Let them Pee!

I am working on a web redesign project right now with a great ecommerce consultant, Sally McKenzie. It is a huge project that is supposed to be completed in 9 months but will probably take 12. We are doing some innovative things that will make this client relevant on search engines and put them far ahead of the competition. I will talk more about this project later.

Today Sally shared a great example with us that had been created by a friend of hers (sorry friend I would give you credit but I don’t know who you are) I have taken this example and I am going to share my personal/true version of this example.

We were on our way back from California where we had spent thanksgiving with my wifes parents. As you can image at the end of a holiday weekend like this traffic was very heavy. We heard a blizzard was coming but because I had to be at work Monday morning we decided to go for it and thought we could get through the mountains before it arrived. As you are guessing we didn’t make it…and neither did the other 1,000,000 cars on the road that night. So there we were bumper to bumper traffic in the middle of nowhere Utah. Crawling along at about 2 miles per hour as the snow continues to pile up. Then it hits me…I shouldn’t have had that gatorade at our last stop. But I am thinking I am a big boy I can make it. We will just pull over at the next gas station it couldn’t be more than 30 or 40 miles to the next stop. An hour passes and we have not made it very far. I have to pee so bad I am starting to sweat. I have tipped me seat back a little to give my now aching bladder just a little more room. I am pretending to pay attention to whatever my wife is talking about when really I am just weighing my options. I realize now I will never make it to the gas station so I decide that I will pull off at the next exit and take care of things. With this goal in mind I am full of optimism and hope sure it is really really painful but I am a man I can take it. Then another 20 minutes goes by and there is no sign of an overpass. I begin to panic, the pain is crazy now and I am pretty sure I am just going to pee my pants. I keep thinking of Tycho and I begin to pray that I don’t share the same fate. Finally I give up I have to take action now. I slam on my brakes in the middle of the highway jump out and begin to pee. As the pressure is released I finally begin to notice my surroundings. I am right in the middle of the highway. When I slammed on my brakes my car slid to the middle of the road blocking both lanes. Headlights of about 500 minivans are pointed at me and they are all honking. The snow is deep and I am almost up to my knees and I am wearing flip flops and shorts. I also noticed that my windshield wipers are completely iced over and haven’t been working for some time. (Later my wife told me she had pointed that out many times and that I was really scaring her).

So what is the point of this story? I was so focused on my goal of not wetting my pants that I was completely oblivious to everything else. Our website visitors are the same. They may have an urgent need something that is at the forefront of their mind and until we address that need we can’t pay attention to anything else. So ask yourself, are you letting your customers pee? Or like Tycho are they dying because you are leaving them unfulfilled. Just like I became aware of my surroundings after solving my problem your customers will do the same. But don’t let your goals get in the way of their goals. Let them pee and once they are fulfilled they will be able to pay attention to your other services and offerings.

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