Jonathan Spangler, CEO and founder of Ciari Guitars and Shep Hyken at the Summer NAMM Show
Today’s customers want and expect a frictionless experience – in other words, a convenient experience. I’ve written quite a lot about the topic of eliminating friction and even authored a book, The Convenience Revolution. This is one of the most important, powerful customer experience strategies an organization can implement. It takes good customer service and experience and makes it even better. Most of what I have written has been focused on the process. What I want to explore now is how convenience can be built into the product.
I’ve often wondered how the idea of a keyless entry and ignition for an automobile came to be. Who was the brilliant person who decided using a key was so “old-school”? He or she must have thought, “How can we eliminate the key and still keep the car locked?” It was brilliant thinking – and engineering – behind this simple concept that we now take for granted.
I need reading glasses. I need them most when I’m in a dark restaurant and can’t read the menu. I’ve always asked my wife to keep my glasses in her purse. That’s great when she’s with me. But what about when she’s not? I no longer have to worry, as I found a pair of glasses that would fold down into a very small case that fits in my pants pocket – it’s almost as small as my keychain. (Here’s a convenient idea … make the case the keychain!) As convenient as that is, another company came up with what I think is an even better idea. The company is ThinOptics, and it makes a pair of glasses that fits in a super skinny case you can adhere to the back of your cell phone. I hardly know it’s there, but I always have my “readers” with me when I need them.
That brings me to my final example, and the main reason for this article. I recently met Jonathan Spangler, CEO and founder of Ciari Guitars. He’s a patent attorney turned entrepreneur who came up with an idea. He shared his philosophy about convenience. It’s simple:
Find the friction in your life, solve it, and you’ll solve it for others.
The opposite of friction is convenience, and the friction in Spangler’s life had to do with his guitar. He was in a band and wanted to rehearse his songs. The problem was that he traveled almost every week and he could only take two items on his flights – a small personal item that can fit under the seat and a piece of carry-on luggage that must fit in the overhead bin. Bringing a guitar with him would mean having to check either the guitar or his clothes. He was afraid that if he checked his carry-on luggage it might get lost or delayed. He was also worried that if he checked his guitar, it might be damaged. This was Spangler’s friction.