Monday Memo #8

Are we playing catch?

The Monday memo is food for thought to fuel your week.

Hi everyone,

In this week’s Collaboratory we will be talking about customer conversations. What does that mean?

A conversation is like a game of catch. You say something, and it’s like you’re tossing a ball. If I reply, it shows that I’m listening. It’s like throwing the ball back. As long as we continue to reply to each other, we’re playing catch.

Conversations are the way we get to know each other. As we learn about each other we discover what matters to each of us. 

So what is a customer conversation? That’s a conversation you have about value. What makes value tricky is that there are a lot of unknowns. What is something worth? What is that old piece of jewelry you got from your mom worth? Value is subjective. The value of anything is what people are willing to pay for it. Value is laden with doubt and uncertainty.

How do you reduce that uncertainty? That’s right, through conversation.

This email from me that you’re reading right now, for example, is a ball that I’m throwing in the air. I want to play catch with you. If you read it, and if you, say, reply, or come to the Collaboratory this week, then you are replying, and we are having a conversation.

This conversation isn’t just starting now. It started a while back. You saw a blog post or something you found interesting, and you subscribed. That’s catch. I made an offer, “subscribe” and you accepted, “subscribed!”

If I didn’t have a newsletter there wouldn’t be an offer, I wouldn’t be writing this, and you wouldn’t be reading this. 

This week’s exercise.

Here’s your exercise for the week: Create an offer. If you don’t have an email list, I suggest you start one. It doesn’t have to be fancy. A conversation often starts with the most trivial things. How are you doing? What’s new? 

Conversations almost always start small. But they can lead to big things. 

Your offer can be as simple as “subscribe to get updates about my life from time to time.” As simple as that.

Updates.

Our next Collaboratory is this Wednesday, February 7th, from 9-10:30 AM Pacific (Noon-1:30 PM Eastern, 5-6:30 PM GMT). Our topic will be creating customer conversations. We will have a special guest, Tom Kerwin, creator of the Innovation Tactics card deck. Tom will be giving away a free deck of cards to one lucky participant!

Collaboratories are free for members. Members, your joining instructions are “below the fold.”

As of this week we have 42 members. The first 100 members will lock in the $20/month rate forever.

Become a member by upgrading your subscription, or you can buy a one-time ticket for the February 7th Collaboratory here.

If you’re already a member, thank you. You’re making this possible.