Do I need a new washing machine? How can you tell, and why it matters to web development.

Appliances like washing machines — even though they now come in purple and red, and sing pleasing tunes when our clothes are clean — are still pretty invisible, and boring, to most people. We want them to work, relentlessly, while being easy to learn, easy to use, and generally remaining as quiet as possible.

Now, think about appliance stores and their owners. Imagine you’re one of those appliance salespeople, and a young couple walks into the store on a Saturday afternoon, approaches you, and asks “Do we need a new washing machine?”

Even when they’re carrying a broken part and sporting greasy hands (maybe they just need a repair tech?), or have the dreamy “big purchase!” looks in their eyes, you still wouldn’t know for sure

Even though we might shudder to admit it, I think appliances — and the process by which we acquire and manage them — have a lot in common with websites, and how we build and sell them. While we love the excitement of using an efficient new Javascript framework, or the meaning of seeing our work get thousands of visits per month, the reality is that we’re still building tools that serve a broader purpose for the people who use them.

Back to the boring world of washing machines: Most appliance store owners and their sales teams are often in a dual business of selling new machines, and servicing people’s existing machines. This presents an interesting challenge when a customer walks into the store describing their current machine as broken and in need of a fix, as these two tasks can often be at odds. A comparison:

• Selling a new machine carries with it the weight of quotas and expectations from the manufacturers, and is often more fun, as you get to guide people through the excitement and uncertainty of obtaining a shiny new object.
• Servicing an existing machine on the other hand: helps to keep the repair team busy, is probably a reasonable profit center, and can also turn those first-time customers into ultimately repeat customers by building trust and keeping you on their mind. The downside is that each time you earn $50 fixing a washing machine, you delay the customer’s choice in making that much larger $700-$1,500 purchase. Given that this is a fear-based decision — “How can I turn down the bigger paycheck for the chance that they’ll come back later just out of loyalty?” — it often “wins” when salespeople are weighing options.

See any similarities? In the web services world, we often see the same challenges: How do we balance the potential profits and excitement of building an all-new site — where we start from scratch, put our mark on it, send much larger invoices, and make a big splash — with the reality that often, thoughtful iteration can be simpler, more cost effective, and can actually result in the customer’s ultimate goal? Whether we’re talking about washing machines or websites, those goals are the same: that their washing machine or their website -is actually working again, therefore supporting their life (washing machines) or business or organization (website).

That’s not to say that washing machine repairs (or website maintenance/support) are empirically better than buying a new machine or building a new website — in fact, there are many cases where it’s more efficient and can produce much bigger gains to “start from scratch” with something new.

Rather, in both cases — whether we build websites, or sell washing machines — we as salespeople, project managers, and engineers need to start by first understanding where our customer is along that process from problem to solution. Do they have a one-year-old washing machine that needs a simple $20 part to get humming again? Are they sitting on a mountain of great content but struggling with an aging, proprietary CMS that is no longer supported by the developer? There’s a wide gap between those two ends of the spectrum, and by working to discover where along that path each unique customer sits — rather than by starting with our metrics or needs — we can create more loyal customers who return to us, tell their friends, and are immune to tempting, risky promises like lower prices or quicker results.

Now, back to that question of “Do I need a new washing machine?”, and how we answer it:

• We can’t answer that question correctly by looking back to the repair department to see how busy the techs are;
• We can’t answer by checking the point-of-sale system to see how many more top-of-the-line washers we’ll need to sell to get your bonus this month.
• We can only answer that question correctly by asking the customer questions about their situation, their current tools, their problems, and where they want to be.

Asking these questions enables us to propose creative and unique solutions, as only we can, earning their trust and respect as you solve their problem.