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Industry News
What Happened to SIMPLE?
By Roland Graham, AVDMedia
With great anticipation I called my satellite system installer last week to schedule new service at my house.
My request was a simple one - "please come and install the service ASAP". Four days later I found myself
engaged in a process with the installer that was anything but simple.
As a customer I became far more engaged in the process than I wanted to be, and it took far longer for the
installation to be done than it should have. What happened? And more importantly, what lessons can be
learned by those of us in the Digital Home business?
It all started when the installer informed me that the company required that a new and larger dish be
installed. I asked how long this requirement had been in place. He chuckled, "One day. As a matter of fact
you're the first customer that we'll be installing this dish for. You're kind of our guinea pig". "I'm
your what?" I asked. "I really have NO desire to be anybody's guinea pig, and how complicated is this new
process?" "I'm not really sure," he replied. "We're watching the training video right now".
My excitement suddenly turned to dread, and I knew that if I didn't manage the situation closely I'd be the
victim of a very bad experience. Yet, I didn't want to be the project manager on this either. I just wanted a
professional (i.e. someone trained, experienced and confident) to come to my house in a timely manner and get
the job done. I wanted someone on the phone who was straightforward and self-confident. I wanted the whole
job to be done in a single afternoon. I wanted to be enjoying my new high-definition content the next day.
To take from an old Saturday Night Live line, "I just wanted it to be simple, is that SOOOO WRONG?"
It's all About the Experience
Delivering Digital Home services to consumers requires a commitment to discovering the needs and wants of your
clients. This includes their technical desires (i.e. Big Screen TV, Surround Sound System, Media Server, etc.)
and the experience that they expect to have with you during the process.
Highly successful companies in the market today are masters at synchronizing these two key elements: product
delivery and consumer expectations. If consumers expect "simple", you cannot deliver "complex" and succeed.
As straightforward as this may sound, it is far more complicated to execute. It requires a deliberate plan
of action, and it requires that your entire team follow the plan with each and every customer.
If my friendly satellite installer had a client-centric plan of action in place he wouldn't have exposed me to
the fact that he had never installed the new dish. Instead, he would have already been competent in the new
technology by installing the dish at his own place of business or home before bringing it to me.
Remember, consumers of digital home technologies want state-of-the-art technology. But, rarely should you
expect to find a client who wants to be a guinea pig as you learn how to implement a new product or system for
the first time.
In the next article, I'll bring you up-to-date on my satellite installation status and discuss some proven
client expectations that you can fulfill with confidence.
Roland Graham is a long time consultant to the industry and co-founder of AVDMedia Inc., a specialized Home
Integration design firm. Roland can be reached at rgraham@avdmedia.com.
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