Pick Any Two: Daniel Newman's Thoughts

A few weeks ago, I wrote about trust which featured an interview with the awesome Dan Newman, CEO of UnitedVisual.  Today, I'd like to share with you another of the questions asked of him.

As you'll soon see, I deliberately didn't edit out the guys who randomly walk through as Dan is trying to answer.  This is for two reasons.  One, this is kind of in keeping with our "on the go" and "spur of the moment" type of vibe we like to have with how I write and also with our 678 Partners vlogs.  As to the second reason, I'll get to that in a bit.  In the mean and in between, please watch...

I'd like to highlight something that Dan brought up which is critical.  Interestingly for us, though we didn't direct him, he went straight to pricing.  As he says, price is not the issue.  Even in this economy, people will not set aside the important intangible elements like trust as they decide how and why to do business with one another.

To borrow from Talking Heads, it's "same as it ever was" in distressed economic environments.  No matter how bad it may seem, pricing still does not supplant how important it is for the customer to feel that the vendor is providing the most appropriate solution for the stated need.  In other words, trust always matters.

Price-Quality-Service

We couldn't agree more when Dan explained it nicely in his Price-Quality-Service triangle.  When he suggests "pick any two" it's precisely because price is never the single decisive issue for someone when making a purchase decision.  Though it may contribute in some instances, the point is that there are intangibles that have a hand in selection: anticipated level of quality or the anticipated level of service.

Let's bring this to real life.  All of us have a "gut feel" as we evaluate items for purchase based on our own Price-Quality-Service continuum.  I am picky about gas station brands and consequently pay more at the pump even though it's up to $5/gallon here.  I have weakness for certain brands of clothing as Amir does for his favorite watches.  On the other hand, I have negative hang up about buying private label grocery.  I don't lose sleep over store brand peanuts.

In economics, this is very simply called price elasticity.  And, we know that there are many factors that play into elasticity like budget and income among others.  While I'll never admit to being an awesome economics student, I always felt like much more time and care was spent on the tangibles of elasticity rather than its intangibles.  This conversation with Dan brought that home for me even more.  The intangibles do matter and we need to spend more time caring for them.

Final Thought

I'd like to go back to why I kept the two guys in the video.  The second reason why I kept them in is because it was striking to me how unscripted Dan's answer was.  Despite the interruptions, he quickly gave us a succinct direct answer which showed that this idea of trust and how trust is granted live with him in his daily personal AND business life.  Both his idea of trust and its granting are in his DNA and manifested in his view of Price-Quality-Service.

Do you have a point of view on Dan's Price-Quality-Service triangle?  Please comment below and, if you've liked this post, please share with others.

Parissa Behnia
Idea Chef


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Two Turkish Cheekbones and Facebook

In our apartment building, there is a drycleaning place that doubles as our overnight mail/package room.  As I was picking up an overnight letter the other day, the woman complimented me on my haircut and said that not many people could pull it off.  I pointed to my cheekbones as the reason and the woman said, "Yes, very unusual for a white girl like you to have them."

(Insert screeching braking noise here)

As it happens, though I'm technically Caucasian given my Azeri origins and my people's proximity to the Caucasus mountains, that's not what this woman meant.  She meant white as a code word for "American".  I explained to her that given my people being overrun by various Turkmen and Mongols over time, there was a good reason I have these cheekbones.  

No need to be alarmed.

In case you're worried, I've not taken leave of my senses and decided to write about bone structure.  There is a point.  All the while I was speaking with her, I was a little surprised that she "went there" by guessing at ethnicity.  It's not usually a safe place to go but she didn't mean anything by it.  I started thinking about these little assumptions or judgements we have about others -- innocuous or otherwise.

This actually is  a post about knowing with whom you're speaking.  It's about taking a moment to think about what you're communicating before you put pen to paper, fingers to keyboard, words to mouth, etc.  I know that we believe we do it all the time.  But I'm suggesting here we don't do it as often or as effectively as we could.

Case in point: this Tuesday, Amir and I will celebrate our 3rd anniversary (the inspiration for our business name comes from our wedding date of 06/07/08).  Facebook has kindly reminded me of this date not unlike the reminders I get for friend's birthdays.  I know that sometimes people forget anniversaries but, given our business name, it's not as likely in our case...  so far!  

Facebook suggested I send a message to Amir.

Look, I do not expect Facebook to be "smart" enough to realize I'll likely not forget my anniversary because of my business name.  But, I do admit some surprise that it suggested I send him a message.  Sure, I suppose I could.  But, given our relationship, I could also tell him to his face.  Or, if he's out, call him or text him because surely at this point, he's given me his cell phone number.

In a previous life, I learned enough about programming to know that this is an algorithm that pops up a message when a friend's event is near.  I get how and why Facebook sent the message suggestion.  But, I'm wondering why it's hard for Facebook to have an exception for anniversaries where they resist the urge to suggest we send the other a message -- unless you're into that which is a whole other blog topic/forum altogether.

Who do we think you are?

When I saw the Facebook message suggestion pop up, it got me thinking of the lady and my cheekbones. And, in both instances, I saw the possibility that neither party knew who I was.  I also saw that they were pretty comfortable with that.  Perhaps the lady thought by bonding with me, I'd bring more dry cleaning business to her (not a chance as their success rate is dismal).  And, Facebook being Facebook, it wants me to spend more time on its platform than intended in their aim to dominate share of mind.

In both instances though, their efforts (though admirable) ring hollow.  In both instances, instead of feeling like an individual, I was lumped in a group to which I don't belong and treated in a generic sort of manner. In both instances, I have a very small amount of scorn.

And herein lie my questions for you.  My anecdotes are tiny and likely soon forgotten by both you and me.  However, what if these were significant errors?  What if your marketing or sales teams quickly put 2 and 2 together in order to get a quick/larger sale but tragically came up with 5 as their answers?  Worse yet, what if they didn't know that 5 was the wrong answer?

Since I mentioned my roots to you in the beginning, I'll end with a Persian poem that fits these anecdotes:

One who knows and knows that he knows

This is a man of knowledge, get to know him!

One who knows, but doesn't know that he knows

This is a man who's unaware, so bring it to his attention.

One who doesn't know, but knows that he doesn't know

This is an illiterate man, teach him!

One who doesn't know and doesn't know that he doesn't know

This is a dumb man, and would be dumb forever.

Parissa Behnia

Idea Chef

678Partners@gmail.com

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