It's the thought that counts
A man bustles into a flower shop and says: “I want some flowers”.
The florist looks him up and down and says: "Sorry sir, we don't have any of those. Maybe try the petrol station across the road?”
Bewildered and more than a little indignant, the man leaves the shop, crosses the road and inspects the cheaper, more drab offerings on the petrol [gas] station forecourt.
He scratches head. And a few moments later, he returns to the flower shop, somewhat less impulsively.
“So, there’s been a little misunderstanding between you and your wife?”, says the florist. “And you want me to listen to how little you know about her preferences for flowers; to consider how she might be feeling; and relate that to the symbolism and significance of particular blooms? Then you'd like me to recommend and create a thoughtfully curated bouquet that will remind your wife just how important she is to you: today, tomorrow, the next, and long after the flowers have wilted?".
The man sighs, makes a rueful smile, … and empties the contents of his wallet onto the counter.
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Okay, so it's a little cliché'd and I can’t imagine that any florists are so (openly) contemptuous of their male customers. But I wonder if anyone who has ever bought 'some IT’ might also be wearing a rueful smile?
Or maybe you've been given 'some laptop' or 'some software' or 'some policy' that felt like it came from a petrol station forecourt?
It's the thought that counts.
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Ben is a Business Architect; designer of business models, cases, solutions and services. He's available to hire on a contract basis, but he'll also consider collaborations, start-ups and pretty much any interesting offers of work.
You can read his other posts here, including: 'The Builder, The Designer, and The Architect' and 'Why beehives aren't the size of sheds'.
Change Programme Manager, Musgrave Retail Partners Ireland
9 年So true ... On so many levels!
I've seen this mentality in retail when I'm working on customer experience architecture. The store process people want to build store processes and eventually glue them together using web services into an integrated experience. It can be a battle to get the focus on the customer and build to that experience instead of building to the sales associate, stockroom associate, and store manager experiences. While their experiences are relevant, they are secondary to the customer experience. Somebody goes to a trade show or just gets trade show literature and suddenly they want to build or buy new features and functionality.
Disambiguation Specialist
9 年I don't get it.
Accountant. FD. Coach.
9 年Ben, there is so much in this short, simple but brilliant piece. So many messages but I wont spoil it for everyone else by revealing them here...