"It's Just Business 🤷🏻" OR "3 Easy Ways to Lose Customers and Employees"

“It's not personal, it’s just business.” 

Three very simple yet powerful words that say something deep about our society. How many times have you heard this phrase in your own life, and what’s it usually been followed or preceded by? I doubt it's something positive. I would imagine it’s been wheeled out quite frequently over the past year as we’ve seen more and more companies cutting their workforces. It came to mind for me twice yesterday in the context of being a customer. 

The first was while speaking with my parents. They recounted having to replace their water heater which didn’t really live up to its 10 year warranty before it gave out; the “new” version  purchased to replace it now offers only a 6 year warranty. The second example was for me personally, as I’d taken the easy route for dinner with a delivery app. We ended up with a very new rider who as it turned out actually came to my house before collecting the food at the restaurant, asked for my confirmation code upon arrival which I provided, but then had no food to give me! I felt great compassion for the rider - clearly new in his job and even offering to personally Revolut me the cost of my meal for his mistake - but I assured him mistakes happen, and I’d sort it out with the app’s Support team who’d always been fair in past instances of trouble. Speaking with Support, I was told that since I’d provided that code there was nothing they would do to address the problem - absolutely zero. That was basically their proof I got what I should have, despite my empty dinner table or explanation. Never mind the fact that the restaurant called me to let me know my food was sitting at the restaurant, all apologetic that I wasn’t getting my food. The delivery app support folks even ended the chat with me abruptly after a few canned responses. It didn’t matter that I’d been an all-too-frequent customer since they launched, with a history of very few complaints. 

I’ve worked extensively in customer-facing service roles and therefore have significant empathy for both sides of the service equation. Compassion goes a long way, on both sides. I’m also a rather principled person, and there are 3 easy ways to lose me as a customer (and as an employee or follower):

1. Don’t listen to me.
2. Don't trust me. 
3. Don’t respect me.

I suppose it’s good I’ve been refining my cooking skills in the last several years. There’ll be a lot fewer dinnertime deliveries in our future unless the delivery app Support folks actually start doing all 3 of those things listed above. 

In my mind, both of the examples above speak to the influence of our good pal Milton Friedman, and his somewhat restrictive interpretation of the role of business - to generate value for shareholders. And it’s true - we can increase profits if we build a cheaper product that gives out sooner and requires customers to buy another one; in fact, that’ll boost GDP and offer the illusion of a stronger economy! We can lock users into subscriptions or models that boost our MRR/ARR whether they benefit our customers or not. We can also take this purely process and cost-driven approach to operations which takes trust, loyalty, and humanity out of the equation - human decision making and compassion leaves too much to chance when it comes to profit margins, after all. The bad press of “re-accommodating” rather than “forcibly removing” passengers off planes where employees simply “followed the process” offers a shocking example. We can also just decide that when things get tough economically, perhaps due to external factors or maybe only due to our own hubris and over-speculation, that the people key to getting us to where we are simply aren’t going to be part of the equation anymore. After all, ”it’s just business”. Never mind that “familial” culture we’ve aimed to build - it’s purely normal to cut out 10-20% of the family without a second thought. Aren’t YOUR family reunions like this? 

Why instead can’t “business” be about pride in what value we bring to customers? Or the little ways we can make the world better for all? Or in building trusting, symbiotic relationships with those we serve and who promote and contribute to the success of our organisations? We’ve let “it’s just business” become coded language for a way of operating that places value extraction above respect, dignity, and doing what’s right in a given situation. 

And yet we wonder why people are fed up with their workplaces or not returning as customers. We need look no further than within ourselves.