Moving Your Thinking Beyond “What’s In It For Me?”

Learning to think like a customer is an essential skill for product managers, marketers, and sales professionals. We’re taught to pretend we’re the customer and ask “What’s In It For Me?” This question—referred to in shorthand as “WIIFM”—helps us craft products, messages, and offerings that appeal directly to the customer’s self-interest and that resonate with it. If a customer shrugs and says “So what?”, we’ve clearly failed to communicate value. Focusing on WIIFM helps us discover and communicate value—value that’s needed to motivate the customer to pay attention and take action.

Whether or not we use the WIIFM question in our jobs, most of us certainly ask it when something is being pitched at us. Considering how often we are bombarded with hyperbole and schlock, such scrutiny is appropriate; we need to protect ourselves by challenging those who pitch to us to show value that’s meaningful to us.

Hidden Downsides of WIIFM Thinking

WIIFM can become problematic if we start applying to every interaction we have with other people: “You’re asking me to do something? What’s in it for me?” In moving reflexively to protect ourselves, we can actually be hurting ourselves. Consider:

• If you come across as excessively focused on your own self-interest, people may be offended. They may respond by reacting to protect their own self-interest, and they may become less willing to help you and bring opportunities to you.

• Keeping your guard up and “keeping score” both consume a lot of time, attention, and effort. This can blind you to bigger opportunities, and drain energy that you could better spend on higher purposes.

I once had a bad experience with some roommates that left me feeling treated unfairly, and I fell into the trap of WIIFM thinking for several years. I’d do things for other people, but I was always looking for something in return. When I finally managed to break out of that mindset and started giving without reservation, I felt much freer, and I found that my life simply worked much better.

Challenge Yourself to Think More Altruistically

My dad had a favorite expression: “Whatever you do for others comes back to you at least 10-fold.” He not only believed it, he lived it whole-heartedly. He was a humble, generous man who was always helping people, and he reaped big benefits: many life-long friendships, respect of the community, and enduring satisfaction that he’d made a positive difference in the world.

I’ve learned to move from WIIFM to a different mindset that I call WCIDFO (pronounced “w’kidfo”): What Can I Do For Others? I constantly look for opportunities to help people and make their lives better, often in small and simple ways. Importantly, I’ve stopped looking over my shoulder to see what I’ll get in return; I simply focus on doing things for others, secure in the knowledge that good things will come back to me—often when I expect them least, when I need them most, and in ways I could not anticipate.

Some Easy Ways to Do Good for Others

Doing good for others doesn’t have to cost much or take much effort. Just make an effort to observe people and their needs, and you’ll see all kinds of opportunities to make life better for them. Be polite and practice good manners. Ease up on the accelerator and let someone merge. Compliment someone on their outfit, or their smile, or the confidence they project. When a restaurant server or other service worker does a good job, take a moment to mention that to the manager. Post reviews for businesses that deserve to be acknowledged on Yelp! or other websites. Write recommendations of your colleagues for their LinkedIn profiles.

Ask your friends, colleagues and acquaintances about their needs, and pay attention to what they say. When you come across people, resources, or opportunities that align with the needs of your contacts, be the bridge that gets them together. It usually takes just a few minutes of your time—an e-mail, a phone call, or a text message is usually sufficient—but your small effort could make a huge positive change in someone’s life.

Relax and Enjoy The Ride

Try adopting a WCIDFO mentality and doing things for other people every day. Not every effort you make will lead to fruition, but if you consistently make small efforts and sow many seeds, you’ll look back later and discover that some very beautiful gardens have grown. And you’re likely to find that some other surprising rewards have come your way, because most people like to return favors. But the greatest rewards you’ll reap are the freedom you get by no longer dwelling on what’s in it for you, and the satisfaction you get from knowing you’ve made the world a little better.

Copyright © 2016 Jim Schibler — All rights reserved

Photo courtesy of asenat29

#Attitude #Philanthropy #Philosophy