Most Customers Want There to Be a Better Way

Customer satisfaction should only be measured on a binary scale:  satisfied or not satisfied.  If I was king for the day I would say that when asked if satisfied, the customer could only answer:

1)      Unbelievably Great, or

2)      There Must Be a Better Way

Even without my coronation, I propose that this is the way customers think today but are reluctant to be so emphatic about it.  We all purchase products and consume services that do less than blow our minds with quality, service, or value; let alone all three.

In some cases the government has reduced our choices (think internet access), or monopoly power has reduced competition (think computer operating systems), or strangely, we have voluntarily locked ourselves in a cage with reduced options (think frequent flier miles).

The unsatisfied / must be a better way category takes up an overwhelmingly large portion of the consumer landscape because we have made price a disproportionately large factor in product comparisons.   In addition, some very expensive but unsatisfying products (think of an expensive luxury car with poor reliability) have eroded the trust between the manufacturers and their customers. 

Just when you think we are doomed to fill our lives with cheap and crappy products delivered across the Pacific by the shipload, some unbelievably great products arrive to save the day.  My favorites are the Tesla and the Nest.  Elon Musk and Tony Fadell have delivered to us products that are indeed unbelievably great.  And customers are willing to pay well above the competitors prices for them – therefore restoring my faith in us, the consumer.

These two guys and their products are great disruptors.  They refused to believe that cars or home automation were places without innovation or an appreciation for good engineering and design.  We all should look to their example the next time we are feeling that there must be a better way.

Google is a company that believes in a better way.  Today they announced 34 new cities for their Google Fiber project. Unfortunately for me, Seattle is not on the list. I have written before that I think Google Fiber is one of the most innovative marketing ideas ever.  Imagine taking a broken industry, introducing a infinitely better solution, charging a premium for it, and being viewed as the white knight for doing so.  That is so awesome!

Licking the Cookie

Fortune Magazine and an unfortunate number of other publications have reported on phenomenon called "Licking the Cookie" at Microsoft.  You know, practice of claiming ownership of a project and therefore preventing anyone else from actually working on it.  Just like when you were a kid and your younger sister licked the last cookie on the plate to keep you from eating it.

The image is hard to get out of my head and now I see the same phenomenon everywhere.  What is it that compels people to get in the way of a problem, just so that one day, if they ever get around to it, they could take a swing at solving it?  Owning unsolved perpetual problems does not seem like the most logical way to advance or otherwise gain job security.

This dynamic does enter the logical universe when the cookie licker also owns whatever would be replaced when the problem is solved.  The guy in charge of a multi-year CRM implementation would most certainly throw sand in the gears of any conversation with Salesforce.com.  Better yet, he could lick the Salesforce.com cookie and make sure its evaluation never ever sees the light of day.

Entrenched interests are doing this everywhere.  Most visible to me is the movie industry trying to prevent a free and open internet and drafting behind them are the television and cable people.  Every once in a while a bright light shines out from one of the big auto makers, but for the most part they are sitting heavily on alternative fuel vehicles.

We are very lucky here in the US because we have a vibrant start up ecosystem that will gladly run around the ends of the big fat cookie lickers.  Not so much in other economies.  So thank you Google for turning the newspaper industry up side down and go Tesla!

Cool Car, Cool Idea

The new Tesla all electric sedan is not going to be out for over a year but that has not slowed down the Tesla PR machine.  Yesterday they did a joint announcement with Autodesk, the maker of Autocad computer aided design software about the new Model S going on display at Autodesk in San Francisco.  

This is a great example of using partnerships, in this case a vendor, to promote products.  Both Tesla Motors and Autodesk win and there is very little cost for either company.  Cool.