Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Dan’s Biz Bookshelf: Seeing the How

I might say this about a lot of books, but this one is a must-read. The author addresses a whole new way of doing business. It’s not like one day we woke up and there it was, a new way to get a ride (Uber), a new home away from home (Airbnb), a new way to get groceries (Instacart) and (DoorDash), and so on. The flood gates have opened, and there’s more to come.

This book talks about how these innovators got these ideas, and how they looked at the world to find and fill a need. Personally, I like to call it “business between the cracks.” They saw businesses as they were and asked how they could make them easier and better. Get ready for the word of the decade: They wanted to make it “frictionless.”

These companies have not only changed the way we do business but also the very way we live our lives. I believe that the stories and the ideas related in this book represent the essence of the very best customer service/experience we have ever seen.

Making things easier and more convenient for the customer takes studying the customer and adapting specifically to that customer’s needs and wants, as well as to that customer’s enhanced experience.

In his book, author Allen Adamson takes the reader through the step-by-step process of how to find your path to innovation and positive differentiation from one product to another. I agree when he says that products and services from the most popular brands are getting so similar it is difficult to tell one from another.

For example, as PCB fabricators improve, it is harder to tell them apart. If everyone has 99% on-time delivery and quality, then the only way to choose one over another is to have ease of doing business and that all-important customer experience. How can we make the customer experience we offer stand head and shoulders over our competitors? How can we be so valuable that we will attract better and higher prices over our common competitors? If you want to know the answer, read this book.

Here are some examples of what Adamson calls “lenses” for your specific business or industry:

• Lens 1: Focus in and drill down. Zoom in on one product or service and do it exceptionally well.
• Lens 2: Customize and make it personal. Look at how you can take what you do and know best and make it specific to your customers’ region, type, or personality.
• Lens 3: Joining forces. This lens helps you build your audience exponentially to create an entirely new experience. In our business, we are seeing PCB designers connect with fabricators and PCB assemblers to create a one-stop shop and a smooth, fast, and frictionless customer experience. One phone call, one purchase order, one complete PCB assembly. That is what this author is talking about.
• In all, there are nine lenses, but this is one of my personal favorites (bookmark for later):
• Lens 4: See like a concierge. Be that someone with the expertise and ability to listen and solve problems better and faster than the average person (customer) can on their own, even after hours of research. One example is the Apple Genius Bar—in my opinion, there is no better example of a great customer experience than that.

You can tell that I am excited to recommend this book and for good reason. I consider Seeing the How the most important book you can read. Study it, take notes, and learn all you can from it. It won’t merely tell you how someone did something; it shows you. It will teach you to take your customer experience to the next level. Let me tell you, that’s worth much more than your time and $30.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.

Title: Seeing the How: Transforming What People Do, Not Buy, to Gain Market Advantage
Author: Allen P. Adamson
Copyright: 2023 Matt Holt and Imprint of BenBella Books, Inc.
Price: $30
Pages: 228 with notes