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Ideas In Action

An SM2 newsletter providing tools, techniques and knowledge to help you create a better customer experience!

Their latest book, Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want, was published in the fall of 2007. Their work has been recognized by TIME Magazine as one of "Ten Ideas that Are Changing the World" (March 10, 2008 issue)

 

Pine and Gilmore They developed a compelling model that serves to explain what’s happening all around us called The Progression of Economic Value.

 

Beginning with the agrarian economy of the mid 1800s, they have documented how the economy has evolved and expanded in response to increasing productivity and automation. In the early 1900s, the predominant form of labor shifted from the farm to the factory, all a result of automation in farming and the rise of the industrial age. A similar shift occurred by the 1950s, as increased automation in manufacturing (as well as outsourcing to less-developed economies) gave rise to the service economy.

 

Progression of Economic Value

 

Every accountant, salesperson, and hairdresser is part of the service economy. Entire service industries have emerged that created jobs and employment. Today service workers – performing intangible activities on demand for customers –account for over 80% of the labor force (Farming, which used to employ 90% of the workforce, now produces more food with only 3% of the workforce. Similarly manufacturing, once accounting for 50% of the workforce, now employs 12%.)

 

But as was the case with the farm and the factory, service jobs are being automated. Voicemail, the ATM and online travel booking are just a few examples of service jobs (secretary, bank teller, and travel agent) that are being automated. Companies are recognizing that their competitive edge can no longer rest on "great service," which has become the norm (whether done live or via automation). Instead, they are shifting more and more resources towards "staging" (a term Pine and Gilmore use) experiences.

 

Having become a fan of the book and the work, Shareef Mahdavi was privileged to be accepted into the first-ever certification process conducted by Pine and Gilmore. To date, 14 individuals from multiple industries have gone through the training and education process to earn the distinction as certified by Pine and Gilmore as experts in the Experience Economy.

 

A main thrust of the work done by Shareef Mahdavi and SM2 Strategic is to bring the experience economy to the world of medicine and help manufacturers and doctors significantly improve their respective customer’s experience. Doing so creates a multiple win-win: for doctors and their employees,,for manufacturers and their shareholders, and, most importantly, for patients and their overall experience with medicine.

 

The underlying goal of improving the customer experience is to build the business of medicine through word of mouth rather than relying on advertising and promotion. SM2 believes that Cycle of Great Experience is what can help a business or practice grow sustainably over the long term.

 

Cycle of Great Customer Experience

 

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