Ken Jennings: Watson, Jeopardy and me, the obsolete know-it-all

Trivia whiz Ken Jennings has made a career as a keeper of facts; he holds the longest winning streak in history on the U.S. game show Jeopardy. But in 2011, he played a challenge match against supercomputer Watson -- and lost. With humor and humility, Jennings tells us how it felt to have a computer literally beat him at his own game, and also makes the case for good old-fashioned human knowledge.

Our customers are empowered and we can’t control that

Consumers are absolutely empowered through technology now. That means our customers are as well. It has happened and it is a fact. We can’t control that. Sorry to point that out but that is our starting reality. 

Our customers are empowered. They know it. Do we?

They know they have influence. Do we know they have influence?

Our customers know they have voice that is powerful. They know they have more power than ever before. Do we know that they do and do we act like it?

If you a member of the C-Suite or executive team, did you receive a report today alerting you to what your customers or clients said about you on Facebook, your call center, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, Blogs, Pinterest, etc. (the list is ever evolving). Do you receive it every day? Do you get weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual summaries? Have you engaged with any of them personally yourself? If not, it is a reasonable question why isn’t that important to you?

Even if we aren’t seeing it, other customers (or potential customers) are seeing what is going on. They are forming an opinion of us based on those comments. We can’t control what is being said. We can control how we will react in real time about it. We can control changing the experience in the future.

Say a customer has a bad experience on your web site and they tweet about it. Do we think others have had the same experience and haven’t said anything? You bet they have. Do we think others will find the same thing and either say something or not in the future? Yes they will find it and yes they will say something or not. There is no hiding. If there is one horrible review out there, they will find it and not the 100 positive things others have said about us.

Companies are beginning to listen to what is being said on social media and respond to it if they can. It does require a commitment of resources but it is not going away. More and more customers (or potential customers) are going to share the good, the bad and the ugly about their experience with us.

Have you started to shift resources into engaging on social platforms? How does that compare to your investment in your call center? Is your call center and social media center integrated in the approach you want your customers to have? We have to manage our online reputation.

What are our customers going to align with if we don’t first define the experience up front? What do we want them to be a part of? Now is the time to invest more in the experience rather than improve how the sales transaction occurs. Our future as executives is in creating programs that scream out in splendor. It is about experiences that kindle meaningful and sincere interactions at every turn. At the center of our evolution (or is it a revolution) is the experience. The experience is everything now.

Are your customer experiences intentional?

What does the future of your business look like? Is it focused on your mission AND design?

The premise of this manifesto is all about being intentional about the experiences your customers are having. 

How many products and services do you have? How many channels (Web, Social, Mobile, Call Center, Direct Mail, etc.) are you focused on? Do they all have a unified design and experience?

Mission + Design = Intentional experiences

We are clear about our mission. Are we clear about our design?

If not, we aren’t ready to be the digital executive of the future. If we aren’t ready to be a digital executive, we aren’t ready for the future. If we aren’t ready for the future, will we have a relevant job 5 to 10 years from now? Tough questions I know but worth considering.

So here are a couple more of intriguing questions:

- How do we ensure that our customers are having an amazing experience?

- Why make customers cope with the ordinary?

- Why aren’t customers more engaged with both your mission and revenue opportunities?

Our focus and day to day work should be about creating “customer experiences” in this new age of consumerism. What is going on in the rest of the world isn’t lost on your customers. They are judging you based on those experiences. We can bury our head in the sand. That will only get us left behind. Your credibility as an executive is at stake.

Consumers expect more from businesses more than ever before. So our products and services have a level of expectation that our business may not be aware of. How does the experience your customers are having compare to USAA for example? Do you know?

Here is the harsh reality. Customers not only expect better experiences, they believe they are absolutely entitled to them. Will we be intentional in delivering on those expectations? Are we ready to get left behind with stagnant growth if we don’t deliver those customer experiences? We may not be ready for that but it may already be happening. I encourage you to think about it. It is a good question to ponder.

There is a unique opportunity to create amazing and positive experiences at our stores, on the web, at your call center (if you have one), on smart phones and in our direct mail pieces. Are all of those unified? Is the experience amazing?

That amazing or ordinary (or perhaps even bad) experience will be how your business is measured in terms of satisfaction or even our revenue success. Do you know how your customers feel about the experience they are having with your company? If not, why not? Are you being intentional about that experience they just had at your store? Is it consistent with the experience they want on your web site?

As an executive, you have an amazing opportunity to lead the charge regardless of your role. If you do, you will be a hero.

What is a Digital Business Ecosystem? Do you need one?

 I am concerned that way too many executives have the "bolt on" mentality when comes to being digital. "Being digital" is a unified way of doing business. In that context, it makes sense to have a Chief Digital Officer. In a "bolt on" world, it does not.

As executives, we get to decide if we want to implement a unified approach to delivering programs, products and services to our customers. It is our choice. It should be intentional. It should be well designed.

One aspect of the research I’d like to highlight here is the need to think of digital as more than simply a bolt-on to your business. To create a digital business able to compete in the age of the customer, we need to think of building out a digital business ecosystem. I know what you’re thinking — "not another ecosystem" — and yes, it’s a very overused term, especially by consultants and analysts. But I simply can’t think of a better term to describe the interconnected and codependent relationships needed in a fully digitized business (see diagram). Source: Chief Digital Officer: Fad or Future? | Forrester Research (Nigel Fenwick)

80% of job applicants lie

I found it stunning in the article below that over 80% of candidates lie during the interview.  There is also plenty of data about the same kind of behavior for resumes and applications. 

Over the years, I’ve become a big fan of tools to help improve the hiring process. Recently, I discovered Affintus, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that features a candidate ranking and matching system that compares every candidate to a unique Job Formula and to every other candidate applying for the job. Job Formulas are matching algorithms that can be tailored to your company and position by simply having your top performers complete the Affintus questionnaire. All this is done upfront, before any candidates are screened or interviewed. I have used it twice myself in the last few months for executive level searches and find it invaluable. Here is a one page overview.

If you would be interested in knowing more, I’d love to chat. Just let me know and I can set up a quick 30 minute conversation. 

http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/06/vast-majority-of-applicants-li/

Now is the time to make different decisions

As a company executive, you have focused on some traditional markets and strategies. Your mission has compelled you to think this way. Maybe you have benefited from direct mail, major customers and marketing funnels. Perhaps your growth over the last 10 years has been from eCommerce. That history and success had you focused on Baby Boomers or the generation before them known as the “Lucky Few” (or “Silent Generation”).

The new reality to deal with is that the connected customer is now (or soon will) become a dominant source of customers for you. Their focus is on the experience and how they feel about your products and services as seen through the “experience” lens. They also know that other connected consumers depend on shared experiences to make decisions. If you are not designing the experience and path you want them to be on, you will not be able to influence in a positive way what they share about you.

This is all about alignment. As you look at your goals and strategies for the next year, a starting point is the experience you want connected customers to be passionate about. As an executive and leader, here are some ideas to focus on. 

• Test the “connected experience” connected customers are having. For example, make (or have someone else make) several transactions in different ways to your company. What is that experience like?
• Learn how your connected customers connect and communicate. Regularly try out (and actively use) social media. Only use your smartphone for a week. Quit using email and actively communicate on social media or by text messaging. This list is long but if you learn it you will “get” how other “connected’s” communicate.
• Become a “discoverer”. Connected’s are always discovering new ways to connect. What are their preferences? What methods do they prefer? What do they value?
• Think design. Have you designed the experience to be enjoyable, easy to use and to meet connected customer’s needs? Are you measuring that experience? Have you benchmarked with other companies? Have you mapped out (designed) the journey you want them to go on?
• Lead!!! Yes, you need to be a passionate advocate and in fact lead the charge. No one else can or will do it for you, no matter what your role is.

The reality is that you will not be able to reach customers by mail or phone any longer, unless you know them very well. They aren’t waiting by the mail box for your next direct mail mailer. This isn’t as dire and ominous as it sounds. Opportunities are around every corner. Your new connected customer is waiting on you to connect in new ways. They want to be passionate about you mission. If you relentlessly pursue engaging with them on the channels they rely on, they will continue on the journey with you. Focus on creating stunning experiences for them. Test it yourself and assess, is that experience remarkable? You’ll know if they are sharing and “remarking” on the experience.

It is helpful to think, “Now is the time”. The landscape is shifting but it has not completely shifted yet. One way to look at the experience you have today is to create a document that has on the left side, todays experience and to put on the right side, the connected experience. Where are there gaps? What will it take to change it? What will it cost? Can we test the new experience and see what it does for us?

“Now is the time” to recognize customers have already changed.

“Now is the time” to design a different experiences.

“Now is the time” to make decisions based on intentionally designed customer experiences.