Serve with a Show & Tell
How customer success can make even a painful meeting more meaningful
Welcome to the latest entry in The Workaround. You’re in good company with thousands of fellow entrepreneurs and innovators who have subscribed!
I’m your host, Bob, and my mission here is to share personal, behind-the-scenes stories of ups and downs from my career leading tech startups and corporate innovation.
I write to make you think, smile, and discover a shortcut to success or a trap to avoid.
Here we go…
In times of division between nations and political parties, there’s at least one thing we eternally agree with: Going to a doctor or dentist's office is not something we circle on our calendars with a smiley face.
I like my physicians, and fortunately, I’m pretty healthy. But I find such appointments annoying at best and frightening at worst—except for one: My eye doctor. Despite my light-sensitive eyes, which always seem to need upgrades for both near and far vision, I look forward to these annual checkups. That’s because I learn something every time I go.
Like my eye doctor, the best service providers know a little trick to make customers more comfortable and keep them coming back: Showing and telling can be the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down.
The Doctor Will See You Now
I’ve seen an eye doctor at least once a year since age 15. The drill is always the same: Fill out the same forms, squint (and weep) through various machine tests, sit in that chair while the optometrist plays the “Which is better, one or two?” game, and get ushered over to the person who lets you try out glasses and/or contacts.
Historically, I had gone to one of those chain places near my home. The service was fine, and the doctors were fine. But a few years ago, the office I used to visit closed, and I got a recommendation to try a new non-chain office, Montgomery Vision Care.
The process at this new spot was mostly the same—until I met the optometrist, Dr. Laura Fiorenza. She welcomed me to her practice and then spent 15 minutes walking me through a retina scan of my eye that her team had taken upon my arrival.
With a kind of giddy excitement, she spoke aloud and used her computer mouse to point out various parts of my eyeball.
“You have some sliding in this region, which is the cause of your nearsightedness.”
“Those floaters are normal and often come through fetal development, but you need to let me know if you see new ones.”
“You’ve got a nice 2-to-1 ratio of arteries to veins.”
“There’s a small hemorrhage there, but it doesn’t seem to be anything to worry about.”
“Your optic nerve looks wonderful!”
Dr. Fiorenza is more informative and interested than any other healthcare provider I have met. She proactively goes out of her way to show and share what’s happening in my body. It’s nothing practiced or acted—she just speaks aloud as she makes an assessment. Aside from the info, this brings a refreshing level of transparency.
Every other physician I’ve met seems to run in, out, and onto the next customer. Dr. Fiorenza is just as busy as them all; she’s even running her own practice, but the time she spends with us is more meaningful.
She also has caught things that others have missed. My younger daughter had an eye condition that was missed for years by another practice. Fiorenza noticed and treated it before things got worse—which further instilled our trust and convinced me that her service method is much more than for show.
As a result, my entire family of four eyes keeps returning year after year, despite passing many other eye centers on the 30-minute drive there. I pay out of pocket for additional tests because I understand the value and want her armed with as much data as possible to keep me healthy. I buy glasses and contacts from her office despite knowing I could probably find them cheaper elsewhere. And I highly recommend her to others.
Seeing Show & Tell All Over
The best service providers seem to take this show & tell approach naturally. My brother-in-law, Rob Turner, is a business attorney I’ve worked with over the years on some tense issues. He does a fantastic job of explaining the law and potential issues and remedies so that I can understand and make better decisions. Same with my Financial Advisor, Ralph Lipsey. The markets go up and down, but when we meet, Ralph consistently makes me smarter and more confident in his recommendations. They both perk up when I ask a question, are patient in their responses and will come back with more information if they don’t have an exact answer—rather than just delivering a line of b.s. to move me along.
I’ve personally learned how to improve along these lines in our recruiting practice. I once shared a job candidate with a new client with an unusual but interesting background. I sent along the recommendation without explaining the value I saw and used email instead of one-on-one time. No wonder they quickly said no to someone who could have been great. I won’t screw that up again.
I did better with a recent client who had not previously worked with a recruiting agency. I took the time to explain how the business works, the pros and cons of our differences and pricing model, and even stated why our firm might not be a good fit for their needs. They decided to work with us, and the relationship has been great.
If you look around, the tactic of teaching and explaining is behind many successes and new trends. For example:
The Challenger Sale - Based on a book by this name, the model goes against the prevailing relationship and script-based models. Instead, its approach is to educate clients regarding their problems and potential solutions. The salesperson barely brings up their company name until the end of the meeting.
Content Marketing - When done well, this is marketing with meaning that benefits your customers. In our influencer marketing company, for example, we regularly share seasonal category insights and a scheduling guide. They can benefit from this without buying from us, but they frequently reward our helpful information with a contract when they plan.
Explainer Videos - These took off with the launch of startups as a way to make a new tech product much easier to understand. The world of health care frequently uses “mechanism of action” information to help people better understand how a drug works—giving patients more trust and even better outcomes. It’s why Pepto-Bismol commercials still show that stomach-coating visual 123 years after its launch! (btw, there’s a great explainer video company in my Bonus Content below)
Why it Works
If you need more rationale to turn this idea into reality for your sales, marketing, and customer service efforts, here’s where I’ve seen the impact:
Earns trust - We naturally have our defense up when spending our time and money in a new place. But the more information we receive, the more we gain confidence that the product or service provider knows what they are doing.
Builds relationships - We like people who are helpful and passionate about their work. You see they care about you and what they represent.
Trains clients to help you help them - Once my optometrist explained how a certain vitamin impacts my long-term vision—within that specific vein right there—I’m more likely to add that pill to my morning routine. When working with a creative agency, we appreciate when they describe why they need our feedback by a specific date.
Creates reciprocity - Like in content marketing, when you lead with helpful information, human beings are programmed to want to repay that favor at some point.
Information is interesting - At last week’s eye exam, I learned what “right eye dominant” means—at age 51—and that pro baseball players tend to have eye dominance opposite of their batting stance; e.g., right-handed batters with left eye dominance have an easier time seeing a pitch. Now I know, and so do you.
It’s usually free - You don’t have to find a budget for this. You’re already meeting with clients and pushing marketing messages. Just tweak your approach and reap the dividends.
It’s more fun - As long as you actually like your job, it’s a pleasure to teach others. And when we’re having fun in our work, it rubs off on our clients, who like us even more.
Put it all together, and the result can be more new clients, retaining historic clients, bigger spending each year, and strong word-of-mouth.
You Can Trigger this in Others
A few weeks ago, at 4 am, our home fire alarm went off, and we were too busy running around looking for flames to catch the alarm company’s phone call. A firetruck soon arrived, and we had three burly firefighters in our home suited up for action.
We soon realized that a weak battery in our smoke detector triggered the alarm. But as the fire team turned to leave, my pajama-clad wife took the opportunity to ask them a few questions about how the message showed up at their station, whether they always get here so quickly, and how we might better test our detectors in the future. The crew happily answered our questions and left us better able to prevent false alarms in the future.
The bonus lesson of this post is that you can turn the Show & Tell strategy around and use it to get better service from the partners you work with.
Many things in life can feel like that dreaded doctor appointment—say, any meeting with an attorney, ad agency, or software salesperson. You know they are smarter than you on the topic—which is why you’re hiring them—but you fear looking dumb and being taken advantage of.
I’ve learned to solve this by asking questions.
Take a deep breath to center yourself, remember you are the paying client, and ask the questions rattling around in your head. Ask why that test is necessary, why billing is set up monthly, or why that specific person is assigned to your account. Ask it with a smile and a sense of genuine curiosity; the other side usually won’t feel defensive.
Asking questions and flipping their script into a mutual discussion will also help you relax and feel more confident. And seeing if the other side returns with either a defensive or positive reaction is a little test of whether they will be a good partner.
I’m attracted to work with leaders who publish content regularly because I can see how they make decisions and elements of their character. And that’s one of the reasons I consistently write here.
I absolutely love the art of building business and forging high-performance teams. I wear my heart on my sleeve here weekly to show more of myself and attract like-minded clients, partners, and employees. I hope we can work together someday.
As for the content for me to write about? It’s easy. I just keep my eyes open!
How we might work together…
My team and I lead Hearty, a boutique recruiting service that helps tech-forward companies hire proven talent. Our senior team of operators sources and screens, saving you time and money. When you need help, let’s chat.
Need help with a software project? Perhaps a product MVP, a project that requires outside help, or a fractional CTO for key strategic decisions? Our team at Shipwright Studio has worked together to build multiple successful startups, and we love helping leaders turn their dreams into reality. We're the team our clients trust for software built to last.
Looking for Influencer Marketing and Content Creation? The team from our previous company is back by popular demand with A2 Influence. We’re ramping up now and would love to share more.
Feel free to schedule time together during my Open Hours for questions, feedback, networking, or any other topic!
BONUS: Cool Content of the Week
A little something I found meaningful. You might agree…
The Most Important Question in Your Life
We’re heading into the time of year when we tend to look back on the past and think about how we might improve ourselves in the year ahead. If you’re in that frame of mind, I heartily recommend investing the nine minutes to watch this video by Mark Manson.
Mark is the author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. This and his other books are best sellers because he helps us cut through the crap of life in a light way. This video is no different. Its idea is that we must consciously choose what pain we want in our lives. It’s hard to capture the idea here, so watch the video, which is even better because it’s animated by the team at After Skool. We all need the YouTube algorithm to put more stuff like this in our suggestion boxes.
You know what's funny - this article hit my inbox an hour after I finished my annual eye exam. I'll keep this office in mind for next time!
Great insights, as always! I'm actually in the midst of a full suite of content marketing that is highly educational, valuable, and free :)