Tag: drought

Taking Action On Customer Complaints

Folks in northern climates
love to complain
about the snow.

Now, that the snow
is going away,
due to climate change,
people from elsewhere
assume we’ll be happy about that.

We aren’t happy
about that.
At all.

Because the snow
benefits our crops.

Without the slow release
of moisture
from snow packs,
our farmers face drought.

The snow and the cold
is also necessary
for our local plants, insects,
animals, birds
and many, many industries.

Don’t assume
complaints
about an aspect of your products
mean those customers or prospects
want that aspect removed or changed.

Humans are illogical beings.
It might not mean
that at all.

Investigate
before you take action.

A Person To Blame

Some people are blaming
arsonists for the wildfires
all over the world,
instead of the real culprits
– drought and climate change.

That doesn’t surprise me.

Many people look
for a person or a group to blame
for their problems.

And they want promises
that person or group
will ‘be dealt with’
i.e. punished.

That prospect makes them happier.

A business building buddy,
knowing this,
blames all the problems
customers come to her with
on Stanley.

Stanley made that change
in their favorite product.
Stanley set that return policy.
F*ckin’ Stanley, always messing up.

No one in the company
is named Stanley.
He is a dummy target
for both customers and employees
to curse,
a name to give
when the customer demands one.

Cursing Stanley makes them happier
and it makes them more likely
to remain loyal to my buddy’s business.

People often
are looking for a person
or a group to blame.

Do your best
to ensure no real person or group
is harmed.

Drought And Electricity

I can’t run
any of my businesses
without electricity.

In my city,
most of the electricity
is sourced
from hydro,
from water-based technologies.

That means
droughts impact
electricity supply.

(This is also true
of nuclear-sourced electricity
as nuclear requires
a lot of water.)

I monitor the water levels.

I have purchased batteries
to store electricity.

I plan to install
solar panels.

If you can’t run your business
without a resource,
know what drives
the availability
of that resource.

Monitor that driver.

And plan for alternatives.

This is one
of our responsibilities
as business builders.

Losing Options

A couple days ago,
I talked about
how we have choices
regarding the people
we associate with.

That’s true of people.

Going forward,
it will be less true
of other inputs.

In my city,
for example,
there’s a lettuce shortage.
Lettuce is
either extremely expensive
or it isn’t available
at all.

That means choice
at grocery stores
and at restaurants
is more limited.
The classic salad
with lettuce
is temporarily not a viable option
of a meal or side dish
for the average person.

As product developers,
it is helpful
if we factor in flexibility
of certain inputs
into our designs.

Maybe we allow chefs to
swap spinach for the lettuce
in the salads
(and offer two sets of menus,
one for the lettuce-based salad
and
one for the spinach-based salad).

Build some flexibility
into your products
because shortages WILL continue.
That is a certainty.