One of the things that have made the Savannah Bananas baseball team so popular (as shared in the book “Banana Ball“) was very simple — remove as much friction as possible from baseball.
From the book:
“Here’s what I don’t understand about many businesses. Why do they continually do the things that their customers hate? Why are people endlessly put on hold, while a message plays that tells them how “important” their call is, but they do a slow burn while waiting to talk to an actual human being . . . and maybe they still hang up in frustration? In the Bananas’ organization, we have a word for this—friction. We looked at all the friction points from a baseball experience— ticket fees, price gouging on parking and concessions, as well as limited access to autographs and fan photos with their favorite players—and we did the opposite.”
We can all relate to the first part of that (“endlessly put on hold”), but rarely see the second. Even venues that are very fan-friendly, like Mercedes-Benz Stadium here in Atlanta, aren’t as fan-friendly as the Bananas. They’ve taken it to a whole new level.
What friction is in your business that can be eliminated? I see it in two areas:
- Internal friction, like too many meetings, cumbersome software, poor communication, etc.
- Client friction, which is many of the same things but they show up for your clients instead of your team.
If we can reduce internal friction to free up our time, and then help our clients do the same with their marketing, it’s tough to beat. It’s easier said than done, and there’s no magic bullet, but by slowly chipping away at the friction you’ll see things continue to improve forever.
