Shape of Things

Did anyone ever come up with a brilliant idea or make someone feel special while drinking a latte, talking on the phone and checking stock prices simultaneously? With apologies to all the multi-tasking geniuses out there, I doubt it.

The irony of texting and tweeting is that we often lose that precious moment — the real experience of it — while we try to document it.  There are times when the simple life is better, as David Mantey, editor of Product Design & Development, points out.  

Simple has its values in business too.  In an SD Times editorial, Simon Galbraith, joint CEO of Red Gate, asserts that as software developers pile on the features, version after version, they just might be missing the opportunity to make something truly great.

When times get tough, evidently marketers get loud. And insistent. And intrusive. At least that’s been my experience over the last two months. More junk calls, despite Do Not Call. More spam. More hectoring. And as James Brown once said “You’re like a dull knife that just ain’t cuttin’. Talkin’ loud and sayin’ nothin’. 

Don’t we all have enough on our minds — keeping jobs, paying bills, staying healthy — that we don’t need rabid sales people attacking us?  Before you mildly annoyed me, now you’re making me angry.

Instead of punching up the decibels and frequency of attacks, how about giving listening a try? Find out what customers are dealing with and figure out a way to help them, even (or perhaps especially) if it doesn’t have anything to do with your core product or service.  Pass on savings.  Give discounts. Rather than sell, solve a problem. Help a customer save time and money, or do more with less.  Provide some value. 

Now’s the time to listen. And, hey, a little empathy wouldn’t hurt.

Life would be hard without assumptions.  We assume people can understand us when we speak.  Otherwise, we’d have to get painful verification one….word….at….a….time.  We assume if that engine light doesn’t come on our car is running OK.  We assume we’ll be allowed a certain amount of behaviorial leeway from friends.

Sometimes within companies, however, we can assume too much, especially when it comes to our internal language.  The same lingo that greases the skids inside our companies might bring communication to a screeching halt in the outside world.  I was speaking to a phone rep today and he was telling me that I would need to call back when “my order was provisioned.”  Huh?

This style of tribal language runs rampant within technology companies.  A suggestion: Anytime you are communicating something to the outside world, run it by a few friends or customers to see if it makes sense.  Doesn’t take much time, and it could prevent a big assumption gap.

Matthew Scudder, the long-running character in Lawrence Block’s detective series, once coined an acronym for how he would treat his new wife.  It was SCHLEP. I believe it stood for share, cooperate, help, love, encourage and protect. 

It always struck me as a good mantra for every relationship: spouse, significant other, friends, clients, business partners and customers. 

If that sounds too personal for your customers, think again.  It’s all personal and it’s all a relationship.  Bad things happen when we turn a customer or partner into a thing.  Good things happen when we treat customers as sentient human beings.