Knowing your customer

Knowing is table stakes.

“Do you know the patient?”

A common question asked in the clinical world. When I was in training, I literally thought the question meant whether the patient is part of the list I am responsible for that day. A simple yes or no.

Now when I get asked, I know that the knowing is much deeper.

Do you know about the person’s family, her interests, and the clinical history. This extrapolates out to: do you know how they (and their bodies) behave?

The main reason knowing is so critical is that each subsequent decision you make on the course of care is a lot faster and more accurate. You rely on data, but you are swayed by intuition and tacit knowledge. You are just better at knowing the right thing to do.

I apply the same framework to customers. Receiving generic feedback from them is only data. The knowing them, getting to know them, is much more powerful. It’s not scalable, but I don’t care. I want to make better decisions, and I’d like to start with knowing.