TFN#18 When you talk to someone, there are always two tokens lying on the table

Hi Reader,

Festival season has already begun in India. So, I’m sure you won’t be able to read each of my weekly emails, but that’s fine. They’re already in your inbox, take your time and relish.

One of the best things about the festive season is shopping and holidays.

And that reminds me of several things, mainly: customer service.

The two tokens analogy

When it comes to customer service, there are two tokens lying on the table:

“It’s not a big deal” and “It’s the end of the world!”

We have a choice to pick either of them.

When we pick one token, we force the other person to pick the one that is left.

Interesting, right?

This is how it plays

Suppose you’re on a business trip, staying in a nice, comfortable hotel.

You had reserved your room after confirming that they have a good Wi-Fi service in their rooms. Because you know you’ll need it for work. And it’s a deal-breaker.

Soon after checking into the hotel room, you discover that the Wi-Fi is unavailable in your room.

Scenario-1

When you contact the reception desk, the guy at the reception responds with the usual excuses. Doesn’t provide as much weightage to your complaint and kind of shrugs it off.

If you’re like me, you will quickly turn into the Incredible Hulk, furious with anger.

But.

But..

But…

Scenario-2

What if the reception guy responded to you in this manner:

“What!? You’re not getting the Wi-Fi signal?? This is unacceptable!! I’m soo sorry sir, let me send the IT staff and fix it. And while we do that, would you like a cup of coffee? It’s on us, a gesture of apology.”

What would you do?

You’d probably stay calm and politely decline the free coffee. You would probably also say, it’s not a big deal, just fix it by tonight. It’s not urgent.

Do you see the token dynamics here?

In the first scenario

The receptionist picked up the “It’s not a big deal” token

Which forced you to pick up the “It’s the end of the world!” token (and turn into the Hulk)

In the second scenario

The receptionist picked up “It’s the end of the world!” token

Which forced you to pick up the “It’s not a big deal” token

What does it tell us?

Whether you are dealing with a customer or your colleague, in important matters, it’s wise to pick up the “It’s the end of the world!” token every single time.

You can force the other person to pick up the other token consciously.

It’s not a trick

Now, before you think that it’s a trick.

Stop.

Please stop.

The simplicity of the token analogy is difficult to implement unless you genuinely care for the other party’s interests. You can’t fake it in a real-life scenario.

But it’s a good reminder.

So, which token do you normally pick up?

Hit Reply and tell me.

Reads of the week:

In this short podcast, @nireyal author of “Hooked” and “Indistractable,” speaks on being Indistractable. I liked this new app Airchat. Nice concept.

What occurred to me after listening to him is you can’t claim that you get distracted if you have no traction set in your calendar! I liked this argument.