Tuesday, August 16, 2011

More Things I Learned From Guy Kawasaki's "Reality Check"

There is a short, but powerful chapter in "Reality Check" called The Art of Evangelism.  Should be required reading for everyone in any business, not just timeshare...or Macs.
Guy states that, "The key to great evangelism is great innovation.  It is easy---almost unavoidable---to catalyze evangelism for a great product.  It is hard, almost impossible, to catalyze evangelism for crap.  Evangelism, after all, comes from the Greek word for "bringing the good news", not "the crappy news.  The important question is, "What are the characteristics of an innovative product or service?  The answer is to think DICEE."

Before I continue, let me state so that there is NO doubt in anyone's mind...I believe timeshare is a great product.  The industry must simply fix some things, get rid of some people and get out of their own way and I believe that ownership and satisfaction WILL increase dramatically.

Getting back to Mr. Kawasaki's DICEE;

DEEP  A great product is deep.  It doesn't run out of features and functionality after a few weeks of use.  Its creators have anticipated what you'll need once you come up to speed.  As your demands get more spophisticated, you discover that you don't need a new product.

INTELLIGENT  A great product screams that someone was thinking when she created it.  Panasonic, for example, makes a flashlight that takes three battery sizes.  This triples the probability that you have a battery that will work.  The product's benefits may be obvious when you see it, but someone had an insight to create it.

COMPLETE  A great product is more than a physical thing.  Documentation counts.  Customer service counts.  Tech support counts.  Consultants and third-party developers count.  Online communities count.  A great product provides a great total user experience---sometimes despite the company that produces it.

ELEGANT  A great product has an elegant user interface.  Things work the way you'd think they would.  A great product doesn't fight you---it enhances you.  Metaphorically, you take it home, plug it in and it works.  The first step is to use it, not search for a manual online to teach you how to use it.

EMOTIVE  A great product incites you to action.  It is so deep, indulgent, complete and elegant that it compels people to tell others about it.  They're not necessarily an employee or shareholder of the company that produces it.  They're bringing the good news to help others, ot themselves.

Before you say "sure, that's great for a computer or an i{hone, not a timeshare", give it some thought.  What can you do to make sure timeshare, or at least your timeshare is "elegant?"  How about "emotive?"

The way to get more people to buy, enjoy, love and spread the word about timeshare is to get out of our own way...who is onboard?

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