Blind Spot. Nathan Shedroff
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has no corporeal presence in the world. For another, it has no autonomous consciousness. Perhaps, in the future, other, non-physical creations of people, like artificial intelligences, may prompt reconsideration. But, for now, let’s agree that a corporation is not a person.
That leaves the primary objection: that people can’t really have a relationship with an organization (and vice versa). There’s really no reason to make such an assertion. As the Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes it, a relationship is “the way in which two or more people, groups, countries, etc., talk to, behave toward, and deal with each other.” Clearly, people can talk to, behave toward, and deal with companies.
People also react to what companies do and often imagine companies as if they were people. In fact, as stated in the introduction to this book, there is ample evidence that people do just this. In addition, corporations are often sufficiently aware of this personification tendency that they seek to influence, imagining their companies as having characters and creating personas that align with the sort of personality customers may want them to have.1
It’s possible that underlying these objections may be a general uneasiness with the current state of people-to-people relationships and a fear that individuals may confuse the relationships they develop with companies as worthy substitutes for the real thing. This is exactly the conversation that occurs continuously in regard to technology’s impact on society.
Ultimately, because humans are social beings (and busy ones at that), they must develop and maintain valued relationships to survive and thrive. And it’s difficult to imagine a situation in which people-to-organization relationships would provide enough of what we need as social beings to result in healthy, thriving individuals. That said, because people tend to personify organizations as well as value people-to-company relationships that provide great experiences, there is no reason to fear the development and evolution of such relationships. They augment other social relationships, often resulting in richer lives for all concerned. They also serve as an important metaphor for seeing how we relate to each other.
In the final chapter of this book, we muse a bit about whether great people-to-company relationships may actually enhance people’s capacities to have great people-to-people relationships. For now, though, let’s simply work with the reality that people value relationships with certain companies, under certain circumstances, and by working to evoke those relationships they can make customers’ lives better.
What Makes a Relationship
Thankfully, not every company needs to be as experience-obsessed as Disney. But your company is in the relationship business, whether you like it or not. People will develop a positive feeling about your company or not. They can be wholly indifferent to you, or love you to the point that they won’t go anywhere else. You can drive value with relationships, or you can ignore both the relationships and the value that comes with them. And, if you aren’t working toward creating a positive relationship, you’re most likely creating a negative one.
Here is how relationships work:
• Relationships are a connection. If you think of how a child feels about Disney, the word “love” jumps to the forefront. In fact, if you think of your favorite brands, you’ll see that you probably care deeply about them because these companies have provided customers with experiences that mattered to them. If you were amazed in a good way by your iPhone 4 and 5, you’ll probably spend money again for an iPhone 6.
• Relationships are based on experiences that people value. In the corporate world, the word experience describes everything from websites to ceiling fans. Experiences are critical because that’s where relationships occur. So they need to be carefully designed. However, focusing on experiences without considering the relationships they enable is short-sighted and can lead companies down a path that doesn’t fulfill their strategies.
For relationship innovation, imagine how people experience things. What happens when you interact with a phone or toy? Do you value that experience? Sometimes the answer is yes; for example, your child has a valued experience when she’s amazed by Disneyland. Other times the answer is no, such as a negative experience when you argue with a customer service representative. Often, you don’t have much of an experience at all when reading a web page while looking for information—but you could.
Valued experiences typically change your state of mind—hopefully for the better. When you feel that a particular shirt makes you look good, it gives you confidence. When your exclusive platinum credit card makes you feel successful, that’s a valued experience.
• Relationships are created over time. Think again about a shirt that you love. Of course, because you love it, you’ll probably order a few more items from the same company. They may also turn out to be satisfying and give you that same level of confidence. You’re hoping that magic will strike again. This, too, is a valued experience. As a result, if they continue to deliver what you like and expect, you start to feel a deeper connection with the company. You stay with them as they change to stay in fashion, and you become partners in an ongoing social journey.
• Not everyone experiences a company the same way, but that doesn’t matter. No two people or interactions are exactly alike, but people’s overall experiences can be remarkably similar over time. Disneyland knows that everyone is going to take his or her own path through its parks—they design for that—but it will largely be similar from an experience standpoint. Businesses need to realize that while they cannot plan exactly how people interact with their products and services, they can work to make sure that key interactions produce great experiences.
• Finally, relationships are strategic, and they involve a long time frame. Their purpose is not to create quick sales, but to make your products or services more valuable to people over time. As a result, consider relationships as a long-term investment. Disney could easily skimp on paint and maintenance and save a good deal of money. Its investors have occasionally asked for exactly that. But that would destroy the magic, which would lessen the experience and, ultimately, the relationship. Over the long haul, this approach destroys the very possibility for the relationship, itself, creating a much bigger problem in the long term.
CASE STUDY: HOW COCA COLA BUILDS VALUE
During the American Super Bowl in 1979, viewers were treated to what’s become known as one of the greatest ads of all time: “Hey kid, catch.” It starred football player “Mean” Joe Greene and a young boy. As a player, Greene was known for living up to his nickname: he was tough and mean. Early in his career, he physically assaulted opposing players and screamed at his teammates when they made mistakes. But the commercial turned his reputation on its head. In it, he was shown coming in exhausted from a game. A kid steps out and hands him a Coke. Greene drinks it down in one gulp and turns to limp away. The boy now looks crestfallen. His hero has not only ignored him but also drunk his Coke. As he turns away, he hears Greene say, “Hey kid, catch.” When he looks back at Greene, the player tosses his football jersey to him.
The ad is amazingly touching. Even if you’re not a Coke fan, it delivers a great feeling, or a valued experience. It touches you and makes you feel something. The Coca-Cola Company is one of the best in the world at doing this. Although its products are nearly identical to others in function and price, its ability to make people smile is something that makes us care about the company.
Not convinced? Let’s look at a unique promotion the company did several years ago for Friendship Day in Latin America. Friendship day is a big holiday in that region. Typically, people spend it with their best friend. That day, Coke debuted a unique Friendship Machine (see figure opposite).
It was three meters high, and the coin slot was high above a person’s head. The kicker was that if two people worked together to get a soda, the machine rewarded them with two for the price of one. People loved it and posted thousands of videos of friends helping each other, often laughing, to get a free drink. By providing such experiences over time, Coke has built