for Hyper-Digitalization and Personalization

As digital transformation accelerates, our industry must rethink and readapt every step of the vacation ownership journey. From marketing campaigns and sales strategies to reservations, post-sales services, and the overall guest experience, every process must be reimagined for an audience that prioritizes ease, speed, and personalization. The future success of our industry will be determined by our ability to craft seamless, intuitive, and tailored experiences.

Hyper-digitalization is not just a trend—it is the new standard. Customers now expect hyper-personalization, where technology anticipates their preferences and curates experiences that feel uniquely designed for them. The companies that can deliver the most engaging, personalized experiences will set themselves apart in an increasingly competitive landscape.

Cybersecurity: A Critical Pillar for the Future

While digitalization brings exciting opportunities, it also presents significant challenges—most notably in cybersecurity. As our industry collects and stores an increasing amount of consumer data, from personal preferences to purchasing behaviors, protecting this information becomes a top priority. Cybersecurity is no longer just about safeguarding member databases; it is about ensuring the integrity of our entire operational ecosystem, from transactions to hospitality services.

Implementing best practices in data protection, encryption, and cyber resilience is no longer optional—it is imperative. The ability to provide seamless, secure, and trustworthy digital experiences will not only build consumer confidence but also reinforce the reputation of the industry as a whole.

Building a Sustainable Future for Vacation Ownership

Adapting to this new era is not just about keeping up with technology—it is about redefining our approach to business. Establishing mechanisms and processes with due diligence, prioritizing exceptional customer experiences, and embracing digital innovation will be the foundation for sustained success. The next generation of buyers is already here, and they are setting the expectations for the future.

As we move forward, the challenge for vacation ownership in Mexico is clear: to remain a leader in the industry, we must be proactive, not reactive. The companies that embrace digital transformation, cybersecurity, and hyper-personalization will not only survive but thrive, ensuring the continued growth and prosperity of vacation ownership for generations to come.

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