The Experience Economy, Updated Edition

CHAPTER 5

Experiencing Less Sacrifice

SOME BUSINESS COMMENTATORS SAY THAT conditioning customers (that is, coercing them to lower their expectations) to accept less than exactly what they want breeds good business practice, especially if a business reduces its costs without overly dissatisfying the customer. But herein lies another sure route to commoditization, for it unduly focuses the company on internal costs at the expense of customer needs. An attitude of “They won't mind” leads inevitably to operational practices replete with customer sacrifice. It may lead to higher costs if the company sidesteps an opportunity to ascertain individual needs and eliminate wasteful practices stemming from expending resources and effort that some customers ...