The world is flat, but it’s still BIG
The world is flat, says Thomas Friedman. That’s technology doing its trick. The important thing is, even when the world has no boundaries, that’s only for machines - not us humans.
Have you ever had a customer service call and found it hard dealing with outsourced calls from India? They call themselves John or Chris, but really, they don’t sound like one. It’s becoming more of an issue these days, because unhappy customers in the U.S. want to speak to someone who knows the product, and more importantly, someone who can understand and speak in the customer’s tongue. Unhappy as a customer is, the customer doesn’t want to have to keep saying “I can’t understand what you’re saying.”
Yes, technology has allowed for a superhighway of communications across the globe. But seriously, we as humans, find it hard to really understand one another. I mean, it’s hard to communicate even with our husband or wife. So now that we have a wider platform for communication, a flatter world where selling and buying of goods have become so free, the focus is now on having a more quality communication. “Know thy customer,” has become a wiser wisdom, because without it, the customers can simply switch to your competitor from the other side of the planet.
So what should YOU do? Think in terms of understanding - not talking. You may have been raised in Los Angeles, went to college in Urbana-Champaign, and took your first job in New York City while taking vacations in Orlando and in The Bahamas, your customer may have lived in Shanghai most of his life. And although you may have eaten many Combination Lo Meins, that doesn’t mean you know all about Chinese culture. Did you think they eat Lo Mein every day?
Now let’s think in terms of advertising. You know that your client’s customers aren’t all American. I mean, what is American? So when developing a creative campaign, you must NEVER ASSUME that all women hope to become successful businesswomen or that all Africans don’t have electricity. Even when you think of the most fundamental values, that’s really your own value, and not the value of all people who buy your client’s products.
So dont’ just eat Lo Mein, learn how to cook it. Don’t rely on sayings that the world is flat, because the world is really big. And you knew it since you were born. Get back in your diapers in your crib, and see how everything looks big.