What You Must Deliver to Win Customers Today

HBR IdeaCast

Harvard Business Review

Communication, Business, Harvard, Strategy, Business/management, Teams, Business/marketing, Management, Leadership, Finance, Marketing, Hbr, Economics, Innovation, Business/entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship

4.3 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2026

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What if your customers aren't looking for better products and services, but for a way for themselves to become better? While the experience economy remains important, Strategic Horizons cofounder B. Joseph Pine II argues that it's not enough to acquire and retain customers in today's competitive environment. He sees the next wave in business as one focused on offering outcomes to customers - and that might even mean only getting paid when customers succeed. He shares how this model might actually reduce risk, what it means in a world of AI and mass personalization, and ways that companies can truly deliver on their promises. Pine is author of the book The Transformation Economy: Guiding Customers to Achieve Their Aspirations.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Deal's not just another payroll platform.
0:03.1	It's one your team might actually enjoy.
0:05.1	H.R, IT, and payroll together finally.
0:08.0	Built in-house, built for peace of mind.
0:10.8	Visit D-EEL.com slash HBR podcast. I'm Alison Beard.
0:29.5	I'm Adi Ignatius, and this is the HBR Ideacast.
0:42.3	Adi, what was your New Year's resolution for 2026?
0:46.3	We kind of do more predictions than resolutions. I have lots of predictions. But I guess my ongoing resolution for the year is to launch a book project.
0:52.3	Ooh, that sounds exciting. I can't wait to read it.
0:54.9	Mine was a little bit simpler. It was trying for a dry January, which I mostly stuck to,
1:00.7	though I had a sneaky glass of Prosecco like two weeks in. But the point is that a lot of
1:05.5	people are setting aspirational goals right now, not just in January, but all year long like you, because increasingly
1:13.3	that's what we want to spend our money on, not products or services or even enjoyable experiences,
1:19.2	but on bettering ourselves, whether that's losing weight or learning a new language or
1:24.9	figuring out how to do something like writing a book. Yeah, and when
1:29.7	you say publicly you're going to write a book, that does put some pressure on yourself to actually
1:33.5	achieve that goal. So wittingly or unwittingly, I have walked into that trap. Yeah, I use that
1:39.3	strategy too. I told anyone who was listening that I was trying not to have wine in January.
1:56.8	But our guest today thinks there's a huge business opportunity in helping people not do it themselves through willpower or techniques like the one you just talked about, but through structures that help them transform.
2:06.8	So he's talking about everything from health and wellness businesses to non-profit educational institutions to financial services firms. He wants leaders to start thinking more holistically about what they can do for customers to help them achieve meaningful goals,
2:12.5	not just selling them what they make or supply, but supporting them along the way. And here's the kicker only getting
2:19.0	paid if they're successful. So that sounds interesting. It also sounds really expensive and it
	...

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