There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know.
But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don’t know.
I’d love to attribute this quote to someone else, but it was a statement made by former US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. He was referring to terrorism, and therefore I’m sure he wasn’t thinking about how applicable such a quote can be to those of us in the client services and products industry.
Through the customer’s eyes
This quote can be seen from at least two directions. We can apply it to ourselves, and think about how it affects us in our product or service offering. Or we can apply it to the customer’s point of view, and think about how putting this quote in context can affect their decision making process for choosing our product or service. I plan to talk about how this quote can relate to the customer’s point of view.
Known knowns
All of us do our jobs or run our companies with the things we know in mind. Based on research, continuing education, and hard work, we use the things we know to direct our decision making process.
Our future customers know they want a website. They probably know they want certain functionality or flexibility (like WordPress, or event management, etc). They go through their research phase and decision making process with these things in mind.
But customers are not often experts for the things they buy. I don’t know very much about most products I buy, so why should I expect my customer to know the right questions to ask and things to look for when choosing my service or product?
This brings us to “known unknowns.”
Known unknowns
When I choose a shop to service my car, I know that I’m going in without a complete understanding of what I’m purchasing. I primarily know something like, “Something under the hood is making a weird noise every time I idle.” But I don’t know exactly what could cause that, or what’s making the noise.
When I choose the car shop to get this issue checked out, I expect them to known what I’m talking about when I say what is happening, and I expect them to educate me and fix my issue. Our customers expect the same when they come to us for our web services and products.
We probably know this. It’s why most websites include a detailed overview of their services offerings on their website. You probably even have a step-by-step guide of the process the customer can expect to go through. You may have publicly accessible pricing information. You may have publicly accessible documentation or forums.
You likely do these things to ease the customer’s inherent concerns. You’re showing them that you know what they know they don’t know, and you’re helping them trust you.
But there is one last, and important, factor that it’s very possible your client hasn’t thought about. They probably haven’t thought about the chance that there are things they don’t even know they don’t know about our industry, our services, and our products.
These surprises are what Mr. Rumsfeld defines as, “unknown unknowns.”
Unknown unknowns
Back to my car example. I take my car in and tell them that there is a weird noise under the hood when I’m idling. They tell me I’m going to have to replace something and it’s going to cost me $250. “Okay, let’s do it.”
Half way through this repair, the guy comes out and says, “Well, when we replaced that thing, some other thing became exposed and now we need to replace that too. It’s going to cost $550.”
“What!? Why didn’t you mention that before?”
“Well, sir, it only happens about 50% of the time, and unfortunately it happened this time and we have to do the repair since we’ve already exposed it.”
Hold on. Back the truck up.
Now I’m pissed. The mechanic knew there was a 50% chance this was going to happen, but didn’t say anything to me.
In this scenario, the second issue and subsequent cost to fix it was an “unknown unknown” to me. The mechanic could have, and should have warned me about it. Instead, he didn’t. I’m mad. But he made another $550. One time. I’ll never use this mechanic again.
We have tons of “unknown unknowns” in the web development industry
As the service provider or product seller, we’ve probably been around the block a few times. We know that there are times where the client or buyer can get blindsided.
Maybe they didn’t know it costs money to transfer content from their old CMS. Maybe they didn’t know that buying that theme prevented them from being able to switch because of all the shortcodes and functionality baked into the theme instead of a plugin. They didn’t know that their payment gateway wouldn’t be supported in the new eCommerce platform. They didn’t know there was a fee every time someone bought something off of their website. They didn’t know what SSL was or that it requires a new IP address and monthly charge. They didn’t know that WordPress needed to be updated and maintained.
They didn’t know. And they didn’t know they didn’t know.
And if we don’t do our best to educate them about what we know they don’t know they don’t know, we’ve failed.
I know, that sentence above is a mess. But read it again.
As service providers and product sellers, we will succeed more often if we help teach our customers the things they don’t know they don’t know.
If the mechanic had told me before I decided to pay for the first fix that there was a 50% chance I’d have to take a second step that cost twice as much, I would’ve been bummed. But I also would have been thankful for the warning, and not pissed off at the mechanic for not warning if it happened. In fact, I’d probably be that mechanic’s customer for a long time.
Education is hard, and we may lose some customers because we destroy the fairy tale answer that we’re going to solve all of their problems and there will be no headaches. But those customers that stick with us will be thankful that we’ve taken that extra step to keep them more informed and are prepared to guide them through this scary and unknown wilderness with our expertise and outstanding customer support.
So, look inward at your service or product and search for the unknown unknowns your customers may face. And fix them. Educate them. I think you’ll be thankful you did it in the long run.
Well said.
The key here is education. It is really, really tough, but in the end it pays off.
I’ve been thinking about this lately. I always try to give as much info as I possibly can but sometimes the results are not what the client wanted to here and the project does not happen. Still, I would rather move on with a solid project with a happy client and miss out of a few than have a client feel that I shafted him by not education him on a “gotcha” moment.
Indeed, it *is* tough, but I’m consistently impressed by how happy people are to be told. They’re not idiots (most), simply unaware, and they can understand if you explain it properly. I get the sense that most people get treated like idiots by web developers. “You could never understand, so just trust me”.
Having someone take the time to really explain and help them understand can make you lots of friends, if not clients.
Totally agree that developers and any other industry people can lose clients as a result of being clear and educational of potential costs down the road. However, it is probably still best to let them know ahead of time instead of having an angry customer down the road that can talk negatively about your company. If they think future costs (similar to maintenance costs on a car) are the deal breaker, then they probably aren’t ideal customers to begin with.
Customers that appreciate upfront honesty are likely to conduct good business on their end and will recommend you and your business for years to come.
Conversely, there is a point where too much education turns the customer off. It may come across that you need them involved in every-last-little decision and they just want to specialize in their auto repair shop. Like all things this requires balance so I present the yang to your yin.
I agree. I often wonder if I talk clients out of certain things by throwing them “in the deep end” by discussion that makes them second guess themselves. I also feel that it has to do with how you present the information. But this is just something that I am learning how to balance as a business owner.
I made my fair share of mistakes in this area when I freelanced and decided that part of the client interview process should include a question about how I should communicate with them. Did I need to contact them:
1. With all the details
2. The 10,000ft view
3. Only stuff that will cost them money
Frequency:
1. Weekly
2. Monthly
3. With problems or successes
Nice article. You are right on, and I’ve found that people appreciate honesty when telling them the truth about how much something might cost up front. I try to educate my clients as much as I can without overwhelming them with details or fall into the pitfall that Ansel points out above.
From the client’s perspective, I’ve seen people pay thousands of dollars for websites built from scratch that they later find out they can’t even update themselves or add in extra functionality without paying up the yazoo. That’s why I’m a fan of WordPress 🙂
Great post, Brian!
Imagine this car shop actually built your car originally. When they did, they knew they could build the car in such a way that the $550 extra issue wouldn’t happen at all unless they took a shortcut in the manufacture process. However, they decided they didn’t care about that, and took the shortcut.
Now how do you react even if they warn you when you take it in to fix the $250 issue?
A very good point. Where’s the +1 when you need it?
Of course one of the biggest problems is that you don’t always know what people know, so explaining too much up front can actually have the opposite effect of overwhelming the client and forcing them to delay their decision making.
This is why learning how to close a deal with the least amount of fluff is essential in building your business profitably. Attempting to anticipate what the client may want in the future may delay your own efforts to start the job and get paid.
That said, If I’m going to develop a shopping cart for a client and forget to mention an SSL is necessary (and that an SSL requires a dedicated IP), well, that’s a fail on my part, and I agree should have been mentioned from the start. Not sure what has to do with educating clients.
Not criticizing the author. Just saying that if you are going to bid a job and you don’t tell client what’s required to go live up front well there’s another name for that and it doesn’t rhyme with education.
Taking your first point: the quotation. Rumsfield made, naturally, a complete hash of it but the original comes from Socrates: All I know is that I know nothing (although there are also other versions according to translator) – and it refers to justice which, as we know with hindsight, seems more than appropriate.
Anyone who offers a full service – whether for a car or for other products – should be capable of explaining the entire product from its good side and its bad side. If there is a risk it should be mentioned; if additional work is needed, it should be mentioned; if the ideas of the person placing an order won’t work exactly as they envisage it, it should be discussed. This is all part of the service which should be offered and should also be a matter of pride – in their knowledge and capabilities – for anyone offering this service.
Sadly too many people have played around with software – and cars – and believe they know all there is to know because they’ve never encountered a specific problem and do not bother to check up on what other people have learned. It is something we find across all industries and shows a lack of education in that, once they have their certificate or whatever, many people simply stop learning.
Ok so I’m using this in all of my upcoming project discovery sessions.
It’s going to be called the Rumsgard Methodology of Scoping.
Thank you!
Exactly right; setting expectations cannot be overstated. Just as if the mechanic knew there was the possibility of a different outcome other than fully repaired, it’s always best for everyone to alert the client when the known unknowns are available to us. No one likes finding out uncertainty existed and the expert didn’t mention anything about it, but knew all along. That’s a great way to ruin your business through negative word of mouth. Becoming a beacon on behalf of the customer is where experience shows and is what justifies higher rates.