Make Yourself Clear

18The Unit of Delight

Successful sellers of modern products do right by customers not by selling features, but by selling solutions – not what the product itself can do, but the outcome that is produced through its use.

As such, the designers of those products and experiences focus on that which allows users to accomplish a goal – quite simply, usability. The users may press buttons or select options or hear pleasing sounds along the way, but the total outcome for her or him matters most. And the total outcome is the result of – and in direct association with – those described actions. As Zach from Chapter 17 knows, it's nice to hear a crisp sound when you complete a task; it's transformative, though, to experience the total outcome of planning and executing a complex array of tasks and projects, that is, the total outcome of being a fully independent agent. Therese Fessenden parses delight into two categories: that which is “local and contextual…and derived from largely isolated features” and that which is “holistic, and is achieved once all user needs are met.” Features in isolation may offer novelty, but they are not all encompassing. They do not change the user's relationship with his or her work. They do not change the user (Fessenden, 2017).

Sellers, leaders, trainers, and service professionals, therefore, should not just be focused on the solution (the outcome); they should be focused on how the process toward that outcome is experienced. The process – or experience ...