
Everything we do at work is a kind of demand. Otherwise, why do it?
Everything you do is usually for someone and produces some kind of outcome. If you work in a complaints team, then a complaint is the ‘demand’ and your response is the outcome. So when was the last time you stopped and thought about the work (or demand) that you are completing?
One of the things we do is to get your business thinking differently about the work it completes. Is it Value Demand (the kind we want) or Failure Demand (the kind we don’t want)?
It’s not always cut and dried about what is Value Demand and what is Failure Demand. What about the customer who calls you because they want to buy a new product? That’s Value Demand, right…? Of course – we want people to call us and buy stuff. But what if that person spent 30 minutes on your website trying to buy the product before calling you because it was just too hard to navigate your site? Still Value Demand?
Sometimes, the process sounds sensible enough, but when you stop and think about whether it’s Value or Failure Demand can change your whole perception. Take this example for instance:
A Wine Club sends out letters to customers when they try to take the regular payment for a shipment of wine but the payment fails. The company thinks it is Value Demand because the upshot of that letter is that they collect payment – something which is obviously of value to them.
But Why did the payment fail in the first place? If it’s an expired card, the company could send an automated communication advising that the stored card details are about to expire – and potentially even put your account on hold until updated payment details are received.
In this case, isn’t the letter to the customer a result of a failure that could have been avoided?
We can help you uncover the Failure Demand that’s potentially going unnoticed in your organisation. Critically, we can help you understand why the failure exists and design a solution that improves the process – always keeping the customer at the heart of everything we do.