Black Box Dinner
Last night I went to dinner in beautiful Puerto Madero with my colleagues Shaggy, Wholian, JuanAr, Lito, and SebaRen. We spent time discussing what to order (well they did, in Spanish), but when the waitress came she turned it all around - first for drinks, then for the main course - and we ended up eating and drinking according to her plan. When it came time to decide on dessert, Shaggy commented, "I won’t spend time on this, as she’s going to tell us what to have anyway." Funny at the time, but also revealing. Such a statement exposes a disconnect - intellectual and emotional - between a business and its customer.
Unfortunately behavior like this is not unique to restaurants, all companies are susceptible to a belief that they know what’s best for the customer. And when that happens, your eggs are all in one basket: the final delivered good. But as Agile methods have taught us, the odds of building what the customer wants without their involvement is slim to none. And even if the good/service is 100% on target, the cost is typically still too high. By excluding the customer is the process, you’ve sacrificed opportunities to build emotional satisfaction. In this experience economy (hat tip to Matias), you’ve regressed to competing on goods, instead of services or experience. Finally you risk customers viewing you as arrogant and self-serving, rather then being there for them.
Be on the lookout for behaviors that signal you know what’s best for your customers. The distance between the Exit door and, "What’s the point, I won’t spend time on this because it doesn’t matter," may be shorter than you realize.