The Hell With The Drill And The Hole!
Thinking of the long-outdated sales quote, circa 1990, “People don’t want a drill, they want a hole.” In other words, the outcome is more valuable than the drill. The drill is simply the best means to achieve the desired outcome of a hole.
In today’s technological world, so much has been made possible, and there are so many more possibilities.
“Possibilities become probabilities and probabilities become reality quicker than ever.”
As the business world navigates digital transformation, it will be those organizations that understand that everything their business relies on will now undergo a reevaluation of its importance as the means by which all those they serve and support reach desired outcomes.
We all know, no one buys a product; they buy a desired outcome. The product or service is just a means of achieving outcomes, and all means are continually subjected to relevance.
However, today, sellers and service providers need a much deeper understanding of the outcome. Let me explain using the drill-and-hole example.
The outcome for those seeking a hole is more complex; therefore, it’s now important to understand why the hole is needed in the first place. Let’s say the outcome past the hole is to run a cable through the wall, and the outcome past the cable is to receive digital content through the cable (Watching TV).
If the seller of the drill knew this, shouldn’t they suggest that the customer not buy the drill, forget about the hole and the cable, and simply use Bluetooth technology? Because the ultimate outcome was consuming digital content through their smart television.
In this example, Pandora's Box was opened. I hope all those who sell anything consider this scenario within the scope of what they currently provide their end-users as the means for achieving desired outcomes. Whatever means you provide to your end users to achieve outcomes are most definitely threatened by today’s rapid pace of innovation.
The education and awareness that artificial intelligence will provide to all those seeking outcomes will be precise roadmaps based on ultimate desires, in ways a human mind on its own will struggle to achieve. As sellers and service providers will fall into survival mode, limiting those seeking a means to only what they can offer.
All sellers today, especially in the business-to-business technology space, need to figure out quickly how to respond as artificial intelligence engages their end users, as they seek outcomes that your business once was the best means for achieving.
Most understand that innovation circumvents what is currently relevant; the issue is always a miscalculation of the tenure of relevance. It is in this miscalculation that innovation is procrastinated.
Like my analogy regarding the drill and the hole. Before end-users had access to artificial intelligence, or some would say, before artificial intelligence had access to end-users. Buyers were presented with ways to achieve outcomes from the seller’s perspective.
Today’s technology is allowing all buyers of goods or services to circumvent the outdated processes that mostly benefited sellers. Buyers are obtaining an education that was once unimaginable to achieve outcomes through an even more unimaginable means.
Product and service providers must analyze how the means they currently provide to their end-users to reach outcomes could, in fact, be irrelevant. Keep in mind that the means to reach an outcome can be irrelevant and still be accepted. However, once anything is deemed irrelevant, the momentum of unacceptance begins.
Industries are disrupted when the momentum of the new way cripples the profitability structure of the old way. As all disrupted industries fight for survival, the value the disrupted industry or business once had is no longer nearly as valuable.
As businesses navigate the digital disruptions of artificial intelligence, they must seek to understand the ultimate outcomes their clients seek to achieve. This awareness will most definitely contribute to the architectural design of reinventing a disrupted business or industry.
The simplicity of selling a hole through the means of a drill is long gone.
Resellers of products and services, especially in the technology sector, must quickly align their deliverables to their clients' ultimate desired outcome. It’s no longer about hardware and software. Instead, it’s about your clients trusting your intellect to navigate them through that intersection between the digital and physical worlds.
It is extremely important that all technology resellers increase their intellectual expertise. Those resellers who can monetize intellect will ultimately win as artificial intelligence gains momentum. Those who are obsessed with keeping mundane deliverables relevant will lose.
Ray Stasieczko/ Host of YouTube Series The End Of The Day With Ray!
Also in Ray's Current Articles
Pass The Cranberries! The Dog Is Hosting Thanksgiving!
This year, because the Boston Terrier is famous, he will be sitting at the head of the table. Grandpa will be livestreaming the dog cutting the turkey.
The Lesson From The Mindset Of A Lost Dog!
Entrepreneurs don't ask how to do something or what they should do; they focus on why something needs innovation or change. It's in defining the why that plans and missions are developed.
Honoring Our Veterans
Over the years since the birth of our nation, regardless of one's beliefs, aspirations, or successes, the soldier fights for all Americans in the defense of freedom.
ray stasieczko
Author