Help
Help 1
I’m dealing right now with two technological bureacracries: the telco Optus, and Sonos (who make bluetooth speakers). Optus installed 5G internet at home, and initially, I got no signal at all; my wife has a Sonos in her office which stubbornly refuses to connect to any devices. I had lost my cool with both devices, and in a pique wanted to send them back.
But, then I did something sensible with each. I contacted tech support, Sonos by web chat, Optus by text message, where they promised me a return phone call.
In each case, the support experience was superb. I not only calmed down, but am happily now using both products.
Vikram, from Sonos tech support, spent 45 minutes on a chat with me, until I had to leave for a meeting. He gave me one last recommendation (and which worked!), and signed off with these magical words: “Thank you for your patience and I hope you felt my intentions in helping you today”.
Len, a Filipino lady from Optus, has valiantly been texting and phoning me for two weeks nearly every day, each time being pleasant, clear and helpful. I have a 250Mb/sec connection (in our main living area at least!), and I’m impressed with Len’s willingness to keep contacting me until she knows I’ve got wifi throughout the house.
In both cases ‘help’ isn’t a verb, it’s an outcome or, in Vikram’s word, an intention.
Q: How does your organisation’s ‘help’ overcome a bad initial product or service experience?
Help 2
Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about clay pots, tools for hunting, grinding-stones, or religious artifacts.
But no. Mead said that the first evidence of civilization was a 15,000 years old fractured femur found in an archaeological site. A femur is the longest bone in the body, linking hip to knee. In societies without the benefits of modern medicine, it takes about six weeks of rest for a fractured femur to heal. This particular bone had been broken and had healed.
Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, you cannot drink or hunt for food. Wounded in this way, you are meat for your predators. No creature survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal. You are eaten first.
A broken femur that has healed is evidence that another person has taken time to stay with the fallen, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended them through recovery. A healed femur indicates that someone has helped a fellow human, rather than abandoning them to save their own life.
“Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts,” Margaret Mead said.
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Did you like that story? I did too, when I first read it.
But then, I did what I always do. I looked for the source. And, it turns out there isn’t one. It’s like Drucker’s “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. He never said it. And, Mead never talked about civilisation starting with healed femurs. The story is sticky enough to have been shared millions of time, however.
And, if I’m honest, that is the interesting part. That we (me included!) are seduced by this beautiful idea that civilisation is founded on helping one another.
Q: What stories do you tell — and retell — to make a powerful point to those around you?
Fake help
Yes, this is real. A real Californian public health warning that is.
This is a case of well-intentioned regulation gone totally haywire. Proposition 65 was designed to protect the public against consuming, or contacting, known carcinogens. The law even states the threshold: “no significant risk” is a level of exposure that would cause no more than 1 extra case of cancer in 100,000 people over a 70-year lifetime. That’s a pretty low bar, isn’t it, which makes it hard for companies to know when to comply1. Some, like Disneyland, just play it safe and admit to it.
But, notice something else. Before 2018 it was not necessary to state which part of the product was relevant. So if you buy a light, you don’t know if it’s the bulb, or the cord, or the switch. At Disneyland, it could be anything.
How does this sign actually protect anyone, except the few who see it, and decide to go home? To their carcinogenic lamps and foods.
Q: Do you ever give out information that is no help to your customers, but only serves to protect yourselves?
Please quickly click the ‘heart’ to let me know you’ve enjoyed reading this week.
Spend your weekend amongst helpful people, ignore useless signs, and see you next Friday.
Andrew
The Europeans have a MUCH better system which specifies chemicals and quantified limits: https://www.rohsguide.com/