Use Joy to Position Your Business with Richard Sheridan – 072

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Richard Sheridan is the co-founder and CEO of Menlo Innovations. The title on his business card is “Chief Story Teller.” He is also the author of Joy, Inc. In his career, he has grown from programmer to vice president to entrepreneur. He loves to ski, and recently he set a personal record, completing a 5K in under 30 minutes.

Creating Value Through Software

• What is the most important thing you can share about pricing?
  • Avoid the trap of believing that the lower the price, the more likely you are to win the deal.
  • There is no price too low for someone shopping only on price.
  • The conversation has to shift to value:
    • What does success look like?
    • What are we going to deliver?
    • Why are we a good match for you as a company?
  • Anyone can relate to a business through compelling, authentic stories.
  • If you can communicate what you believe, the customers that seek you out will be a better fit.
  • As soon as you start showing spreadsheets and talking ROI, you have lost the game.
  • The richness is how you think about the endeavor with your humanity.
  • Asking the customer what success looks like allows you to relate the story to them.
  • No one comes as a perfect match your services, you have to create great customers.
  • Slow the sales process down.
  • Make sure that there is a consistency with the people you choose as customers.
  • The biggest danger in a sales conversation is to listen to what the customer needs, and then sell that you can do it.
  • Understand your value proposition and what it is you can bring to the customer.
  • All the marketing efforts at Menlo are education-based.
  • The Menlo website is a great example of how to tell a story on your website.

• What are the two most expensive types of software projects?
  • The most expensive is the one that never sees the light of day.
  • The second most expensive is when you deliver it, but no one uses it because they hate it.
  • Menlo has created a culture based on the Business Value of Joy, which is very well-defined.
  • The goal of the customer is to delight the people they intend to serve: end-user delight with solid working software.
  • The software industry has called the users stupid and written “dummy” books for them.
  • They had to reinvent the whole culture of software development to create “High-Tech Anthropology”.

• What is “doing the simplest thing that could possibly work”?
  • This anti-engineer model avoids fascinating people with how smart you are.
  • Look at what the simplest thing is that will solve the problem for the customer, which can sometimes be the hardest thing to create.
  • A business defines itself by the opportunities to which is says “no”, and to which is says “yes.”
  • All sales opportunities have opportunity costs, absorbing the capacity of your team in a service business.
  • When you choose bad projects, you may pay the bills in the short term, but it affects the morale of your team.
  • Understand where the customer is headed and how you are a fit; otherwise, refer them to a competitor that is a better fit.
  • Close sales when the time is right, based on when you are sure it will be a great relationship.

Low-Tech Project Management

• What is Origami project management?
  • When they plan their projects, they write the pieces of a project on 3×5 cards.
  • They then add an hourly estimate to each card and photocopy the card.
  • They fold the copy proportional to the size of the estimate, to show the customer the relative size and cost of each piece.
  • They put the pieces of paper on a tabloid size piece of paper, and the customer then decides what will fit in the budget.

• How do you focus on value by using story cards?
  • They work with the customer to figure out what kind of users they are trying to serve.
  • Each story card is written in terms of the developed personas, who are named and pictured.
  • Once you personify it, the team can constantly be reminded to think of that person.
  • During discovery, they study potential end users in their native habitats to enable the creation of the personas.
  • The customer has to choose the persona to which they want to focus the design.
  • During the planning meeting with the customer, they remind the customer who they chose to serve.
  • The personas are glued down, with the intention that the primary is permanent.

• What is “estimation without fear”?
  • A member is asked to estimate the story cards, with the assumption it is a guess.
  • They are assigned the number of hours they asked for, realizing they will be over or under.
  • If you are going to miss by a lot, you need to share the news with the project manager.
  • The project manager then smiles and says thank you.
  • Fear makes bad news go into hiding.
  • The customer then has the chance to decide how to proceed.
  • They have the conversation with the customer about how things like that might happen before they even start working together.
  • The effects of estimating with fear are that you:
    • Start lying about being done.
    • Put poor quality code out.
    • Start delivering inferior products.
    • Get a bad reputation in the marketplace.
    • Will demoralize a team because they do not have a chance.
    • Lose market share because your competitors will eat your lunch.

Sharing the Culture of Joy

• Why do you have recommended reading and tours on your website?
  • The teachers he sought out were authors.
  • The books that resonated with him became how he created Menlo.
  • They apply the lessons the authors bring to their work.
  • People kept asking if they could come and see the facility.
  • At first, they offered free monthly tours, realizing that this part of the education process was important.
  • They will have over 4,000 people around the world visit them annually, so they have started to charge for the tours.
  • The tours make their team better because they have to explain it to the tourists.

• What is one of your best stories about creating value for a customer?
  • They were working on a diesel motor diagnostic tool, for which they had no knowledge.
  • The customer questioned how they could provide value.
  • The team went to a bus depot where they are working on the diesel motors and noted that “Bubba” was wearing rubber gloves.
  • The technical team noted that they could not use the rubber gloves for a touch-screen device.
  • Their on-staff anthropologist explained that Bubba would not take off his gloves. In fact, he would sabotage the device before he would take off his gloves.
  • The customer, who was building the device, said that he had never met an end user.
  • It would have killed the product in the marketplace, so they modified the hardware to use a pressure-sensitive touch screen.
  • The product soared.

About Richard Sheridan

• Website: menloinnovations.com
• Request A Tour: experience@menloinnovations.com
• Twitter: @menloprez