Below is an Autogenerated Transcript

Imagine we go to a bookstore. How many books are in a bookstore? A thousand? Maybe more. You walk into a bookstore, you’re looking around,you’re shopping. You pick up a book. You hope it’s a good book. You pick up a book. You go walking up to where you buy the book, and there’s a line. You get in the line and you wait until you’re here.

Then the person behind the counter says to you, what? “Next!” You walk up, you hand her the book. She says, What? She says, “”Is that all?” Right. Then she says, “Cash or credit card?” Then she says, maybe, “Are you a member?“ Then she says, “Do you want a bag?” Then she says, “Sign here.” Then she says, “Next!” Which is your signal to go. 

But now, even if that’s all she did, let’s be honest, she was still serving you. She was taking action to create value for you because she was helping you pay for the book. But she only used two styles of service. One of them was what I call “Production”. Get the job done. “Is that all?”, “Cash or credit?”, “Are you a member?”, :Do you want a bag?” The other is what I call “Direction”. It’s where you tell the customer what to do. “Next”, “Sign here.” 

So when you need the customer to follow instructions, you might give them very clear directions. When you want to get the process done, you might be in a style of service that’s about production. Don’t make a mistake. Make sure everything is complete. Check all the boxes. Get it done. Save time. Now there are other styles of service.

For example, if she understood that there was a style of service called “Education”, where you are informing your customer, you’re teaching your customer, you’re helping the customer know more than they did before. She might say, “Oh, this book! Did you know that the author of this book also wrote several other books? This one we have near the front because it’s such a bestseller. But his other books are over in the business section. Have you seen them?” If she said that to you, what would you say? Oh. You will at least say, “Well, thank you, I didn’t know that” or “I didn’t know that.” Yes, she would have taken another action. Step, but a different style, and created more value.

Now, that’s not the only style. If she understood that there was a style called “Inspiration”, then when you walk up and you hand her the book, she would look at you and say, “Oh!”, and then she would say just two words that would make you feel better about yourself and your choice. What would those two words be? You walk, “Next!”, you walk up, you hand her the book, she goes, “Oh, “Good choice”, “Great book”, “Smart pick”. Right? The moment she said that, how would you feel? You know what? If she knew about these four styles, she wouldn’t even look like that. She’d probably look more like that  because she herself would understand the value and the importance of actually being able to choose the right style in the right moment for the right customer that will create more v-v-v-v-value. 

You cannot just say that this is a procedure because different people value different things. Somebody who comes up and goes,  “Listen, I’ve only got a couple of minutes, I’m really in a hurry.” Does not want to hear about “Should I tell you about the other books that the author has written?”Heck no. But somebody else who walks up, let’s say, with a child who’s mommy is buying one book for the child. You might just take that extra moment and go, “Oh, is this book for you? Do you like reading? Reading is so good for you.  You must be a very smart girl.” 

In all that moment of creating what style? What style? What style? Inspiration. It creates a lot more what? You can be darn sure that mother is going to bring that girl back to your bookstore to buy books. Not because there are better books, but because of the emotional experience that created value for her child.  

Different people value different things.