What you’ll read:
- We applied Simon Sinek’s TED Talk to marketing and found that by showing humanity, perfecting quality service, caring for employees and more, marketers can win customers over.
If you’ve been following our series on marketing lessons from non-marketing TED Talks, you know we’re pretty big on leadership expert Simon Sinek.
Back in April, Sinek sat down with the head of TED, Chris Anderson, to discuss some of the lessons he’s learned throughout the pandemic.
While Sinek’s Talk revolves around interpersonal relationships and personal growth, marketers can also use his nuggets of wisdomto strengthen their relationships with — and provide more value to — their customers.
Let’s take a look at what he has to say.
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“Humanity Matters”
The pandemic brought out the humanity in many of us — with the business world quickly following suit.
Over a year later, Sinek has two things to say about this:
For one, the last year has shown us who in our lives, matter most — and which of our interpersonal relationships are the strongest and add the most value to our lives. As Sinek explains, we discovered who our true friends are by looking for those showing the most humanity to us.
The same can be said for many businesses around the world: As the pandemic and ensuing shutdown took hold, brands found a number of ways to show the more “human” side of their company:
- IKEA revamped their messaging to communicate the importance of staying home
- Zara shifted operations to develop masks and hospital gowns
- H&M went all-in to cater to its audience and global community throughout the pandemic
While appreciative of this pandemic-induced global showing of humanity, Sinek moves on to say that it shouldn’t take such a massive tragedy for our humanity to come to the surface.
And it’s the same for brands, companies, and organizations throughout the world:
We should always strive for authenticity and transparency when it comes to our customers.
We should always look for ways to help those most in need.
And we should always operate with our customer’s success, satisfaction, and safety as our top priorities.
“Service is the Thing”
As we just touched on, Sinek points out that the most effective way to show our humanity is to serve others.
Sinek believes there’s “tremendous value” in service; that service is the thing.
“We desperately need each other to survive and thrive, as much as we did when we were living in huts in small tribes of 150 people. And so service service is the thing.”– Simon Sinek
For brands, the question is:
How are you serving your customers?
This goes beyond products or services. you sell to your audience should provide top-notch value.
But your main offering is merely a commodity.
We’re talking about service.
It’s about creating a mindset shift throughout your organization: You don’t just “provide a product or service to your customers”; you serve your customers through the products and services you offer — and then some.
This, will help you move away from defining your organization and brand by the products or services you offer — and instead define it by the overall value you provide your customers.
From there, it will become easier to focus on:
- Regularly exceeding your audience’s expectations
- Uncovering new ways to add value to their experience
- Differentiating your brand from your competitors and becoming a leader in your industry
And it all starts by acknowledging the value of service.
Take Care of Those In Your Charge
Sinek explains that leadership isn’t about being in charge; it’s actually about taking care of those in our charge.
Perhaps a bit ironically, this means stepping out of the spotlight ourselves — and allowing our customers to take centerstage at all times. The idea is to position your customer as the hero of their journey to success, with your brand acting as their trusty sidekick.
With this, you aren’t necessarily leading the customer to their goals, buttagging along on their journey,providing exactly what they need to make continuous progress.
Sinek also alludes to the fact that titles are meaningless until truly earned. Just as a CEO doesn’t become a leader by becoming CEO, brands don’t become industry leaders through effective marketing and embellished claims of greatness.
That said, once you’ve earned the reputation as a leading brand in your industry, you can certainly leverage that reputation to attract more customers to your business. From there, you can take even more individuals under your wing as they forge ahead on their path to greatness.
Dig Deeper With Your Customers
Another phenomenon Sinek noticed throughout the pandemic:
Friends responding to the question, “How are you?” with a short, hurried, “I’m fine”.
This response typically translates to: “I’m freaking out like everyone else but if I start talking about it I may never stop.”
But, as Sinek explains, this short response often shuts down what could have ended up being a meaningful conversation. In failing to dig into a deeper conversation, both parties miss out on an opportunity to strengthen their relationship.
There are a ton of lessons to take from this — with each revolving around the importance of collecting detailed feedback from your customers.
Firstly, it’s crucial to clarify the meaning of any subjective feedback you receive from your customers. Just as “fine” doesn’t necessarily mean everything is A-OK, “good”, “happy”, and “satisfied” can mean a number of things coming from your customers. It’s up to you to determine whether they really mean things are great — or if they’re just being agreeable.
Similarly, even if a customer is clearly “satisfied,” you still want to know what you could do that would make them ecstatic. To be sure, if you’re merely keeping your customers satisfied, you’ll always be at risk of losing them to competing brands that go the extra mile for those in their charge.
Finally, you need to figure out how to effectively elicit more in-depth feedback from your customers. Unfortunately, they won’t always volunteer more info — and in some cases may not know how to best vocalize their opinions. It’s your jobto give them the platform and opportunity they need to say what’s on their mind with clarity and accuracy.
It’s all about knowing your customers enough to know when they have more to say — and knowing exactly what to do to get them to say it.
Define Your “Why” to Truly Recognize Your Value
Sinek states it perfectly:
“Your ‘Why’ is the thing you give to this world.”
Speaking on a personal level, Sinek discusses an exercise he often does with friends and peers, in which he gets them to explain why, exactly, they’re friends.
Ultimately, the other person ends up describing themselves, and the way Simon makes them feel when he’s around. In Sinek’s case, his friends say they feel inspired when he’s around — which, in turn, tells Sinek that his “Why” is “to inspire others”.
In defining your brand’s “Why”, you’ll again need to look to your customers:
- How do you impact their lives?
- What do you enable them to do or achieve?
- What wouldn’t they be able to do without your help?
Understanding the answers to these questions — andunderstanding your “Why” — is key to tying together everything we’ve discussed in this article.
When you truly understand the value your company has on your audience and the global community, you’ll be able to:
- Serve your customers to your highest capacity — and continuing to uncover new ways to serve them
- Deliver exactly what your customers need to thrive at any time along their path to success
- Earn the reputation of being a true leader in your industry
Your brand’s “Why” isn’t about what you do; it’s what you allow others to accomplish through your team’s dedicated efforts.