I recently heard a story about the Navajo Indians that stuck with me. When the Navajo Indians weave rugs, they make a purposeful effort to leave an “intentional mistake”—or a slight variation in the pattern—in the rugs. There are a few theories on why they do this, but most agree it’s to show that their rugs are handcrafted … made by a human, not a machine. Sure, they could fix the mistake or discard it as unworthy for sale, but they see greater value in showing that man is imperfect and capable of mistakes.
While this might not be a practical approach for our business (or yours), what is practical is finding your own way to humanize your brand. In 2017, and beyond, when the threat of robots taking over the world is a very real topic, I’d argue that there are still plenty of opportunities for a human, high-touch approach to doing business.
We do this in countless ways, such as building personal relationships with customers and anticipating their needs. As well as always looking for ways to add value to the customer experience.
There will always be transactional businesses, where “Add to Cart” is as personal an interaction as you’ll get, but for now, we’re going to take a lesson from the Navajos and take the human approach.
