Blind Spot. Nathan Shedroff
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we’ve said:
• There are five kinds of value that get exchanged between people, and these are always potentials in any relationship: functional, financial, emotional, identity, and meaningful.
• The types of value that are easily measured quantitatively (functional and financial) are well understood and attended to in business because they are much easier to assess and plan for.
• The three types of value that are more elusive in nature (emotional, identity, and meaningful) are more difficult to measure and plan for, which is why they aren’t typically a part of product development or customer relationship planning. This leads to missed opportunities to provide higher levels of value to customers.
• These more premium types of value often have a much bigger financial impact than the more basic types of value.
• Value can’t be exchanged without a relationship of some kind, making the design of customer relationships central to the realization of any business value be they basic or premium.
• Relationships don’t occur outside of some kind of experience, making the design of the customer experience, over time, central to long-term business value, as well.
• We need new, improved business tools to help develop better relationships and more premium value from these understandings, but it’s already clear that traditional tools are inadequate in keeping businesses focused on premium value.
CHAPTER
2
Defining a Business Relationship
Sisters Alexandra and Isabella, 5 and 7, are heading to their first encounter with Disneyland. They’ve watched Disney movies their entire lives, but they haven’t been completely engulfed by the Disney experience.
Their anticipation is high, but they really don’t know what to expect. Their father and grandmother have told them stories about their own trips to Disneyland when they were young (this will be a three-generational experience), and they know it’s a place, but they truly aren’t prepared for what they will encounter.
Their first morning, they’re abuzz as if it were Christmas. They know that they will have breakfast with a princess and, hopefully, get her autograph. When they finally cross the looooooong parking lot and get to the park entrance, they are already entranced and nearly speechless—nearly.
They can see the Magic Castle far in the distance. They practically run through the gate to the statue of Mickey. They almost forget about the princess breakfast as their senses are already on overload. The castle pulls them forward, but they are overwhelmed by all the exciting things to see, stop, and investigate as they walk down Main Street.
When they finally encounter a character, she is the evil queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. They are simultaneously excited and scared, but they get her autograph and speak with her about their first-ever visit.
Later, after many rides, something to eat, finally meeting Mickey (as well as two different princesses), they are speaking with one of the dwarves when the evil queen emerges from around a corner. With the dwarf, they hide in the bushes, but the queen finds them and immediately addresses them by name: “Ali! Bella! I thought you were on MY side!” They are amazed that the queen remembered them and scared that they might have to make a choice: stay and talk with the dwarf or join the queen. It’s a lot to take in for five- and seven-year-old girls.
Years later, they will likely take their own children to Disneyland in much the same way, presaging some of what their children will experience, reminiscing about this very trip. They may not remember the experience as it actually happened, but, instead will embellish it in the retelling and the remembering.
The first step toward making the most of relationships is to know exactly what they are and how you can affect them. In business, a relationship is a connection forged over time by interactions between a person and a company that provides lasting value for both parties. Every interaction, from a sales call to the ongoing use of a product, can build toward a good or bad relationship.
In this chapter, you’ll look at the building blocks of relationships, the opportunities for making them better, and how you can use them strategically to build value over time.
The Best Relationships in the World
Start by celebrating a company that probably gets relationships better than any other. If you have small children, you’re likely familiar with Disney. First, your kids fell in love with the movies. Then your shelves filled up with Disney books. Your kids may even have a favorite character and imagine it to be real.
Then one day you take your kids to Disneyland, which is no small investment. A single day for a family of four costs almost $400, not including extras, and there are always extras. But as you walk through the gates, you immediately know it’s worth it. Disneyland delivers on every promise. There are real castles and real characters. Mickey Mouse is there, and you never see two Mickeys at the same time (which reinforces the faux reality). There are rides and parades and a massive world to explore.
As a parent, you begin to notice something else, too. Disneyland has been designed by people whose attention to detail borders on the insane. You can’t find a single corner of the park, no matter how obscure, where someone hasn’t thought about the toadstools or the trash cans. Not only that, but Disneyland even has many hidden treasures that you can encounter only if you look in the most unlikely places. Here’s a very short sampling of the hundreds of extras in the park:
• The park is filled with hidden images of Mickey Mouse. You’ll find them stamped in concrete and barely visible on the ceilings of rides. Some of the lighting is designed so that objects throw Mickey-shaped shadows.
• In Cinderella’s castle, if you look overhead, you can find the mice from the movie peeking out from the rafters.
• The Haunted Mansion is filled with hidden surprises. For example, when you get off the elevator, there is a room that looks like an office off to one side. You’re not supposed to go over there, but if you do, you’ll see that the book on the desk is a dictionary opened to the word “death.”
• If you pick up the vintage phone next to the Candy Store on Main Street, you’ll hear a conversation between a woman and her daughter about what they should buy.
• If you linger in the parking lot, you can get a goodnight kiss from the castle 30 minutes after the park closes.
This all may seem obsessive, but it’s necessary. Disney has to be magical for the kids who visit it (and, possibly, the adults, too), no matter what they do or how they explore the park. Of course, everyone takes a different path and has different experiences each time they go. You might take a wrong turn and end up in an unlikely place. Or your kid picks up a phone she shouldn’t have. To fill your child with wonder, even the most unlikely interactions have to be perfect and potentially filled with wonder. Disney understands this.
So, Disney gets relationships. It creates a delightful number of places infused with wonder. It doesn’t rest. It always delivers. And the company gets a reward, too. It can charge far more for a visit than any other theme park. Its visitors also tend to come for a few days in a row to make sure they haven’t missed anything. Good relationships build value. They really do.
Relationships with Organizations
At this point, you may object that what we’re describing is not, in fact, a relationship, because relationships can exist only between people. Some may also object that this discussion is reminiscent of the recent, questionable Supreme Court decision reiterating that, in legal terms, corporations are, essentially, the same as people.
Let’s put the “corporations are people” objection to rest first and agree that an organization formed