Why you shouldn’t use TLA’s
So I recently had to go to see a Podiatrist and if you’re wondering what they do, they look after feet. I’ve been struggling with one of my toes which goes numb and then occasionally becomes extremely painful. My local GP sent me to see the Podiatrist to find out if they could help me. The Podiatrist sent me off for a scan on my feet to see what was going on. Which was all great until it came to finding out the results of the scan.
I wrongly assumed that I would get the results from the Podiatrist as they are experts in feet after all, so I went along for another appointment with them only to discover that they weren’t the ones who would look a the results of my scan. “Who would?” I asked becoming a little confused, “your GP” they replied, “Why” said I “as you’re the ones who are experts in feet, I assumed that you would be looking at them”. “Oh no” they replied, “because the GP ordered the tests they would be the ones to look at the results.” Other than the fact that my GP would be looking a the scan, what really staggered me was the expectation that I knew what the process was for getting the results of my scan was…
Now I’m going to guess that you’re wondering what my tribulations with a Podiatrist and the NHS has to with growing your business and business in general. Well there are lots of lessons in my simple yet complex interaction with the NHS and my feet.
The first lesson is that your customers / clients are not experts in what you do. I’m not an expert in the somewhat byzantine processes of the NHS, servicing cars or buying IT services yet when I speak to people from the NHS, garages and IT companies they think I am. They use industry specific jargon in their interactions with me, they say things about ECU’s (Engine control units) and SIP’s (Session Initiated Protocols) as if I’m as familiar with these terms as they are. They use ‘TLA’s (Three letter acronym) almost ubiquitously. By the way, did you know that there are 73 different meanings for ‘TLA’ in the dictionary, you can check them all out here (Click Here). The use of jargon and acronyms leads to unclear communications between people and the prospective customer. You can’t baffle people into buying as Albert Einstein said:-
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
So, you should be making sure that you don’t overuse jargon, and that your communications are on a level that ensures that the other side (i.e your prospect) understands exactly what you mean and why they should buy your product or service. So don’t say “Our telephony system uses VOIP as a means of communication delivery”. Say “We use the internet to make your phone calls, and this means that you benefit from cheaper calls and lower line rental without the loss of service or quality”.
The next lesson is about the customer journey. I’m sure that the nice people in the NHS did not really design my customer journey to be as difficult as it was, it just kinda developed that way. As the GP is the fund holder its natural to assume that they would want to see what they paid for and therefore send them my scan. The fact that my GP (as good as they are) are not experts in the finer workings of my feet didn’t seem to be important to the people designing my journey through their system, the G in GP does after all stand for general.
Have you deliberately designed your customer’s journey through your system?
- Have you tested it yourself?
- Have you tried to buy your stuff (whatever it is)?
- Have you personally used your services to see how good they really are?
I’m going to guess not, because in my experience with hundreds of business owners over the last 6 years very few have. They kinda let it develop naturally just like the NHS has done with my journey through their system.
Spend some time checking on the journey the customer has through your system, from beginning to end. The experience the customer has through your system is key to gaining their loyalty and as we know loyal customers are priceless whereas satisfied customers are just ok. Loyal customers not only come back more often they refer as well. Satisfied customers will jump from supplier to supplier as soon as one offers a slightly better price they’re off.
If you want to see some great examples of businesses that understand the customer journey look no further than the mobile phone industry. As part of their understanding of the customers journey they have made switching phones as easy as it could possibly be, even porting over your contacts, photos and links from your old phone to your new one as seamless as possible. Even the unboxing of a new phone is recognised as part of the customer journey and made into an experience.
Finally, people may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.
Twelve intensive half-day meetings.
