Using Bottom-Line Thinking to Get What You Want
Managers think in terms of impact on the “bottom line” of their financial statements when they evaluate strategy, when they change advertising, and when they make decisions about training, documentation, hardware and software changes. In other words, managers always consider the bottom line. To get what you want, you need to think in terms of bottom line, too. Not yours, but the customer’s. Thinking this way takes creativity, but it isn't difficult once you get the hang of it.
In 1993, the STC funded a one-year project called “Measuring the Value Added by Professional Technical Communicators.” The study found that technical communicators add value in two vital ways: we increase benefits and we reduce costs. I’ve been applying the concepts with great success. The table below, taken from the 1st Quarter 1995 issue of Technical Communication, summarizes some key examples.
| Adding Value | |
|---|---|
| Increased Benefits | Reduced Costs |
| Increased productivity | Fewer support calls, thus lower support costs |
| More sales | Less need for training, thus lower training costs |
| More proposals won | Less time needed for translation, thus lower translation costs |
| More completed documents | Lower costs for writing, paper, printing, etc. |
| More users’ problems identified early in the process | Developers convinced that they did not need all the documentation planned |
| Fewer errors by users | |
Increasing Benefits or Reducing Costs
How do you turn this kind of thinking into work? By showing your customers how you can make money or save money for them. Here, you have to do your own information gathering, listening, and strategic thinking. Let me give you two examples.
Example 1: Instructional Design & Documentation Specialist Selling to a Furniture Company
Mr. Smith’s Furniture manufactures, markets, and sells a $2,500 electric massage chair that has been available for two years. The instructions for using it are in the form of a single page written at the last minute by the product engineer. When something goes wrong with the chair, consumers call Mr. Smith’s customer service representative, who tells them how to use it or arranges for in–home technicians to repair it. The company is ready to manufacture a new, improved version, and the company president has called me, the ID&D specialist, to discuss a new set of instructions.
Among the questions I ask are these:
Q: What are the most frequent problems with the chair?
A: Well, the remote keypad breaks too often. Consumers have difficulty tilting the chair to the upright position, and they complain about the different massage functions not working.
Q: Mr. Smith, it sounds like the keypad problem might be solved with a better design, and I know a graphic designer who could help us with that. Also, if improved, simpler instructions could prevent several of the other problems, thus reducing your cost of in–home service and long distance phone charges, would you be interested in my services?
A: I sure would. That sounds like what I had in mind.
Example 2: Graphic Designer Selling to the Same Furniture Company
I arrange for my associate, a graphic designer, to meet with Mr. Smith. Among the questions the graphic designer asks are these:
Q: What are the most frequent problems with the chair?
A: Well, the remote keypad breaks too often. Consumers have difficulty tilting the chair to the upright position, and they complain about the different massage functions not working.
Q: When I tried out the chair, I found the same problems. I think that an illustration showing how to tilt the back up and down would help. Also, I’d like to see a the keypad design and the control buttons on the chair that tell the users exactly how to get the various functions to turn on and off in whatever combination they want. We can combine illustrations with the new instructions, and we are just in time to fix the keypad since you are bringing out a new model.
These changes will help the users make the chair work and keep them from needing to call you for assistance, reducing your time on customer service calls. Would that meet your needs, Mr. Smith?
A: Yes, I think it would.
Do you see how both the instructional designer and the graphic designer started thinking about the customer’s bottom line? Customer service is the most expensive end of the product cycle.
- If you can reduce costs, the customer saves money.
- You improve your relationship with the customer.
- You collaborate with fellow professionals.
- You make a sale of your services.
Everybody is happy.