Unexpected Value

Recently, I exchanged some small talk with Mike Wagner. If you don't know him, you should. And he ended an e-mail with this:

"Keep creating unexpected value"

And it stuck with me. And it made me think about the things in life that I often tend to notice. Like the soothing clicks and beeps when I first used a Tivo. Or the handwritten note that I recently got from Zappos which recalled details from a phone conversation. Or the time I figured out how to take screen grabs from my iPhone (much to my surprise and delight). Or the secret move I taught Max on Marvel Universe. Or the first time I checked out at a Trader Joe's. Or the unexpected value I recieved from the millions of micro-interactions I have with people online—most whom I've never met before.

Value, is subjective—but the way we respond to it isn't. We save things of value, we recommend them to others, sometimes we can't even put a price on it.  When it's unexpected, it's even better. When someone or some company provides value, we'll reward them with our attention. When something valuable is produced—we'll take good care of it. I remember reading research that compared the behavior of PC and Apple users. One difference was that the Apple users "babied" their machines. Taking greater care to protect and preserve them.  When we value something, it makes us do the unexpected, like treating a machine as a child.

After spending a decent part of the day debating the value of value—it occured to me that the simplicity of Mike's message was even more valuable to me. And creating unexpected value is good advice, regardless of who you are and what you do.

Comments

[bonnie Larner]

Above and beyond!

bonnieL
triiibe on!

[olivier blanchard]

Mike is one of my favorite people in the consulting biz. Brilliant, insightful and a real class act. Great to see his name pop up here. :)

[Gardy Helena]

Excelent.
It's interesting how value is built different to each human being.
With this globalized culture, it's been, day by day, harder to produce unexpected value.
But not impossible for creative minds!

[Clinton David Skakun]

Thanks for sharing!! Clinton

[Steph]

Lovely!

I am just a student studying product design and I am researching into the responses to human characteristics in technology. I am hoping to look at the values that are created when we add human characteristics and qualities into technology and compare them with the interactions we have with people. I quite liked your comment about the PC and MAC, so very true! Can you remember where you saw that article? It would really help.

[Graham Hill]

Hi David

The quote from Mike Wagner sounds very much like the definition of customer delight to me. The key thing is the provision of value and its unexpectedness.

This of course is an uphill battle you can never really win, even one as talented as yourself.

The more unexpected value you provide, the more it becomes, well, expected value. That is why your blog is one of the few must read ones. But that makes it harder for you to provide further unexpected value in the future.

As no doubt you have found, great content interspersed with unexpectedly brilliant content is the only sustainable value-creating strategy.

Keep up the surprisingly good work.

Graham Hill
Independent CRM Consultant
Interim CRM Manager

[David Armano]

Graham,

Wow, have you said it! That's exactly how I feel. I don't think I can surprise existing readers here (it's expected as you mentioned) but the formula needs to work for new readers (hopefully).

But more than that, the key is value. Whether it's expected or not—it's what will build loyalty and or preference.

thank you for this comment. Really gets me thinking.