Crafting the Customer Experience For People Not Like You: How to Delight and Engage the Customers Your Competitors Don't Understand

STEP 3: OVERCOME BARRIERS

The less formal church environment is a great example of not just following trends but also overcoming barriers, specifically, the perceived barrier of “I have nothing nice enough to wear.”

But the biggest potential barrier to understanding how people who are not like you think is that, quite simply, you are not like them. I’m not trying to be flip; it’s so obvious. The only lens that I have with which to view the world is my own; I can see things only through my eyes, via my experiences, values, and priorities. I have no idea what it’s like to be a man, to be in a wheelchair, or to be 80 years old. I have no idea what it’s like to be Asian or in the military. You get the idea. Each of us has to work hard to break out of our comfort zone to tap into a market segment that is not like we are. That comfort zone of ours is a big barrier. We know what we know, and most of us are a little uncomfortable with what we don’t know. And when it comes to our business, we don’t want to make a mistake, do the wrong thing, or offend or upset anyone.

So here’s the fastest and easiest way to overcome that barrier: hire diversity. Employ people who are not like you. It might sound simple, but it’s the opposite of what most business owners do. Most business owners and managers hire people who are very much like them, which is understandable. If you are like me, then chances are that we’ll get along pretty well. We will probably have similar backgrounds, experiences, or values, ...