Our basement looks like a scene out of Escape from New York City (if you’re old enough to remember that disaster movie). We’re replacing all the carpet and right now we  are at “everything is torn up” phase.

We have had estimators come to quote a price for install. This weekend one gave us his price for the job. “What about moving the furniture back when you’re done?” I inquired. He said it was extra so I asked the obvious: how much extra?

The answer: not much compared to the brain damage of moving furniture around myself.

We asked a few more questions and he added a few hundred dollars to his estimate. Dollars that we’ll be delighted to pay because it makes the remodel…

…EASIER.

That’s the word that can improve not only your service but your profits.

The only thing the average person has less of than disposable income is time and energy. If you can make life EASIER you can not only increase your popularity with the customer but often he or she will be willing to pay extra for it.

Sure, some customers are price sensitive but I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t aspire to a little help in making life easier. It is about ease, convenience and enjoyment. Nobody wants to get hassled and inconvenienced for free much less pay for it. Unfortunately some service providers think only about the results rather than the process.

What can you do to make the customer’s life EASIER?

Can you clean up the job site when you’re done with your work? Can you provide the information rather than telling the customer where they can find it? Can you remove any and all barriers that might prevent the customer from choosing to do business with  you?

Often customers will pay a little extra for a little easier. If they won’t, consider “easier” as a value-add and competitive advantage.

We refinanced our home through Chase. They contacted us and said it would be easy and wouldn’t cost a thing. Now there’s a value proposition! (And by the way, it was the easiest re-fi I’ve ever done.)

You business and life will improve as you make life easier for those you serve.

It is just that easy.

Yesterday I had an interesting exchange at my bank.

I wanted only to deposit one check and cash another. It took an inordinately long time at the teller window. When the supervisor helped the teller do an override, she asked me “And how are you today?”

I know she was trying to be pleasant but since she asked, I thought I’d answer honestly and expressed my frustration.

It is true that I did not have my debit card which I had reluctantly applied for because I was told it was easier than providing multiple picture IDs, having a retinal scan and doing bloodwork to vouch for my identity. I also explained why I did not have my debit card (when traveling I don’t carry unneeded cards and I had just returned from a trip).

“Well,” the supervisor responded, “if you had your debit card it would make it a little easier for us…”

I bit my tongue hard enough to make it bleed. I know it might sound harsh but it is true: most customers don’t dedicate themselves to making it easier for their service providers. In the whacky world of commerce we’d like to think those people we give our business and money to might actually try to make it easier for  us.

Realizing that my situation wouldn’t improve,  I silently completed my transaction.

Later my subconscious informed me of how the service provider could have communicated slightly differently and changed the tone of the exchange. Consider what might have happened had she said…

“Well, if you had your debit card it would make it a little easier for us…to serve you more quickly.”