What Actually Drives Customer (and Employee) Behavior

You know, every company wants to delight its customers. Your article suggests that many, that most, are going about this the wrong way. So, talk about that. Well, if you look at extreme positive outcomes that companies want, they want customers to come back more, they want word of mouth, they want employees to be productive. Most companies try to achieve those ends, and if you think about it, that's really what the job of a leader is. You're just trying to change behavior um of customers or employees. Most companies go about it in a way that's simple and directive. So, you set goals for employees, and then you give corrective feedback. Or you set pricing or loyalty programs for customers and incentive them to change their behavior, which works. But it works temporarily. If you want to actually develop ongoing sustainably productive behaviors from your customers or your employees, then you have to follow an equation back upstream. And that equation is simply experiences of people drive their behaviors, which drive the outcomes. So, if you want extreme positive outcomes in terms of productivity or in terms of repeat visits and so forth, then you've got to design extreme positive experiences. And experiences live inside the person, which means companies need to be in the experience making business. We design hospitals and schools and and stores and restaurants and businesses in general around processes and systems, which isn't bad. It's just not the actual way in which you get sustainable behavior change.