TV’s “Shark Tank” is what many people feel is the premiere opportunity for entrepreneurs. But sharks do not have the capacity for emotion as us humans know it. They have basic emotions like pain, hunger, and mating impulses. They have no emotional intelligence as we know it. The sharks on the show might have the same issue because they failed to make an offer to Jamie Siminoff of Ring (DoorBot when pitched).
To date, not making an offer to Siminoff of Ring is the shows biggest embarrassment. On the show they have highlighted others that have gone on to experience success, but Siminoff says the show has not contacted him.
And what a success it has been. The sharks missed the boat. Jamie offered the sharks a 10% stake in the company for $700k. As of January 2017 the company is valued at $445 million. That would have been a legendary rate of return for the sharks.
Watch Jamine Siminoff of Ring talk about using emotion in customer experience Click to Tweet
Hidden Emotional Triggers
One thing that stood out to me as I sat and listened to Jamie’s keynote presentation at the PACE Association Annual Conference was the number of emotional triggers that is present in Ring. And not only in the product, it’s in the design of their customer experience.
Ring’s Video Doorbell connects to smart phones and gives homeowners the piece of mind of being able to see and talk to people at their door, even when they are not at home. Your feeling of safety and security skyrockets by owning this product.
A Higher Purpose
In her article on Fast Company, Why Purpose-Driven Companies Are Often More Successful Sherry Hakimi states that in today’s technology driven, rapidly evolving economy, successful companies are built not from the ground up, but from the purpose up.
Organizations without clear purpose manage people and resources. Organizations with strong purpose mobilize people and resources. Purpose is a vital ingredient for a strong, sustainable, scalable organizational culture. Organizational purpose is a powerful emotional intelligence trigger for organizations. But for most it’s not leveraged. It’s merely an unseen element that fails to drive the organization in a concerted manner
It should be your strategic starting point. It’s your product or service differentiator. It is an organic attractor of customers and high performing employees. High emotional connections are gained when companies have a higher purpose and mission. And Ring’s Mission is to reduce crime in communities.
“High emotional connections are gained when companies have a higher purpose and mission.” Click to Tweet
Delivering on the Mission
And they have proof that they do reduce crime. Working with the Los Angeles Police Department, Ring installed its Ring Video Doorbells on 41 of 400 homes in the neighborhood near Koreatown for free. Between July and December 2015, no burglaries occurred at any of the houses installed with the smart video doorbell, and neighborhood burglaries were cut by more than half compared to surrounding neighborhoods over the same time frame the year before.
Jamie says their mission drives their team and strategy throughout every decision. As Jamie says in my interview, it’s an emotional thing for him. He is committed to creating happy customers and making a positive impact on our homes, our communities, and the world. It’s personal.
Contact Center Value
Jamie has a background in contact centers and it’s given him a huge advantage. As he spoke about the importance of the customer experience he spoke of how the contact center experience delivers customer retention, referrals, and a distinct advantage for Ring.
Unlike many CEO’s Jamie knows how to unlock the contact center value potential. And he is trying to get even more value out of the contact center. During his keynote he talked about a current experiment to develop contact center agents into a much higher skill set and paying them a salary of $55,000 annually.
How many CEOs do you know talk about increasing contact center agent skills and compensation? He said that it’s proving to provide the company a much higher payback than having lower skilled and lower paid contact center agents.
And emotional intelligence plays a significant part. Jamie says these higher skilled agents make emotional connections with customers much faster. And for the company that converts to revenue and retention.
“Higher skilled agents make emotional connections with customers much faster.” Click to Tweet
Emotional Intelligence is Disrupting Markets
Not understanding the emotional power (and resulting potential) of Ring by the sharks cost them dearly. Not understanding how to unlock emotional power is a failure among senior executives. It’s why so many industries are being consumed by disruption.
“Not understanding how to unlock emotional power is a failure among senior executives.” Click to Tweet
All of the companies we idolize for the customer experience use emotion to deliver their exceptional service. They work to unlock it’s power. The key is being able to sustain it over the longer term. You must go beyond what everyone else can do to only what a few always do.
As I continue to learn and grow The Emotional Intelligence Customer Experience Design™ (EQCX) framework I’m gaining more insight from emotionally creative thinking people like Jamine Siminoff.
Make sure you watch his interview and share it. Help me on my mission to put more EQ in CX. Together we can make the world a better experience.
