Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Content, Context, Craft, Finance, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Technology
One thing I find increasingly interesting is the focus on speed rather than quality.
Oh no one really talks about it directly, instead they use terms like MVP to make it sound like a much more strategic decision … but the fact of the matter is everyone is in a race and the prize goes to whoever starts first, let alone finishes first.
Nothing is this more true than in the modern era of gold rush, known as ‘AI’.
Everywhere you look there’s a new company that has popped up with claims they are the next big thing … reinforced with a market evaluation in the billions, despite the fact they haven’t made a profit and they haven’t even got a significant user base yet.
But that’s the thing with tech and investment … all the rules that we are told to abide by, go right out the window when there’s the belief you can make a quick fortune on the wave of topicality and hype.
I’ve talked about it before, but the book Disrupted by Dan Lyons is a brilliant expose on the flaws and hypocrisy of both the tech and investment community … both of whom love to present themselves as The Masters Of The Universe, but are more similar to Jocks crossed with Scientologists and sheep.
The reason I say this is because I recently read a brilliant article by the Economist Luis Garicano on what he calls ‘the O ring’. No, he’s not talking about some orgasm inducing sex aid, it is an economic theory with a name inspired by the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster that states it does not matter how sophisticated or advanced any new idea/system/technology may be, it’s only as good as its weakest link.
Often we forget this in the quest for fast fame, wealth, success or competitive advantage … however given every single one of us who has used AI will have encountered a flaw with what it produced for you at some point or other, should we really be blindly running ahead thinking those ‘little issues’ will forever remain ‘little flaws?’.
Again, don’t get me wrong, I think AI is incredible.
I also appreciate it is still new technology so what it can already do is amazing.
But …
As the father of a friend of mine [Hello Judd] once said:
“If you haven’t got the time to do it right at the beginning, when will you?”
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Asia, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Contribution, Corporate Evil, Craft, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Environment, Finance, Government, Imagination, Perspective, Resonance, Respect, Values, Vietnam
Over the last year, I have fallen in love with walking.
What once I considered a waste of TV/Gaming/Eating time, now I prioritise it.
I take client calls on walks.
I do team catch-ups on walks.
I do a lot of my work thinking time on walks.
Walk, walk, walk, walk, walk.
And the benefits of this approach to life are plentiful.
I’m healthier – physically and mentally.
I have a skin tone that no longer makes me look like an anemic Dracula.
And I have got to connect more to the places I live and work.
I am not suggesting in any way others need to be doing this, just highlighting how it has had a lifechanging effect on me.
But one of the things I have really got to appreciate with walking is seeing the communities and streets around where I live and how – every now and then – you come across something that makes me stop walking and stare.
This is one of them …
Someone did that.
Someone decided to do that.
To make a little part of the pavement, a jewel.
And I have no idea why … and I have no idea who … but I love someone did.
Not just because they took the time, but they thought is was worth the time.
And that’s the thing I worry about where we’re heading.
Because everything is seemingly evaluated and valued by greatest and fastest ROI.
We’re seeing companies do it with their endless mergers and acquisitions.
We’re seeing tech firms do it with their blinkered focus on optimisation over possibility..
And we’re seeing governments do it with their disregard of the arts in favour of business.
And while, of course, money is hugely important … when the impact and value on how society feels and interacts is disregarded, the economic benefit ends up being even more short-term.
Some people won’t care.
Some people are only focused on what they can get out of something rather than what they can give or enable for someone else.
Which is why I’m so grateful to whoever made this piece of literal street art.
Because it’s far more than just decorating a bit of the pavement, it’s a reminder of the choice we have. Because while the ‘economically functional’ may be easier, cheaper, faster and more convenient, its the stuff that you know is born from someone’s passion that leaves the most lasting impression.
Talking of passion, I’m away next week in one of my favorite places in the World, Vietnam.
[I say that, it all depends on what the doctors say about my eye at today’s check up. Eek]
It’s exciting for 3 reasons.
1. I’ve not been there for years.
2. It’s where I helped create the ‘4×4 on 2 wheels‘.
2. It means that after 3 months of pain, my eye is doing well enough to travel again.
And before you ask, it is for work – even though I get to see friends there at the same time.
So while I’m off experiencing the place with the most infectious spirit, unstoppable energy and relentless optimism in Asia, I hope you have a week finding and celebrating the things that may make no economic sense to an accountant but make so much sense to your soul.
Because in these days of beige and boring, creativity is not so much about art, but an act of rebellion on behalf of the human spirit.
See you in a week.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Apathy, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand, Brand Suicide, Brands, Colleagues, Communication Strategy, Complicity, Confidence, Context, Culture, Customer Service, Egovertising, Fake Attitude, Finance
Customer service is a funny thing.
Companies make such a big deal of saying they care about their customers, but more often than not, the emphasis is adhering to their internal processes and protocols.
Now I get the importance of that, but the problem is that in most organisations, they forget to include one of the most critical elements to achieving customer satisfaction …
Empathy.
Empathy doesn’t mean accepting blame when it’s not your fault. Nor does it mean blindly agreeing with whatever you’re being asked. What empathy means is understanding what the customer is really saying.
Not their words.
Not what they write.
But connecting to what has led them to act.
Now it is important to note I am in no way blaming the people on the front line for any issue here. Frankly, they have an awful job, full of mental, emotional, and physical challenges.
No, my issue is with the policies they are mandated to adhere to by their bosses because more often than not, they care more about protecting the company than helping the customer.
Of course I get there are reasons for this.
Let’s be honest, some people are assholes and some ‘complaints’ are more about issues the person is dealing with than the company.
But maybe that’s the problem behind many organisations approach to customer service … that their starting point is ‘the customer is having a bad day’, rather than ‘why have we caused our customer to have a bad day’.
I remember working with a brilliant – but consistently angry – brand consultant, who was once hired by a car manufacturer to stop their customer service people being so generous to complaining customers.
After doing an audit on the business, he told the board the solution was simple:
“Stop making bad cars”.
He was right. They were notorious for building vehicles that failed. Or rusted. But that’s the issue behind many of the reasons ‘customer service departments’ face such a battle to do their job properly, because ultimately many of the issues they have to deal with are from issues company bosses know, but don’t want to acknowledge.
There may be many reasons for this situation, but – as we saw in the deliberate ignorance of the Sackler family in relation to the effects Codine was having on society – I can’t help but feel Upton Sinclair’s quote sums it up best:
“Man has difficulty understanding something if his salary depends on his not understanding”.
Maybe that’s why so many of the ‘customer satisfaction metrics and surveys’ that so many companies bang on on about are driven by systems, processes and data that is vague, loose and questionable.
Allegedly.
But as I said, often it’s not really about money … but empathy and that’s why I was particularly drawn to this tweet I read recently.
How awesome is that?
How loyal is that woman going to be now?
How many people are going to recognise an organisation who see’s customers as humans not just walking wallets?
Now I get it, her interact was not based on a complaint so you could argue it was a whole lot less difficult to deal with.
But here’s the thing, for me, the opposite is true.
That it wasn’t a complaint and yet they went out of their way to do something amazing shows a company who actually understands the importance of meeting and connecting with their customers mindset.
I wrote about the time I emailed Texas Instruments about a calculator I had that had been broken on the move between the US and the UK.
I said how – despite being almost 40 years old – it was very important to me because not only had my Mum given it to me when I was a young kid … she had helped actually design it.
I talked about how they wrote back saying that unfortunately they couldn’t fix it, but then did something that blew me away …
They found one in their vaults and sent it to me.
In its box.
With a case.
In perfect condition.
They could have easily just said they couldn’t help.
Hell, they could have just ignored me altogether.
But instead, they actively went out of their way to try and find a solution that would make some random guy who wrote to them from a random country, feel seen, understood, valued and cared for.
I cannot tell you what that meant to me.
I cannot tell you what that still means to me.
And I feel gratitude towards them every single day, because what that individual at Texas Instruments customer service did was not just give me a calculator that I use every day, they gave me a way to feel close to my Mum every day.
They didn’t have to do that.
There was nothing in it for them.
But they did.
And let’s remember, we’re talking about a calculator company here.
A FUCKING CALCULATOR COMPANY.
More than that, a calculator company who I last got a product from over 40 years ago.
And yet they showed more care and consideration towards me than pretty much any other brand I’ve interacted with in recent years.
Brands I’ve spent a shitload more cash with.
Like Audi. And Apple. And Air New Zealand. And ANZ Bank. And countless fucking more.
And while you could point at me and say, “why should they when you buy their products regardless?” … there’s a simple reason why they should re-evaluate.
Because – despite spending millions telling everyone how much they value their customers – their actions don’t come anywhere close to what a Calculator Company or a Fish Company have shown. In fact the very opposite.
For them, customer service is focused on ‘what’s easy and cheap’ whereas I’ve learned real customer service is when a company embraces inconvenience as a longer-term investment in their relationship.
Which iswhy I now have the same level of loyalty to all the ‘customer service imposters’ as they have for me.
Because service is not about what I get for free, it’s about serving what I need.
Even if that is just an empathetic ear.
So much customer service is designed around cliched archetypes.
Cliched archetypes that are more about what the brand wants me to like rather than what I actually want.
Because I fly a lot, I am generally in the top tier of many airline frequent flyer programs … and yet, excluding Virgin Atlantic, [which is more to do with my relationship with Lee than the airline having their shit together] none of them show they see me as an individual. Nope, all of them bombard me with ‘deals’ on golf memberships or wine or exclusive restaurants despite the fact I don’t drink, I don’t like fancy food and I fucking hate people who are a member of a golf club.
And this is not a new view, I’ve always had it.
Which is why the next time you meet someone who says their company is ‘customer centric’, ask them 2 questions:
1. What does that mean to them?
2. What are their people empowered and enabled to do?
Because if their definition doesn’t come close to referencing what the people at Texas Instruments – and The North Atlantic Fish Company – do … which, let’s face it, it won’t … then you can inform them they need to rename their customer service department to what it really is, the C-Suite profit protection service.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Bank Ads, Brand, Business, Comment, Complicity, Confidence, Corporate Evil, Finance
I’ve been a customer with Natwest Bank since 1987.
It was the first bank I ever had a salary put into and continues to be a bank account I use regularly, despite no longer living in the UK.
On top of this, since 1995 I’ve had the privilege of never needing to use the overdraft facility they gave me.
It’s only ever been 500 pounds, but I’ve never once needed it.
Anyway, due to some stuff we’re doing, I’ve withdrawn all but a few hundred pounds from the account over the past few days.
It is only temporary as this is the account where a bunch of different things get money paid into them … but it’s telling that on the 4 days there has been the least amount of money in it for almost 30 years [because I definitely used my overdraft when I was younger, on a monthly basis] I get this.
So despite never once going overdrawn …
Despite never once being late for a payment …
Despite never once asking them for help …
Natwest decided NOW is the time to lower my overdraft.
On one level, I shouldn’t care – I don’t use it and I’m in the incredibly fortunate position of not needing it – but there’s 2 things that bug me.
One.
It feels they’ve chosen this time because they’ve seen my balance basically disappear and fear I may be in financial hardship.
Two.
Like NIKE – who said they were always looking for ways to benefit their customers, before announcing they were pulling out of NZ – Natwest are trying to say this is for my own good.
That they’re doing ‘what’s right for me’.
What’s right for me?
More like what’s right for themselves.
Because for all their talk of wanting to be there for their customers.
… for all their claims of being there if anyone is facing financial hardship.
… for all their proclamations of wanting to be a financial partner to their customers.
You can’t help but feel they’re making sure they reduce any exposure to customer debt as is physically possible.
Not that they are in debt. Or face any risk of it.
Last year they made almost 5 billion in profit pre-tax … up a third on the previous year.
And let’s not forget the taxpayer bailed them out to the tune of 45 billion pounds in 2008.
As I said. I’m in the incredibly fortunate position of no longer needing to use my overdraft … but I know there’s lots of people who do. And if they will do this to someone who has been in credit for almost 30 years, what are they doing to those who haven’t?
The reality is, I’m fine with them reducing my overdraft limit … what I’m not fine with is their attempt to claim they’re doing ‘what’s best’ for me, when it’s painfully obvious they don’t give a toss about me.
They could have said, ‘you’ve never used your overdraft so we’re getting rid of it’.
Or ‘you’re not using it so we’re reducing it so we can provide more help to those who need it’.
Hell, they could have just kept everything the same because nothing has changed, even if my recent bank balance has.
But they didn’t do any of those things …
Instead they chose to basically bullshit so they could feed their ego and pretend they’re saviours all while making a decision designed to protect themselves from a financial situation, that they – in part – encouraged because of decisions and actions over the past few years.
Banks have an important role in society.
They could be seen in favourable terms by society.
But time and time again, their actions defy their advertising claims.
And yet they wonder why they find it hard to build trust and value with customers.
Filed under: Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Business, Corporate Evil, Creativity, Culture, Embarrassing Moments, Finance, Grifting, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Money, Scam
Scams.
They’re bloody everywhere.
SMS. Email. People knocking on the door.
There seems to be three types …
The hopeful … which is sending the same thing to tons of people and see if it will stick.
The too-good-to-be-true … which is promising untold riches for a fraction of investment.
And the invisible … where it has been so well planned, you may not realise it’s happened until its happened.
While I understand how the latter works – having once been a victim of it – it’s amazing how often the first 2 do.
Part of that can be down to blinkered greed.
The belief we’re all ‘special’ and while friends may think it’s a scam, they stick with it as it reinforces what they’ve aways felt about themselves.
Until it doesn’t.
The other group are people who are desperate – whether financially or lonely – so they take part in a desperate bid to escape their own personal hell.
So while its easy to laugh at people who we think have been stupid, the reality is there are always mitigating circumstances that add to the scammers success.
And nothing shows how successful the crims are by their exaggeration. Look at this …
For just NZ$400, you can get a ‘guaranteed’ NZ$7800 every month.
EVERY MONTH … where do I sign?
But the scammers aren’t completely stupid, so they’ve added a picture of Elon Musk.
Now whether that’s because he’s super rich or is OK with losing billions – as demonstrated with Twitter – is anyone’s guess, but given they’ve bought a ton of ads all over Facebook and other social media channels means they think it makes what is one of the most ridiculous financial investment promises in history, legitimate.
And you know what, it seems it has … which is a great reminder for the marketing community that while customers are often much smarter than we give them credit for, they rarely adopt the logic we like to think/claim they do because ultimately – and here’s the big reminder – they buy for what they’ve need, not what we want them to need.