Customer Experience – Page 11 – Discipline makes Daring possible.

July 6, 2022

Some more thoughts on packaging – Function

What does your Packaged Promise have to do? How far does it go to help your client get from where they are now to where they want to be?

Some questions to ask:

Can I do the whole job in one go?
Is that really doable, by me and by the client?
If not, how do I break it up so that the client can see progress, without being overwhelmed by the size of the task in front of them?

And an insight from that last question:

If there is progress, there must be a process. So what is it? How do I get my client from where they are now, to where they want to be?

Can I describe that as a process in a way that makes sense to the client?
Where are the ‘natural’ breaks in that process? Can I match Packages to those?
How can I keep the client motivated to continue the journey?

Sharing the process with the client before they start their journey, helping them to locate themselves while they are on it and celebrating milestones as you go can all help.

And a final question prompted by a conversation with Adam Forbes:

How small could you make those Packages?
How could you turn each step on the journey into a tiny or atomic habit?

After all, as any pub landlord or fountain owner could tell you – those single, small denomination coins soon add up.

Hmmm.

July 5, 2022

Reinventing the wheel

Before you can Package your Promise of Value effectively, you need to know these things about the people you serve:

the situation(s) in which they find themselves
the transformation they seek – their Job to be Done, and how motivated they are by their situation to achieve it.
how your Promise of Value is likely to appeal to them
how you can help them to get their Job to be Done done better than the alternatives – even, possibly, that you are the only way they can get this Job to be Done, done
how able they are likely to be to take up your Promise

Once you know these things, you can begin to design one or more Packages to suit the needs, motivation and ability of the people you serve.

There are 4 things you need to consider when designing a Package:

Function – how far does the Package go to help your client get from where they are now to where they want to be? To get their Job to be Done, done?
Format – how will you physically get that benefit into their hands?
Timing – is the Package a one-off intervention or is it delivered over a longer time-frame? Is there an end to it?
Price – how much does the Package need to cost to profit both parties?

I’m thinking out loud here, re-inventing the wheel for myself as usual.

What do you think?

Tell me, I’d love to know.

June 10, 2022

Radical minimalism

At this morning’s Like-hearted Leaders, listening to Gareth Dauncey’s story of how he thought up, designed and developed his Mood app, I was struck by two things.

First how radically simple he’s managed to keep it. “2 clicks to log your mood is OK, 3 is too many”

Second, how ruthlessly focused it is on helping the customer, and nobody but the customer. “100% private – you log your mood for you and nobody else.”

Radical minimalism.

Something we can all aspire to.

I found it on Google playstore by searching for ‘moodapp’, then scrolling down to see #mood

May 11, 2022

Approaching equilibrium

Systems of all kinds can persist for long periods, staying more or less the same. Not static, but always hovering around some equilibrium value, even as they grow.

This happens because of feedback. A change in the equilibrium value triggers a change in the flow of something that affects that value. Like your central heating thermostat, which uses feedback on the actual room temperature to regulate the flow of hot water to your radiators in order to maintain a temperature that feels comfortable to you.

A business is a system too. We’re usually looking to grow it, exponentially if we can. We don’t often think of it as something we want to keep in equilibrium.

But perhaps we should.

A business is a system for making and keeping promises. That means that whatever else we might like to see, the important equilibrium value is how many promises we keep – or perhaps even how many we exceed.

If we all made that our thermostat there’s a good chance that a better kind of exponential growth would take care of itself.

May 10, 2022

Remember that you have a voice

I love this reminder from The Phone Lady about the leaving a message when you phone and don’t get through.

OK, voicemail may be a bit old-fashioned now, but Whatsapp, Facebook, Telegram, Twitter all have voice options. If you’re feeling brave, and have more time, most social media channels have live video options too.

The main point though is that your voice is human. It creates connection and builds trust.

Show you’re human, show you care, use your voice.

April 27, 2022

The scientific method

We constantly observe the world around us. We form certain assumptions about how it works and why it works that way.

But we rarely take things further and actually test those assumptions with an experiment. If we did, we’d find out that they are often incorrect. Which might lead us to draw new conclusions and most importantly take different actions as a result.

“The scientific method” isn’t just for science. It’s a great way to approach building your business ‘on purpose’.

Using it to understand your customers better is a profitable place to start.

April 26, 2022

Instinct

Instinctively, I don’t like being paid by the hour or day. I’d much rather be paid for delivery of a service.

There are a couple of reasons for this. One is a simple dislike of being at someone else’s beck and call. The other is to do with risk.

If I am paid by the hour, and I take longer than expected to deliver the goods, the client pays more. If I take less time than expected, they gain. They are incentivised both to pay me as low a rate as possible and to have me work as fast as possible – perhaps even more hours than we agreed.

These risks are flipped if I am paid for delivery. If I have to put more effort in than I expected, I lose. If I am able to deliver with less effort, I’m the one who gains. I am incentivised to deliver a clear result in as short a time as possible. The client gets whatever it takes to complete the job.

For a business like mine, being paid for delivery makes more sense, because I am in control of the process. Over time I can expect to get better at estimating effort, and slicker at delivery, so over time, I can expect to gain.

For a business that is not in control of the process – like shipping cargo by sail for example, the situation is different. On the whole, ships prefer to be chartered, because they can’t control the weather. There is little opportunity to gain by delivering faster. Being chartered means that even though they can’t gain, they at least don’t lose.

What was counter-intuitive (to me at least) is that this arrangement might be preferable to the client who charters them. Until yesterday.

For one of my clients, Sail Cargo Alliance, the aim isn’t just to ship goods by sail, it’s to connect a worldwide community of small producers, ships, ports, independent shops and customers. For the Alliance, paying for the ship’s time makes perfect sense, because their attitude is collaborative.

OK, they take the risk of the ship arriving late, but having control over the ship’s time creates opportunities for revenue generation that don’t exist if they are simply paying for delivery. For example, they can add passengers to the trip, or if a ship arrives early, they can offer day-sailing trips, or tours, or on-board hospitality. And by sharing any additional revenues with the ship, they might just have created the best of both worlds.

Clearly my instinct is wrong. The answer is not time or delivery, but some mixture of time and delivery that minimises the downside and maximises upside for both parties. That enriches the relationship rather than simply exploiting it. Commerce without the capitalism.

Hmm. Worth thinking about for the next project.

April 20, 2022

Just in time

When you’re setting up a client in your systems for the first time, it’s tempting to ask up front for everything you will need for the journey.

Resist.

If your tailor is making you an overcoat, you don’t expect them to measure your inside leg.

Only ask for what you need right now, to get the client started. Otherwise you’ll overwhelm them with unexpected (and to them, unnecessary, perhaps even unnerving) work, to get information that may well have changed by the time you actually need it.

Keep your information gathering aligned with what you’re doing together. That keeps it feeling natural, and you’ll have all the right information when you need it – just in time.

April 19, 2022

You’re welcome!

I used to think that the first step in Keeping your Promise was setting up the client – getting everything in place to be able to deliver your service to them smoothly and efficiently.

How very functional of me.

Now I feel differently.

Sure, your client has enrolled with you on their journey, but they are probably already feeling a little buyer’s remorse, questioning whether this really is the right thing for them. What they need now is the reassurance that you will continue to ‘see’ them as a human being, not just as a ‘thing’ to be processed.

So, start your Keep Promise with a welcome. Get the metaphorical bunting out. Find a way to make your new client feel safe, special, and seen.

It doesn’t have to be over the top. It doesn’t have to be expensive. It doesn’t have to be the same for everyone. It does need to be congruent with your Promise of Value.

How could you show new clients they are welcome?

April 7, 2022

What this hooey is all about

In this letter to Nirvana, pitching to produce their next album, Steve Albini sets out his Promise of Value for them to take or leave.

It’s not 100% applicable to a business like yours, (unless your business is actually a band) but there’s a lot that could be learned from it:

“I’m only interested in working on records that legitimately reflect the band’s own perception of their music and existence. If you will commit yourselves to that as a tenet of the recording methodology, then I will bust my ass for you. I’ll work circles around you. I’ll rap your head with a ratchet…”

“If the record takes a long time, and everyone gets bummed and scrutinizes every step, then the recordings bear little resemblance to the live band, and the end result is seldom flattering.”

“I consider the band the most important thing, as the creative entity that spawned both the band’s personality and style and as the social entity that exists 24 hours out of each day. I do not consider it my place to tell you what to do or how to play.”

“I like to leave room for accidents or chaos. Making a seamless record, where every note and syllable is in place and every bass drum is identical, is no trick. Any idiot with the patience and the budget to allow such foolishness can do it. I prefer to work on records that aspire to greater things, like originality, personality and enthusiasm.”

As the founder of your business, you’re the equivalent of Nirvana. You’re the live band. The customer experience you’ve carefully crafted as you grew your business is what your audience buys.

Your team, is like the records you make to get the music to more of those who want to hear it – far into the future.

Only now you are Steve Albini, and it’s your job to make sure the record delivers as if it was you:

“If every element of the music and dynamics of a band is controlled by click tracks, computers, automated mixes, gates, samplers and sequencers, then the record may not be incompetent, but it certainly won’t be exceptional. It will also bear very little relationship to the live band, which is what all this hooey is supposed to be about.”

Write your people a score, make sure they’re familiar with your sound and ethos, then let them play as human beings, not machines.

Discipline makes Daring possible.

Musings from The Disappearing Boss on People, Process and Responsible Autonomy for small-business employers.

Category: Customer Experience