| thepowerofpain.com :: the pain papers :: newsletter #11 |
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——————————————————————————————————- Learn How to Use Pain to Drive Innovation ——————————————————————————————————- The Pain Papers ——————————————————————————————————- PLEASE FORWARD THIS NEWSLETTER Any other unauthorized publication, excerpting, or duplication of the contents without the permission of Christopher K. O'Leary is a violation of copyright law. For past issues of The Pain Papers, see... To subscribe to The Pain Papers, please send a message
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message to... ——————————————————————————————————- - Practice Wanted ——————————————————————————————————- Given that I was just laid off (good riddance), I have moved to a new stage of this project. I am now madly writing the book and am actively looking for two things. First, I am looking for opportunities to present my ideas to large numbers of people, be they companies, students, or organizations. Second, I am looking for opportunities to consult with and/or train companies that are interested learning how to use pain to drive innovation. Given that I am just starting out, in both cases I am more interested in developing my ideas and material than making money. As a result, I will offer the first three individuals or organizations that take me up on this offer BARGAIN BASEMENT rates for my time. Just cover my travel expenses and a modest fee (I have a baby on the way and DO need to pay for health care) and you're good to go. Please let me know if you or someone that you know of would be interested in this offer. You or they can call me at 314.909.9760 or e-mail me at chris@thepowerofpain.com ——————————————————————————————————- "11" In the movie "This is Spinal Tap," there is what has to be one of the funniest, and most appropriate to this topic, scenes that I have ever seen in a movie. The director of the documentary (played by Rob Reiner) is talking to the leader of the band (played by Christopher Guest) about Spinal Tap's custom amplifiers. The difference between Spinal Tap's amplifiers and standard amplifiers is that theirs go to "11". That way, when Spinal Tap need that extra bit of volume to push them over the edge, they can crank things up to "11", while most bands can only go to "10". Of course, the director of the documentary isn't as excited as the band is about this innovation. He doesn't understand how this gives the band a real advantage. Why can't "10" be the same as "11"? At the end of that fruitless conversation, all that the band leader can say is "But you see, this one goes to '11'." In talking to a VC friend of mine, I found that we both run into far too many companies that are offering little more than "11". While they may be incredibly excited about their product, at the core they cannot offer nothing new. The problem is that most customers are in the same position as my friend and myself. They don't care about "11". In fact, they probably don't even know or care enough about the subject to be able to tell "10" from "11". The only way to get their attention is to talk about "15" or even "20". Entrepreneurs who want to succeed must learn to distinguish "different" from "meaningfully different." They need to learn to distinguish "11" from "20". Too many products and companies offer products that are different, but not in a meaningful or compelling way. From now on, I will use the term "11" to refer to a product that...
——————————————————————————————————- PREFACE Over the course of the two years that I have been working on this project, a number of people have asked me the same two questions...
The answer to both questions is fairly simple. It's watching businesses fail - that I know will fail. It's watching friends lose tons of money and knowing from the outset that they will fail. It's driving around my neighborhood looking at stores that are struggling. It's knowing in all three cases that there's nothing that I can do to help them because these businesses are fundamentally flawed. They don't solve any problem. They don't alleviate any pain. Maybe they will survive, but it will have more to do with luck than skill. A few years ago I wrote a column about one of the experiences that led me to begin this project... https://www.thepowerofpain.com/thoughts/pain_and_the_right_reasons.html It's stories like this that keep me going. ——————————————————————————————————- MISSION STATEMENTS Usually I hate this kind of stuff, but the Dilbert mission statement generator... https://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/career/ ...is just too good of a source of material. The problem is that a mission statement can be a very valuable tool for a company, but too often it is reduced to meaningless drivel by committees of well-intentioned but misguided individuals. A mission statement is a company's best chance to tell its employees several things...
That last point is the most important one. People want to know that what they do will make a difference. That their work is meaningful and valuable. The problem is that most mission statements totally miss the opportunity to communicate a meaningful message about the mission of the organization to its employees. Instead, they end up being meaningless, generic claptrap that does more harm than good. If your company can't clearly describe its mission in a compelling manner, then what chance is there for your employees to feel that they can make a difference to the world and should put their heart and soul into your company? ——————————————————————————————————- THE FOUNDATION OF YOUR BUSINESS When explaining The Power of Pain to people, one of my favorite analogies comes from the world of architecture. I like to compare pain to the foundation of a house. The purpose of the foundation of a house is to hold everything else up. The foundation is the base upon which the rest of the structure is built. If the foundation of your house is strong, then everything else will generally be okay or can be fixed. However, if the foundation of your house is flawed, then you have real problems. While your house may be able to survive with a weak foundation, its future prospects are reduced to a question of luck. The same principle applies to companies. If the foundation of their company, the pain that they alleviate or the problem that they solve, is strong then most problems can be fixed. However, if the foundation of the company is flawed, then there is little that you can do to fundamentally improve your chances of succeeding. Maybe you can patch the cracks as they appear (e.g. use the tools of sales, marketing, and advertising to your advantage), but cracks will continue to appear until eventually everything collapses. As a result, when planning your business you need to spend a great deal of time thinking about and preparing the foundation of your business. That means thinking about pain. ——————————————————————————————————- REAL LISTENING (TM) I had a conversation with a friend the other day in which he made the point that one company that he works with spends $50 million on talking and only $1 million on listening. My friend's point was to contrast advertising and customer service expenditures. However, I have to disagree with his logic. I don't think that Customer Service represents real listening. I also do not believe that you can get a measure of how much you listen to your customers by looking at the money that you spend on customer service. The problem is that, as anyone who has ever read a relationship book can tell you, problem solving is not listening. Since the purpose of customer service is to solve problems, it cannot be said to be Real Listening. You can see that this is the case by looking at the typical Customer Service call center. In most call centers, people are concerned with one thing - getting people off of the phone. People are rewarded and reprimanded based on how many calls they handle in an hour. Talking outside of the topic at hand is not only not encouraged, it can get you fired. As a result, you cannot expect customer service people to do anything that approaches Real Listening. Real Listening means reflecting on what you have been told and empathizing with it. Real Listening means identifying and addressing the root causes of problems, not just pasting over the symptoms. Real Listening means changing, not defending yourself or making excuses. The issue of Real Listening is one that should be at the top of the agendas of any organization that is genuinely concerned with detecting pain. For an example of someone who is trying to practice Real Listening, read this story about Feargal Quinn and his Superquinn supermarkets... https://www.fastcompany.com/online/52/quinn.html ——————————————————————————————————- TRANSMETA I wish I had written about Transmeta when I first heard about it. Now, as this story makes clear, it may be too late... https://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-7763891.html The problem with Transmeta is that, while its technology is no doubt very cool, the message just isn't that compelling. Few people care that much about CPU power consumption or battery life. Not enough people fly across the country or the ocean to be bothered by battery lives of less than 2 hours. It just isn't that big of a deal. Most batteries are good enough. It is also too easy to address this problem in other ways by just buying another battery instead of a new laptop. Talk about an "11". ——————————————————————————————————- PEPSI/DIET COKE WITH LEMON The whole "with lemon" thing has to be one of the dumbest ideas that I have ever heard. While there are no doubt many people who like lemon in their drinks, I doubt if there are enough to turn this idea into a significant business. The problem is that this idea has no chance of gaining a toehold in the vending machine or fountain drink markets. Not enough people prefer lemon-flavored drinks to make it worthwhile to replace one choice in a vending machine or soda fountain. If you can only buy a lemon-flavored drink in a can and thus drink it at home, then why can't people just go to the refrigerator and add some lemon on their own. Is it really that hard? A lemon-flavored drink is also unlikely to yield to real growth in a category. What will likely happen is that Pepsi drinkers who like lemon in their Pepsi will drink more Pepsi with Lemon and less regular Pepsi. I really doubt if Pepsi with Lemon will be the nail in Coke's coffin. Talk about an "11". I also have to make the point that "Lemon ___" points to the problem that I am trying to solve. The world is full of ill-conceived innovations that are getting in the way of the ideas with real potential. ——————————————————————————————————- OUTWITTING SQUIRRELS On a more positive note, the other day I came across a book that shows you how you can apply the Power of Pain to writing a book. The book is called "Outwitting Squirrels" and the author is Bill Adler Jr. I love this book because it is highly pain-focused. The point of the book is to teach people how to solve the problem of squirrels tearing up gardens. The book has been highly successful, selling over 300,000 copies. The author has also appeared on the Rosie O'Donnell show. The success of this book has led to the development of an entire series of "Outwitting ___" books. To find out more, go to... https://www.outwittingsquirrels.com ——————————————————————————————————- TOM PETERS ON PAIN Tom Peters has this to say in the latest issue of Fast Company... "Nearly 100% of innovation — from business to politics — is inspired not by 'market analysis' but by people who are supremely pissed off by the way things are." I couldn't agree more. The article from which this quote is taken lays out the history of "In Search of Excellence." In particular, it lays out the pain that was behind the book. To view this story, go to... https://www.thepowerofpain.com/stories/in_search_of_excellence.html You can also go to... https://www.fastcompany.com/online/53/peters.html ...to view the article in its entirety. ——————————————————————————————————- Eric Martineau (eric@trudelnet.com) writes... "Ok Chris, Shoot me between the running lights. I just got through reading your 10th Power of Pain letter - Bars, Restaurants which are started for the wrong reason. We bought a roller skating rink in Oregon because, my wife Diane loves to skate, and my younger brother needed a job. Hmmmm. Not much pain there, except that it hurt me to see my brother, who has some physical ailments, is not really employable. (And yes I understand that my pain for him does NOT indicate we'll pack the joint with middle schoolers on Friday and Saturday nights.) As you can guess, the place is NOT doing that well financially. As I thought about pain I came up with a new spin. How about advertising to parents? Long week? Mom going crazy cause it's rained all week and the kids are bouncing off the walls? Want to go on a 'date' with your spouse, but you can't find a babysitter. Let the Lakepark Entertainment Center provide you with stress relief on Friday and Saturday nights from 5 - 9:30 for only $5. Keeping in mind your theory about the vehicle of the message being just as important as the message itself, where and how could I get this message out, paper, TV etc. Corvallis Oregon is a small town." Eric, While you may not be in the best position, at least you are on the right track. I think that you are correct to focus on the problems of parents. It is hard to get out, especially if you have multiple children, and any service that would make this easier would be very much appreciated. As far as communicating your message goes, I think the most important thing is to communicate your message in context. Don't just scatter your message around. Instead, try to focus on delivering it when and where people are thinking about the problem. You need to target them when they are thinking about their children. One thought is to find out where local moms groups hang out. In St. Louis, it's at Einstein Brother's Bagels. Where do parents (and especially moms and their playgroups) meet in Corvallis? One thing that you could offer moms is the chance to take their kids off of their hands for some period of time. Offer kind of a "mom's day out" program. Also, could you set up cooperative agreements with local family restaurants? Offer a skate and eat program? You know that families will be eating there and may be thinking about other things to do. Doing the same thing every time you go out gets old. As far as media goes, I would focus on word of mouth. Try to find and sell into mom's groups. That way one sale yields 3 or 4. I don't like TV or Radio because they generally aren't focused enough. However, you might try to find a radio program that moms tend to listen to. Maybe run spots during drive time to and from school - especially after school. Those hours from 3 to 6 can be crazy. Hope that helps. ——————————————————————————————————- Please send all comments or feedback to chris@thepowerofpain.com PLEASE FORWARD THIS NEWSLETTER Any other unauthorized publication, excerpting, or duplication of the contents without the permission of Christopher K. O'Leary is a violation of copyright law. To subscribe to The Pain Papers, please send a message
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