The Power of Self-Serve Information
I travel a lot, and I love learning, so I go on a lot of tours.
Yet, I strongly dislike most tour guides.
They're often much too enthusiastic and fake, as if the local museum was an audition for a summer comedy gig in the Catskills.
Or conversely, they're way too scripted, insistent that each of the visitors in their temporary care must be herded along a prescribed route, with no deviation allowed.
So you either end up with Gilbert Gottfried, or Nurse Ratched.
I've decided I prefer the third option. And you and your customers probably do, as well.
Self-serve information.
My son Ethan and I were in London not long ago, and he very much wanted to visit the home pitch of his favorite English Premier League soccer side, the tragically inadequate try-hards, Tottenham Hotspur.
Theirs is an incredible stadium, opened in 2019 and filled with all the latest fan amenities.
Despite it being essentially the iPhone of sportsplexes in aesthetics, technology, and general vibes, none of that was the most noteworthy aspect of the tour
experience.
Instead, it was the commitment to self-serve
information.
Although we paid admission, there was no tour.
There was no tour guide, per se.
There was no "route".
Upon entry, you are handed a custom video tablet and headphones, and....off you go.
It's amazing. Go ANYWHERE in the stadium you want. Your video player knows where you are, and serves up a dizzying array of facts and behind-the-scenes content. Somewhere around 14 different maps are a click away at all times.
How long is the "tour"? As long as you want!
Sit in the seats for awhile. Get a drink. Take a snooze. They don't care. Pay your money, stay until they close at night.
Have a weird question your info machine can't answer? There are guides stationed in every room and nook. Thus, there are "people with knowledge" but not "come along now to the locker room" GUIDES.
It was the best tour I've ever been on, period.
And maybe it's how all businesses should operate?
Your customers and prospects want to learn about your wares on THEIR schedule, not YOURS.
They don't want to schedule a call. Or set up a demo. Or meet your salesperson for coffee. That's all just burdensome.
They just want to know what they need to know, with as little friction and hassle as possible.
And this is especially true for younger consumers. Nearly half of all Millennial customers NEVER want to talk to a salesperson when making a purchase.
What is the implication for self-serve information? Whatever you and your team knows, maybe extract it out of your craniums and make it available, online, for free, now.
If your customer (or prospective employee, for that matter) has to have a face-to-face, or even telephonic conversation to access what they need to know to buy or join your crew, you are erecting barriers and creating
friction.
Like orcas at SeaWorld, it's time to set your information free, and make it
self-serve.
