When I work with clients or engage with a business I sometimes use this technique – I wonder how a business would react if their customers had policies. The object of this exercise is to imagine what your business would look like if your customers treated you the way that your business treats them. For example, I had a problem with my Pay-TV service. The set top box was faulty and had to be replaced. I was offered a four hour window in the morning or afternoon for the technician to swap out the unit. A five minute exercise, open the door hand over the faulty unit and collect the new one, turned into a four hour marathon. I loathe it when people value their time more than mine. So, I decided to cancel the service. Again, they wanted a four hour window to re-claim their equipment. It wasn’t the service representative’s fault it was “Company Policy.” I said, “well I have a policy of my own”. I can offer you a morning or afternoon appointment one day next week to collect your equipment. Your technician can wait at my house and at some point during the four hour window I will arrive and give him the set top box! I find it gives a CEO good perspective when using this technique to explore how they think about the Service Ecosystem. If a Company has policies that it wouldn’t survive if the customers had the same policy… then it is probably a poor service experience and needs to be redesigned. The challenge is finding effective solutions that work for the business and the customer. I encourage you to give it a go sometime. I think you will find it very entertaining to create your own policy the next time you get an unreasonable demand from someone selling you their services.