I don’t mean human vs. AI (also worth considering). I mean human vs. monster.
Here are some depressing statistics about humans. Somewhere between 1-6% of us are narcissists. Machiavellianism is similar, but a little less common. About 1-2 percent of us are psycopaths. Something like 5-10% of us are sadists. The lucky ducks who get all four exhibit the “dark tetrad” – a rare but very deadly combination. Dark tetrad people tend to look at life like this.
If I’m able to take something from you, I can and I will, without apology, because that’s the natural order of things. Besides, you deserve it for being stupid enough to fall for it – or too weak to stop me.
Such people used to be warlords and kings. Now they’re CEOs, cult leaders, and politicians. They pursue their own goals, and too bad if workers or the public get harmed.
We hear examples of these people all the time, but we don’t take them as cautionary tales. We should. The trouble is, that mindset is so foreign, it seems unreal. We can’t relate to that cold-blooded, heartless approach to life, so we dismiss it as an aberration.
It’s not. These kinds of people are disproportionately represented in positions of power.
There’s an opportunity here
It’s more and more common for people to believe “the system” is led by predators who can’t be trusted – dark tetrad types – and they’re fed up with it. They believe they’re being used and taken advantage of, and they’re starting to wise up and push back.
Take advantage of this backlash and become the kind of company that people want to do business with. Here are some ideas in that direction.
1. No more tricks
A subscription is a perfectly legitimate business model. The customer gets a better rate in exchange for a steady stream of income to the service provider.
That doesn’t excuse all the dirty tricks that are used to get people to sign up for subscriptions that have sneaky renewal procedures. Offers need to be clear and honest, and it has to be easy to cancel.
The same thing applies to sales. It’s hard to draw a line between being a good salesman and being a manipulative bastard, but you need to be on the watch for that tendency.
2. Show a bias towards transparency
Do you need to collect data about your customers? That’s fine. There are perfectly legitimate reasons to do that. Let’s not make it a secret, dark art that we hide from our customers. Explain what you collect and why. Part of your decision-making process in choosing to collect any given piece of data should be:
- How does it help my customer?
- What would they think if they found out that I was collecting this?
- How could I explain it so they agree that I should have this data?
How is taking data from people without their consent any better than taking money from them without their consent?
In fact, why not have a page on your website that says “this is what we collect about you and here’s why we do it”?
3. Fair return policies
Respect the customer’s situation. Businesses that make it easy to return a product or get a refund make it easier for the customer to buy next time. This builds trust.
4. Sincere customer support
It’s very tempting to make customer support a profit center where reps are trained to up- and cross-sell, but a big part of Amazon’s success is their customer support – which doesn’t do that. The Amazon customer support agent is trying to help the customer.
This is especially important for high-ticket items. After you’ve paid big bucks for a service, you don’t want to be upsold, or nickel and dimed, when you need help using the product.
5. Be careful about promoting your virtue
Be a virtuous company, but don’t blow a trumpet about it.
A colleague once told me that when people start talking about morals, he gets a tighter grip on his wallet. Narcissists talk about how moral they are. Steer clear of that.
Bad company corrupts good morals
Positions that allow people to collect power, influence, money, and so on, will attract the dark tetrad types. Business is one of those places.
You’re not one of those people. But are you learning from them?
Have we bought into the idea that profits come first? Have we put the bottom line ahead of our customer’s interests? Are we trying to trick people into buying or renewing our product, because it works? Are our offers honest?
I’m both predicting and hoping that the thirst for honest businesses is a market opportunity. Be the trustworthy and decent merchant that your customers long for.
