As with most things in life, the compelling reason to act is when our pain level exceeds our procrastination threshold. In my experience, creating addictive customer experiences is the secret sauce that the upper echelon of professionals use in their highly profitable business practices.

I’ll show you how to create addictive experiences using my voice activated TV remote as an example. Please note that you can create addictive experiences WITHOUT voice-activated remotes, smartphones or any technology at all. This voice-activated remote example is just a story that hopefully will convey my thoughts and give you this knowledge that I think is life changing.

PAIN LEVEL ZERO

In the beginning, if my voice activated TV remote fails, the pain level is zero (0). I have never talked to a remote therefore I have zero expectation.

 

PAIN LEVEL ONE

One day I click on the blue button and say “Science Channel” and without any clicks, I’m watching it. I get comfortable with this capability. Talking to my remote becomes a behavioral standard. If the voice activation fails, I can easily adjust. I simply use the “old fashioned” way of scrolling the Guide until I find the Science Channel. Once I find it, I click once and I’m watching it. My pain level increased from zero (0) to one (1) because I had to search, scroll and click.

PAIN LEVEL TWO

One day I click on the blue button and say “Show me shows that are about space” and without any clicks, I’m looking at dozens of shows in a list on my TV. I get comfortable with finding shows to watch this way. It becomes a behavioral standard. If the voice activation fails, I can adjust BUT I have to click on 12 buttons which now seems like an archaic way of finding shows. This causes stress but it’s no big deal as long as it’s only nonfunctional for a day or two. I can wait. My pain level has risen from a one (1) to a two (2) because I had to push dozens of buttons instead of just talking to my remote.

PAIN LEVEL THREE

One day I click on the blue button and say “Record Talladega Nights” and with one click, my TV will record Talladega Nights next Tuesday at noon regardless if the TV is on or off and save it until space is needed. If the voice activation fails, I can do without. I have no idea how to record Talladega Night without the voice activation feature BUT it’s not that important. My pain level has risen from a two (2) to a three (3) because I had to do without something I wanted (but that I did not need).

PAIN LEVEL FOUR

One day I click on the blue button and say “Wake me in one hour” and without any clicks, an alarm is set which will play a sound at a certain decibel rather the TV is on or off. If I don’t click on the snooze or stop button after 5 minutes it calls my phone. If the voice activation fails, I MUST find alternative means. I must switch. I turn to Siri on my smartphone and request that she wakes me in one hour versus my TV. My pain level has risen from a three (3) to a four (4) because I was forced to go to “plan B” because the remote failed to do its job.

PAIN LEVEL FIVE

During my party, I click on the blue button and say “Pause party” and without any clicks, the party playlist is paused. Over the last two weeks, I’ve been designing a visual and auditory experience for my 30 house guests using socialwalls.live. When the first guest arrived, I said to my remote “play party”. This initiated the playlist that begins by showing 40 Instagram photos from last year’s party while playing a curated song playlist. At some point in the party playlist, every TV in the house automatically announces “dear guest, please proceed to the back deck for a big announcement”. I did this with ZERO CLICKS! I designed this party weeks ago and made dozens of revisions just prior to the party but now that I spoke “play party”, I get to be a host and not worry about the visual and auditory experiences playing on every TV in the house.  Every TV in the house shows a map of where the back deck is located. Again without any clicks or concerns, the TV on the back deck begins to play a video called “WILL YOU MARRY ME” 17 minutes after the announcement. To ensure the marriage proposal timing is perfect, certain voices are allowed to PAUSE the party by pushing the blue button on any remote and saying “pause party”. When the voice activation fails, the party can’t function properly. There is no alternative. The party playlist must be scrapped. My pain level has risen from a four (4) to a five (5) because there is no “plan B”. The party as originally conceived is a total failure. I can still propose marriage but I MUST turn off every TV in the house quickly!

NO PAIN, NO COMPELLING REASON TO ACT

You can create addictive experiences like the one above with and without technology. Before doing so however you need to realize that addicted customers rely on your business processes to function properly! You MUST be able to consistently deliver these customer experiences as promised 99.99% of the time. If your business processes cannot meet this threshold you need to outsource to a cloud service provider or a business process outsourcer. Addicted customers will destroy you in the Review Economy in which we all live!!!!!  If you get them hooked on your new drug then fail to deliver, they will tell the world about their experiences with your experience! A LEVEL 5 PAIN THRESHOLD is highly profitable as long as you can deliver. Do not attempt this is you are not well prepared to meet a 99.99% business process uptime.

Nobody likes to be addicted to anything! However, everybody loves business processes that MAKE MY LIFE EASIER! We are addicted to our smartphones because they make our lives easier. There are millions of possibilities right now for YOU to create an addictive experience and reap the rewards. You must create addictive experiences if you want to thrive in the Review Economy in which you currently reside. These are the FACTS:

1. If I can easily adjust, I don’t need you.
2. If I can wait for you to fix your dysfunctional business practices, I don’t need you.
3. If I can do without your product or service or capability, I don’t need you.
4. If you can’t deliver as EXPECTED, I must switch teams.
5. If I can’t function properly without you, I’m yours!

THE GREAT NEWS!

Creating addictive customer experiences in 2017 is easier than you think. Right now there are millions of possibilities for you to create an environment in which I need you and rely on you because you perform as EXPECTED 99.99% of the time. The demand for YOU exists right now!

You really are needed!

Your personality is addictive. Your work acumen is addictive. Your creativity and collaborative spirit are addictive. Your mindfulness is addictive. Your resourcefulness is addictive.

THE BAD NEWS:

I can go from not talking to my remote to I can’t function properly if I lose my remote in less than 30 days now! Your customers adopted new behavioral standards that changed how they do business with everyone, not just you. That train has left the station. As I write this, Amazon, Netflix, Uber, Apple, Facebook, and Airbnb are creating new additive experiences that will affect YOUR bottom line (regardless of your job title or industry).

GET STARTED TODAY FOR FREE!

Right now take off your shoes. Stop what you are doing and take off your shoes. If you are not wearing shoes, put on someone else’s shoes. To create addicted customers you MUST take off your shoes! You MUST put on their shoes and walk their journey for an entire 24 hours. While you do this customer journey mapping exercise, relieve yourself of all selfish thoughts. Do NOT just put on their shoes in your store! Do NOT have them only buy your products; pick your colors; eat at your restaurant. Do NOT have them agree with your terms and conditions. Let that go for 24 hours and just be them. Just walk in their shoes for 24 hours. Drop off their kids in your mind. Make their dinner in your mind. Get stuck in their traffic in your mind. Go to sleep when they go to sleep. For an entire 24 hours be your customer OR your boss OR your spouse OR your employee OR your teenager OR your business partner. This exercise will serve you masterfully.

You will be amazed by the outcome!

If you need my help, contact me and I’ll do my very best to help you get started creating addictive customer experiences.