The Way Tools Feel

While one of our teams shopped for an additional tool to use in their operations today, I noticed a curious pattern in preferences:

How the tools felt.

If it was functional and reasonably priced but felt wrong, it was either dismissed or judged far more harshly than it logically deserved.

If it was functional and possibly more expensive but felt write right, it was shown far more favor by the whole team.

For our team, the feeling was dictated by things like:

• Does it respect the privacy of our clients?
• Does it celebrate spammy tactics or market with integrity?
• Does it have great support and connection with interested parties (like us)?
• Does the design of the product seem important to them?

It won’t be the first product or service the team chose based on their values over the wallet.

My teams aren’t unique in this regard.

Teams worldwide buy with their feelings and their values. It’s often less about the functionality and the price than it is about doing business with people like us, who believe the same things we do.

It’s why you use the computer you do. Or the phone you have. Or the car you drive, or the brand of shoes you wear. Few of those things were bought purely for functionality and price.

What do you value? How can you reveal that in your work, so that those like you can find you and buy as an expression of their shared belief?