Are you Adding Fuel or Friction to your Business?
What do you do if you aren’t getting the results you want in your business? Do you assume your marketing efforts aren’t hitting the mark and decide to increase the investment? Do you give your sales team a pep talk and give them more incentives? Do you decide you need to be more hands-on and get more involved in the day-to-day operations?
It’s natural to want to add fuel to our business efforts when we aren’t making the numbers we forecast. What do I mean by “fuel?” It’s additional energy, force, investment, or actions to create a desired change. However, adding more fuel may not solve your business issue.
Two professors from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University developed the notion of fuel. David Schonthal is a professor of Innovation, and Loran Nordgren, PhD is a psychologist. From the moment I learned of their theory of “fuel” versus “friction,” I’ve noticed a plethora of examples each day, from grocery stores to online ads to car dealers.
Cause-and-Effect Thinking
Let’s return to the unconscious habit of solving problems by adding fuel. When something doesn’t happen the way we predict or prefer, we unconsciously assume that it is a failing on our part. We believe that an outcome results from our efforts and our internal forces. We connect bad events with willful intent. It’s fundamental cause-and-effect thinking.
However, we forget that there are situational forces at play in life. Having a fuel mindset leads us to add features and benefits to products and services that may be unnecessary and costly. But there may be another reason customers aren’t buying the product or service, which isn’t easy to identify as fuel.
Think about the last time you were considering purchasing a big-ticket item. What was your experience with the sales process? Were you asked questions about your needs and wants? Were you asked what you didn’t want or need? Were you asked what might prevent you from purchasing now or in the immediate future? I assume you were presented with features, benefits, options, and a suggestion of a limited supply or a time limit for the product.
Features and Benefits May Not Be The Issue
The typical sales approach is to provide the features, benefits, price, positioning, and limited time for purchase. I once asked a salesperson to stop the pitch and tell me the price. He responded, “But you haven’t heard all the benefits yet!” There is a natural tendency when we believe someone isn’t receptive to an idea, an offer, or a product is to offer more “value,” to sweeten the proposal, or to provide more “data” to support the decision.
Think about when you are trying to persuade a friend or family member to engage in something new or an unusual activity. If they aren’t initially receptive, do you come up with more reasons why it is a good idea? Perhaps you will offer to do something for them in the future. (Children are exceptionally good at this technique.)
It is part of our unconscious behavior. We automatically assume that if the other person isn’t interested in our idea, we didn’t present it correctly. So, we try to come up with additional support/rationale. We try to add fuel. Rarely do we consider that there may be a situational or external environmental component to their disinterest.
Adding Fuel is Easy
You see, fuel is easy to see, to consider, to add to any situation. We can generate ideas about features or benefits quickly. Friction is much more challenging to determine; it requires slowing down and putting yourself in the customer’s shoes. It requires that you use empathy to understand the world of your audience. Depending on your customers and your product or service, it might be a challenge to imagine their experience.
The tendency when a customer isn’t ready to buy is to try to “sweeten the pot.” What most of us forget to do is ask more questions. It helps to get curious about what might be getting in the way of a customer’s purchasing. Sometimes, it is as simple as asking, “What are your concerns about this purchase?”
When the customer responds to questions, listen carefully to the said and the unsaid. You see, it could be the potential client isn’t even sure what is keeping them from buying. They know something isn’t quite right. Unfortunately, we humans sometimes know something is wrong, but we can’t put our finger on it or describe it because we don’t have the self-reflection skills or the language.
Humans Are Influenced By Immediate Past Experience
And given the nature of humans, if we experience an adverse event, it carries over into the next occasion. Something as small as spilling coffee on ourselves a few minutes before we walk into a meeting or take a call will negatively impact that future engagement. It is an unconscious response.
If you have had a wonderful day filled with positive conversations, productivity, and multiple small successes, and someone cuts in front of you in traffic, in the checkout line, or you received poor customer service, what do you remember? We remember the one negative experience because that’s what the brain naturally focuses on.
Okay, so how does one identify friction? We can’t know what the potential client has previously experienced (unless they tell us), and we don’t know what might get in their way of making a purchase. So, we ask questions, and it helps to remember how people operate.
Human Nature
To begin to uncover friction, we need to examine the automatic behavior of humans. We are creatures of habit; we like what and who we are familiar with. In other words, humans like the status quo. This is so ingrained in our thinking that most of us don’t even perceive that’s how we decide where and how we spend our money and time. Yet, familiarity is what supports brand loyalty and repeat customers/consumers.
Research has shown that investors won’t invest in companies whose names are tricky to pronounce or spell. Those investment decisions are not based on the nature of the company or its product/service. This investing behavior is not a rational decision based on data. It is an issue of familiarity versus the unfamiliar.
To battle the inertia of friction, make your product or service familiar. Repeated exposure creates a sense of familiarity and a sense of liking. Psychologists call this the truth illusion. The more a person hears a statement (even if it is a bold lie), the more likely they are to believe and endorse it because it is familiar.
Keep Changes Small
If you are introducing a new version of a product or a service, make the changes small. Why? Because the human brain doesn’t like change. Too much change creates an unconscious rejection reaction. Although I consider myself tech-savvy, I get very cranky when a new software version requires a steep learning curve, whether on my laptop, phone, or car. To the company, it is a great innovation; to the customer, it is a disruption! Too much of a change creates friction. Introduce your customers to changes gradually in small steps so they can become familiar.
If you are introducing something new internally to your organization, a new CRM system, a new incentive program, a new organizational structure, etc., don’t spring it onto the team. Too many times, I have watched executives spend months on innovative changes behind closed doors and then are surprised that the organization responds with push-back when the “new” program is finally revealed.
Inertia and Path of Least Resistance
Learning something new creates a “cost” for our customers and organizations. Understanding a new process, product, software, etc., requires conscious thought, which is slow and consumes the brain’s resources. The human brain evolved to minimize effort and conserve resources. The unconscious controls 95 percent of our decisions, actions, emotions, and beliefs. Why? The brain can save energy by establishing heuristics (rules or problem-solving processes).
This psychological pattern is one of the most powerful aspects of human behavior. We take the path of least effort or resistance. Most of us develop habits for our morning routine, so we don’t need to think about all the various steps to prepare for our day. And we formulate linguistic habits to minimize conscious effort.
Most industries develop jargon to reduce the effort of communicating within their field. How often do you use jargon (i.e., SEO, CRM, disruptive technology, value prop.)? This behavior is an example of the law of least effort. However, jargon can be a source of friction depending on your customer.
Humans like to view themselves as competent and knowledgeable. If they have to ask, “What does that mean?” it is a friction experience. Think about the last time you visited your medical professional, and they used medical terminology. How did you feel? Did you ask for clarification?
Reduce Customer Effort
If it takes effort to purchase your product or service (e.g., the process is too cumbersome or complex), customers won’t expend the necessary energy, even if they need it. Remember, the more effort the customer has to put into doing business with you, the fewer new customers you’ll attract.
If there is any ambiguity in the business process, that is another type of friction. For example, if you promote a particular option or coupon, but it’s not clear how to access said option or it requires too many steps, customers won’t bother.
I bought two GPS trackers for my dogs a few weeks ago. When the tags arrived, the only documentation in the box was one small sheet of paper littered with hazard warnings. There wasn’t even a small card with information on how to charge, how long to charge the devices, or how to know when it is ready for use. To find this information, I had to look up the product, search for a website, and read the directions on my phone. The company added friction to my use of the product!
Customer Service Can Add Friction
To put it simply, to take action requires effort. Do you reduce effort for your customers or add to their effort (friction) when they do business with you? Is the sales process simple? What about customer service? Customer service practices are a common friction area in doing business with a company.
The inclusion of AI into the business world has reduced the number of human interactions necessary to complete a purchase, request information, or return a product. However, many companies haven’t yet figured out that what reduces effort for the business doesn’t reduce friction for their customers.
I called a company to make a simple change to my account (which I couldn’t do on their website). The system requested that I indicate my need by pushing the appropriate number on my phone. Then, I was asked to provide my name, account number, phone number, and email address for verification. Once that information was verified and I was transferred to a human, I was asked again for the same information!
I’ve been on customer service calls that required help from multiple individuals, and with each transfer to another person “who can help,” I have had to repeat the same information. It’s not just the sales process that creates friction for customers; it can be the service process that turns them away.
Running a business would be much easier if we didn’t need to consider human nature. However, the more you put yourself in the shoes of your customer, the more questions you ask to understand their needs, wants, and concerns, the more you reduce friction.
The next time you want to add fuel or sweeten the pot, examine if there is friction in your processes for your customers. Identifying friction is more challenging, but a slight reduction in friction can make a huge difference in sales, customer satisfaction, and referrals.
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