Customer behavior gives you more information than asking questions May 31, 2007
Posted by Jeff in Client Value, Client retention, Communication, Decision-Making, Highest and Best Use.1 comment so far
My “buddy” Ankesh created a clever plug-in for WordPress blogs. It offers you the opportunity to donate a beer if you find value in a blog post. This isn’t the first time I’ve encountered this tactic. Ankesh has also included a feature that provides a non-alcoholic option. If I had my druthers, I would have a “baby needs a new pair of shoes” plug-in.
Our daughter is growing sooo fast!! 
.
She has already grown out of these shoes and another pair inside of two months.
In this particular post, Ankesh defends the plug-in’s value.
“It Helps You Know What People Like
If a few of your readers are willing to pay you $3 or $5 for a blog post, you can be pretty sure that many others will pay $10-100 for a more comprehensive report or an e-course.The beer plugin works as a signal – showing you which topics you should focus on more often.”
Here is the lesson
You may not be a tech-head or blogger, but if you want to have a better relationship with your clients, there is an important lesson here. The plug-in models “The Law of Two Feet.”
You can see the Law in action at a party. Imagine you walk into a large party. On one side of the room is the bar. On another is the band, with a dance floor in front. The food spread is on one wall. People playing board games are on another wall. (Hey, if I’m missing your favorite party activity just fill in the blank ).
Now, imagine if you are greeted by your host at the front door. He gives you one of two greetings:
- “Welcome, help yourself. Enjoy.”
- “What would you like to do first?”
What greeting is going to be easier to respond to?
As the party host, you never have to answer this. All you need to do is to see where people go. Clients take their two feet and walk themselves to the activity that interests them the most.
Behavior has a purpose: Need fulfillment
People behave to serve their needs. For your clients, acting on their needs and interests is much easier than answering questions. If you want to know how to frame a service for greater consumption or whether to offer a new product, provide your clients with options.
You will get much richer information than simply asking. And if you can charge for the option, that will make your market research that much more robust.
Someone you serve by any other name: customers, clients, or patrons May 23, 2007
Posted by Jeff in Bias, Communication, Conversation, Decision-Making, Highest and Best Use.1 comment so far
Adam, raised in important question about what term you use to identify the folks you serve.
The ensuing conversation completely reframed the way I view people who come in and out of my business. Isn’t it just semantics? Hardly.
The way we orient to an idea will shape how we view it, the identity we give it, and the actions we take in relationship to it.
Adam goes on to share the common definitions/usage of customer, client, and patron. The point he makes is well worth heading. The language you use strongly influences how you relate.
But I felt compelled to raise the following concern.
There are two sources of orientation
One source is yours.
The other source is your . . . well . . . the folks you serve.
In both cases, there is not only the “dictionary” definition, but also personal orientation. Let me give you an example of how much weight personal orientation can have.
My wife and I have this running argument (completely in jest, I assure you, it’s one of the games we play 
). We argue over how many uncles I have. As far as my wife is concerned I have none. My dad is an only child. My mom has one sister who has been divorced for many years. What I have, according to my wife, are great uncles. The male siblings or in-laws of my grandparents.
My parents are short on siblings. My wife’s family is different. Her mom has two sisters. Her dad has two brothers and two sisters. My wife needs to make the distinction because the room at Thanksgiving is crawling with all manner of relative. For me, the distinction is completely unnecessary.
As another example, when I hear the word, “patron.” I hear the Spanish word for boss, “patrón,” from my days managing a multi-cultural staff that included many Mexican natives.
Whichever term you choose, customer, client, patron, I think you have to go a step further than just use a term that best suits your feelings for the folks you serve.
Tell your story
Declare to the folks you serve why you choose the term you use.
Help your . . . folks you serve . . . reframe the value of the term that communicates your orientation to them (whatever you want to call them).
If it is important enough to you to choose how you refer to the “folks you serve” with great care, it should be just as important to communicate this orientation in a meaningful, integrated, reinforced way.
Communication Pitfalls: Common-nyms May 1, 2007
Posted by Jeff in Communication, Conversation.add a comment
I recently picked up Anne Miller’s Metaphorically Selling. I’m really enjoying it and recommend it fully. But, I had a nit pick item come up for me that reminded me of a common client communication blunder.
Miller shares an attention getter she used in a presentation. How many squares do you see? Note: this image is scanned directly out of the book to make my point (I added the numbers).
Most see 16 or perhaps 17. But, this is a perception game. The goal is to encourage you to open your mind to ideas. When you consider different combinations of squares (sets of 4 and 9), you may be able to find upwards of 30.
But, assuming that the image was not distorted in printing, why not consider combinations of 6?
Because that would be a rectangle.
A square (at least to my understanding) is equally distant on all four sides. Which makes the following not squares.
In Miller’s sharing of the episode, there is no mention of any discussion about what defines a square. Her purpose was to share an example of a metaphor that reveals her audiences blind spots.
But, there I was for a moment or two. Point lost on me. Because I was distracted by rectangles masquerading as squares.
Common-nyms should so easy to spot
How often do you think you understand your clients, but you really don’t?
One of the causes of common misunderstandings is the use of terms which have different meanings for different people. I call these Common-nyms. What makes common-nyms so vexing is that by the use of a term that you have a strong rapport with, (i.e. “hands-on”), you can easily fall into the assumption that your client uses the term with the same meaning.
Example:
- Square: A square for me has four equally distant sides. My count is different from Miller’s.
Common-nyms you might find in your interaction with clients.
- Hands-on: A client might describe himself to you as “hands-on.” This might mean he is a micro-manager. This might mean that he needs to take an integrative approach. Your work needs to be completed in concert with other projects. This might mean that your client wants to work collaboratively with you.
- Agreement: This could be verbal, hand-shake, at-will, letter, or contract (using anything from plain English, to boilerplate legal language, to highly dense legalese).
- Approval: As in “I need to get approval to move forward.” This might mean that you are not dealing with the decision-maker, but this is not necessarily the case. It might mean that decisions are made by committee. It might be that certain levels of decisions are made at different points in the hierarchy. It might be that your client simply needs time and space to make a decision, but doesn’t feel comfortable being candid.
Care to share common-nyms that you have experienced?
