Can you pass the “Where’s the Beef” test?

“Where’s the Beef?” – what does a 40-year-old fast-food commercial have to do with the way your business operates today?

As it turns out, quite a lot.

The Iconic Commercial

The iconic “Where’s the Beef?” commercial from Wendy’s in 1984 became a cultural phenomenon in the US.

The ad cleverly showcased Wendy’s larger hamburger patties compared to McDonald’s and Burger King.

Positioning Wendy’s as offering better value — more meat for your money.

The classic line — “Where’s the Beef?” — was delivered with comic exasperation by 81-year-old actress Clara Peller, as she eyed a competitor’s tiny hamburger inside an oversized bun.

Here’s a link to the commercial – have a watch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug75diEyiA0

My “Where’s the Beef?” moment

A few years ago, I found myself in a real-life “Where’s the Beef?” moment.

My company was spending over $8,000 annually on memberships with several industry associations.

When a $2,500 renewal invoice for one of these associations arrived, I printed it out, walked over to my husband’s desk and — channelling Clara Peller — asked him, “Where’s the Beef?”

He laughed, but that question sparked a serious discussion.

We put each industry membership through the “Where’s the Beef?” test

One by one we looked at each of the industry memberships that we were paying. And subjected each one to the “Where’s the Beef?” test.

This is what it sounded like –

“Ok Marcus, we received this invoice for the membership renewal with _____. It costs $2,500…Where’s the Beef?”

Asking this question prompted us to explore our perception of the value we received – or expected to receive – for $2,500.

What was so useful with all our “Where’s the Beef?” conversations that day was this.

It forced us to examine what mattered to us. And from there define specifically what it was that was valuable to us in a membership.

And one of the key value propositions that happend to surface for us was this.

If we enjoyed working with the people in that association, we were likely to renew. If we did not enjoy the interactions with the people in that association, we cancelled it.

Of course this was based on our perception. But we’re the Customer here. We were the people who were being asked to pay.

Remember that perception lies in the hands of your Customer, Guest, Passenger, Patient or Client.

You can say that you or your Organization delivers ‘value’ to these people until you’re blue in the face.

But value is in the eye of the beholder.

At the end of the day, it’s up to the Customer, Guest, Passenger, Patient or Client to make decisions about the value they experience.

The Organizational “Where’s the Beef” test

Of course the “Where’s the Beef?” test can go beyond industry membership programs.

It can be applied to any product, or service that your Organization ‘bills’ for.

So with that in mind, what might an Organizational “Where’s the Beef?” test look like?

Here’s a possible exercise that came to my mind.

An exercise that I’m not sure the industry associations who sent us their invoices ever considered.

– Print out a batch of real Customer invoices

– Gather Senior Leaders around a conference table

– Play the “Where’s the Beef?” commercial to share the origin of the exercise and set the stage

– Ask each Leader to hold up a Customer invoice and articulate the value proposition for the Customer who is expected to pay that invoice

– Identify the themes and qualitative insights that you hear in the answers

But let’s not stop here

Some answers that you’ll hear are going to be better than other answers you hear.

And will guide you to a a better understanding of how Customer-centric the Organization is – or isn’t.

What kind of answers would you hope to hear?

Let’s assume that you’re the one recording the session, having it transcribed or in some way capturing what the Leaders say.

What kind of answers would you hope to hear? Here are some thoughts –

Answers that align to specific Customer outcomes
Discussion that involves Customer jobs to be done thinking
Assessment of different value dimensions for Customers (such as financial, relational, experiential, strategic, functional or symbolic) and which ones are at play in your product or service

And in the broader CX context, you would hope to hear answers that are steeped in robust Customer research practices.

Where you’d hear statements such as –

“We conducted value research with a selected group of Customers and identified that what mattered most to them was…”

“Admittedly when we began our value research we expected Customers to tell us about the financial value they received. But it that experiential value mattered more…”

“Our NPS research showed us that our Promoters valued these aspects of our product / service.”

One association we had worked with had over 20 years of history. And they had not once conducted any formal Customer research to find out what Members wanted.

The McDonalds milkshake and the job it does for Customers

McDonalds executives could not understand why so many Customers bought milkshakes early in the morning.

So in a famous case study, they conducted “job to be done research to figure it out.

To understand the role that the McDonalds milkshake played in the lives of its Customers.

Here I paraphrase (in my own words) what they learned from the research –

We learned that our Customers bought milkshakes in large quantities in the early morning hours to make their morning commute more enjoyable.

The milkshake added a small pleasurable treat to an otherwise routine morning. And it had the advantage of lasting for the duration of their commute.

Wouldn’t it be remarkable if as you ran your “Where’s the Beef?” exercise, you heard senior Leaders talk like that?

Customers want to see the value

Just like Clara Peller wanted to see the beef, Customers today want to see the value. And they often have plenty of options – including the option to do nothing.

Such as when we cancelled some of our industry memberships.

So…what invoices or services in your organization might not pass the ‘Where’s the Beef?’ test with your Customers?

It’s a question worth asking.

https://www.omnitouchinternational.com/introducing-our-mystery-shopper-research-series/