Is Success Measured with Shallow, Quick Quantity or Deep, Lasting Quality?

Discounters appeal to people wanting quick benefit quantity without considering long-term satisfaction from benefit quality.

A lowest price criterion can bias people’s step-by-step evaluations from planning to results. Higher-price product benefits might feel like cost-overruns. People might expect faster, better results than conditions allow or products & methods can create.

When low-prices & short-term perceptions are used to evaluate results, successful long-term efforts could be perceived as delusional failures. Offer specific high-quality benefits to guide purchasing & realistic long-term expectations.

I use success & failure analogies to avoid offending people. Books & cartoons feature anthropomorphized animals to teach lessons without ethnic stereotypes.

Bears & humans disregard rules & nutritional reasons for appropriate food. Humans disregard logic of quality because cheap prices satisfy emotions.

If Yogi Bear expects to survive on human-abandoned food, acquisition costs might seem like bargains. If Yogi disregards nutrients & thinks fishing is burdensome, fish acquisition costs seem extravagant. Raiding two picnics might be easier than catching one fish.

In WHAT GOT YOU HERE WON’T GET YOU THERE, Marshall Goldsmith & Mark Reiter analogized Success Delusion with this: "The bear was about to clamp onto an unsuspecting airborne salmon jumping upstream. [An UNUM] headline read: YOU PROBABLY FEEL LIKE THE BEAR. WE’D LIKE TO SUGGEST YOU’RE THE SALMON."

See the Big Fish I Caught with My Rod!

Will friends’ referrals or authoritative endorsements help people choose products from your store? Which consistent & nascent issues do people discuss? How do/can your offers fit people’s discussions? What would induce discussions of your ability to affect result quality & satisfaction levels? You should help customers make social connections beneficial. Give customers information & insights to share with knowledgeable/authoritative people & evaluate your offers.

What should people know when planning/revising projects?

Since preparation requires knowledge & other resources, which criteria assure customers can influence conditions?

If you expect people to buy goal-achievement resources, offer the most possible. When customers regularly depend on you for advantageous goal-achievement, you’re integrated into their lives.

When weather, inflation, supply-chain disruptions &/or other issues affect people’s planning progress, consultations can reveal product & method options. When people’s efforts seem blocked & high-value seems out-of-reach, offer descriptive compelling options.

Clayton Christensen wrote people hire products for jobs-to-be-done.

Offer Example: ‘When you need (benefit), consider long-term results as if you’re hiring workers. (Store) advantage offers include screening product qualifications for your jobs-to-be-done. Products should be compatible with your desires & long-term stress-relief. Discounters push products without concern for your well-being. (Store) is dedicated to your life-quality.’

If people seek opinions about product & method choices, you should be chosen for authoritative guidance.

Consultation/Evaluation Example: This case study plan was successfully adapted to (local conditions) with knowledge & methods defined & refined according to results of (ABC) & emerging indications. Differences between those conditions & ours are __. Because of those differences, let’s (BCD) substitute for (ABC). Step-1 is adapted because (difference) & will be finished with (products & techniques) creating (result). The gap between your goal (full benefit) & (result) is __ & can be filled with (supplies & techniques). (Skill) is necessary for (techniques) & can be learned with (tutorials). Step-2 includes (products & techniques) to create (full benefit).

Boost customers' confidence by guiding them to learn applicable information & skills. Academic counselors open resources & opportunities for students. Introduce customers to achievements you can help fulfill.

Start Small & Increase Credible Momentum.

If loved ones have compatible conditions, people might recommend products after experiences of fulfilling needs & desires. People can help with referrals if you authoritatively evaluate conditions, goals & resources compatibility. You can be perceived & endorsed as an authority as you learn & share knowledge.

Trust involves predictable reliability & relates to determining whether to attempt diagnoses & repairs or ignore problems. Information inspires trust so people avoid failures & lost opportunities. Explain why & how to solve problems plus futility of ignoring problems. Describe your approach to projects, so people will join you.

Referrals are based on interpersonal trust & help inexperienced people. People are apt to approach you about potential trouble when you establish predictability by restoring/maintaining/controlling past, current stable &/or emerging circumstances.

Anthropomorphized bears might anticipate winter & think Yogi gets enough picnic baskets, but hibernation preparation is no picnic! Yogi might be stable now, but will he survive? It’d be Success Delusion if Yogi fills up with human food & feels successfully prepared. He could hibernate but might not emerge. Hibernation is an intermediate result for optimal living.

Success Delusion can be illustrated with the Three Little Pigs. Two pigs might feel successful after building stick & straw houses. Shelter & safety aren’t identical. It’s vital to consider all threats because preparation for one hazard doesn’t guarantee total safety.

Household ambiance control is a long-term goal that can be disrupted by typical weather & destroyed by storms.

Analysis: We want (benefit) in our current condition. What will indicate condition changes? When indications come, how will we prepare? Current/emerging problems are __. We’re evaluating our preparations with these criteria: __. We want (benefit), so we (do action). If we notice (indications), we’ll change plans or preparations.

High-Quality Products Have Specifications; Solutions Have Criteria.

People should consider personal, long-term costs when choosing options. Differentiate short-term easiness, quickness & cheapness from what creates better, long-term benefits. Discounters ignore those & offer easy, quick, cheap purchases.

If Yogi doesn’t learn about hibernation, picnic food might seem OK because it's easily obtained. It’s vital for Yogi to learn about fulfilling sustenance requirements.

Human nutrition is a valid analogy because opinions & requirements vary. Doctors compare averages & treat aberrations. Activities & rest burn average calorie levels & food replaces calories plus nutrients that alter calorie use & replacement.

It’d be a Boo-Boo if Yogi thought there’s no need to hibernate. As winter hits, humans stop picnicking, so baskets probably aren’t available. Yogi would need to prioritize other food for hibernation or survive winter without preparation.

People have comfortable biases, reject uncomfortable facts & need remedial help. Adjust best, better & good offers for early preparers, last-minute movers & late-comers, plus explain necessities.

Whether Yogi prioritizes picnic baskets or bears prefer certain fish, biologists might emphasize criteria based on current or emerging needs plus resource comparisons.

Bears might want to pig-out while fish are plentiful without understanding digestion, metabolism & energy-production aren’t instant. Storms & other problems can hit before bears adjust to extra weight & finish preparations.

Humans choose junk foods causing sugar spikes & crashes without sufficiently satisfying hunger. That’s analogous to cheap stuff not fulfilling expectations.

Even if discounters accept returns, consumers expend time & energy returning stuff instead of finishing projects. After that waste, prevention could be too late, so people need remediation.

Criteria, Plans & Readiness

Will customers do testimonials about how you relieved their frustrations?

Help customers combine information, observations & experiences into criteria, so you can add insights to their plans.

Consumer conversations & activity observations can reveal expectations. Consumer advocates & complaint forums reveal frustrations. Compare product quality with those expectations & frustrations, so you know what to offer & how to guide customers.

How Much More Value Would Bring Satisfaction?

People might feel their lives are incomplete & yearn to 'have it all’ without defining ‘it all’.

If billionaires have it all, can they actively enjoy it all? Example: While enjoying Activity-A with Product-1, Product-2 is in-storage because it’s made for Activity-B. Seasonal changes limit activities & return-on-investment.

Affluent people buy from discounters when cheap products seem to fulfill criteria just like expensive versions. Emphasize how your advantage offers make activities optimally enjoyable & financially practical.

You influence customers’ attention-to-detail by investing attention in step-by-step effects so quality lasts. Your success depends on demonstrating importance with thorough guidance. Your concern for benefit quality indicates concern for customers.

Take-it-or-leave-it attitudes indicate customers are low priorities. When choosing between ambivalent competitors, stressed people opt for low prices.

Yogi might prefer picnic baskets because injuries prevent effective fishing. If you dismiss him as afraid of drowning & recommend a life vest, you wouldn’t be integrated into his life. That lack of integration would block future sales & referrals.

Though Yogi should recognize his limitations better than others, he might not realize how injuries interfere with fishing techniques. Maybe his limitation is limping. Which techniques would be restricted by limping? Which techniques could he do instead? Which techniques should/shouldn’t Yogi do?

If Yogi agrees fishing is better than picnicking, how should he rate readiness for technique riskiness? Would numerical or verbal ratings be meaningful? Example: Though (Technique-A) is generally high (#9) in effectiveness, because your injury is ___, Technique-A) is moderate (#5) in riskiness. (Technique-B) is moderately (#6) effective & might require more time, but it’s low (#2) in riskiness. You can feed yourself without jeopardizing your recovery. This tutorial shows how to do (Technique-B) despite your injury. If pain increases, rest & eat __. Retry tomorrow.

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