You are unique.
That’s why you should be treated like an individual. No one else has your same combination of genes, skills, experiences, attitudes, goals and needs.
For the past 100 years, our economy was going through a revolution. Mass production raised our standards of living, and in return people accepted a higher degree of uniformity. That revolution is over, and the need for uniformity is, too.
It is sheer nonsense that we force children to sit in neat rows in classrooms of 30 or more, each learning the way the teacher and school system prefers to teach – rather than the way the student learns best.
It is mindless torture to deal with most companies, as they force you to remember your “customer number,” press “3″ then “2″ then “5″ then “4″ then get disconnected.
It is close to barbaric the way our medical system treats diseases instead of people, minimizing the differences between us, even though understanding those differences will vastly improve the quality of our lives.
Want me to put it in terms of dollars and cents?
Here are the primary benefits of personalization to customers. If you deliver these benefits, you can increase your revenues and profits while you lock in loyalty.
Save time: Eliminate repetitive tasks; remember transactional details; recognize habits and shorten the path to engage in such habits (example: frequently called numbers on a phone should automatically go into the phone’s memory).
Save money: Prevent redundant work (example: make it easier for employees and suppliers to know someone else has already solved the problem that they are currently facing); eliminate service components unnecessary to a person; identify lower-cost solutions that meet all other specifications.
Better information: Provide training; filter out information not relevant to a person; provide more specific information that is increasingly relevant to a person’s interests; increase the reliability of information; replace “average” information with information specific to that person’s environment.
Address ongoing needs, challenges, or opportunities: Provide one-stop services; allow flexibility in work hours, job responsibilities, and benefits; accommodate unique personal preferences (example: allow employees to customize their office space, within certain boundaries); recognize and reward achievement with special treatment.