Guest Stan Phelps: solving needs or exceeding expectations - which is most important?
In February, I wrote a post that triggered a bit of a debate. I posed the question, "Exceeding expectations or solving customer problems: What's more important?" You may have seen it here, on Customer Experience for Profit, or over at CustomerThink where my blog is in syndication.
The post was inspired by a Forbes article by Robert Passikoff of Brand Keys entitled, "The Final Frontier: Customer Expectations." My post received more than a dozen comments from customer experience and brand thought leaders Robert Passikoff, Bob Thompson, Hank Barnes, Ian Williams, Maz Iqbal, Joseph Michelli and David Jacques. Comment after comment we see that both are important. And I shared a belief drawn from many years of work at Aveus: a need must be solved before a delightful surprise translates to meaningful value.
Last week I caught up with Stan Phelps via Skype to continue the conversation. Stan crowd sourced 1001 examples of brands that deliver something unexpected, and created What's Your Purple Goldfish?, so no surprise - we had many ideas to exchange. Here is Part One of our discussion:
Here are our main points in summary:
- Linda - "WOW" gets used too much in marketing and is not a legitimate business goal. It's downright scary from a sustainability perspective.
- Stan - Acknowledging Linda's POV ... people don't buy products, they look to solve their needs.
- Stan - The importance of solving those needs should not be understated, but at the end of the day all companies solve needs. The key is to do the "little extras."
- Linda - Every business solves needs, the "how well" is where differentiation lives.
- Stan - Merely meeting expectations is no longer enough. Your product is now your marketing.
- Stan - Too much of marketing is focused on the prospect . . . and not enough on the customer.
- Linda - From discussions with business leaders, hearing that they focus on creating demand (70%) and focus on current customers (30%) as a rule.
- Linda - The little extra should be about anticipating and solving customer needs.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of this conversation over on Stan's Marketing Lagniappe blog.
About Linda
A blissfully twisted career path and a passion for the link between customer experience and financial performance. Gets excited when actions align to a target experience "front domino." More about Linda.
Customer experience can drive better financial returns. Leaders tell me that they know this intuitively, but need proof of the payoff, as well as a map showing how to translate a target experience into the actions across their organizations that generate those returns. So Domino is the first how-to book on customer experience. Read and find evidence that customer experience can be a path to better profits. See the gaps and opportunities between the customer experience you have and the one you want. Provoke conversations in your team, area or whole organization about the actions that link customer experience to the financial reward you deserve. Learn more.
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5 comments on this post.
I heard this great quote the other day, "people don't want a shovel, the want a hole." Your product is probably not the end goal of a customer. How does it make their life better?
You're so right. We buy outcomes. We buy a need, problem or desire solved.
One of my favorite simple examples of this: Let's say I woke up this morning with a stiff neck. I could, end the end, wind up with a new pillow, a chiropractor, a few Advil or work out in the gym. Hard to argue that it's relief from pain (vs a new pillow or a pill) that I'm after. Inside a company this always leads to a more meaningful view of competitors, too.
Thanks for your comment. It's true - what we solve is much more important than what we sell.
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