On deciding what's "normal"

Hey there - This week, my good friend Seth Godin (okay, a girl can pretend, right?) [shared this article about Unilever removing the word “normal” from its product lines.]()​ Meanwhile, for the entire month of March, the snarky calendar hanging in my office said, “It’s normal to hate the new normal.” And over the past week, I’ve had several mom friends reach out, sharing stories of daycare and school difficulties because their kids aren’t practicing “normal” behaviors. So, all in all, there’s been a lot of talk about the word normal. And I have to say, I’m with Unilever: Let’s give “normal” the boot. Because what is normal when it comes to skin; to circumstances; to kids? Normal is a construct; one that, in most cases, the people trying to measure up to it didn’t have a lot of say in creating. There is no “normal.” And yet… We, as business owners, try to fit all of our audience into one or a few neat boxes. We create an “ideal avatar” with a standard age, occupation, musical preference, and set of hobbies they engage in on the weekends. In doing so, we decide what’s “normal” for our people. Now, having a handle on who your people are and what they like isn’t the wrongdoing here; it’s deciding it for them, instead of doing the logical thing: Asking them, and then listening to what they have to say. It’s why I start almost all of my community surveys for my clients with a very general question. Something along the lines of: Let’s start by telling me about you: What do your days consist of? —> It’s this question that clued my client in to the fact that 90% of the members in her group were retired. —> It’s this question that told another client whether the majority of her members were working online or in person. —> It’s this question that unveiled that Schitt’s Creek was by far the most watched show amongst another client’s audience. In every case, it’s one of the questions that’s started to give us insight into the client’s audience. Which is the entire goal of doing voice of customer research, in the first place. From this general question — and every question we ask, thereafter — we aren’t defining “normal.” We are identifying trends that are true for and differences that are shared amongst our people so that we can better meet them where they’re at, and speak in their language. So when they come to our page or read our email, they say, “Wow, they get it.” (Ah, that empathy thing again, eh? 🙃 Can’t help myself.) Until next time, be kind + remember: There are specs for machines. Not for humans — Sara ​ P.S. I finished reading [my grandmother asked me to tell you she's sorry]( last night (another stellar read by Fredrik Backman), and naturally this line stood out to me as I was reviewing my highlights from it this morning: "Only different people change the world," Granny used to say. "No one normal has ever changed a crapping thing." ​ Ready to call it quits? [Click this link]( to remove yourself from all communications. (No hard feelings.) If you'd like to opt-out of specific content, just hit reply + let me know. I’ll get you sorted, ASAP. | SFS HQ: Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02140