Times are good, even great, for the business that knows how to be creative in the way it serves its customers.
But you have to be willing to be (as author Seth Godin puts it)…remarkable.
I offer you three powerful ideas for serving your customers better and translating your creativity into growth:
1) Create features that distinguish. If everybody has the basics covered, you have an opportunity to create an additional feature that makes you STAND OUT. It might have nothing to do with the fundamentals of what you offer, but it might be something that gets people talking about your product. Think of a place for a flower vase on the VW Beetle dashboard or the egg-shell blue color of a Tiffany’s box. What could you add to your product or service that will cause us to smile and talk about you?
2) Offer experiences that wow! People want to have amazing, positive experiences. What can you do to elicit a “wow” from your customers when they experience your service? Maybe you offer more than was expected. Maybe you have a human where we were expecting a computer. Or maybe you under-promise and over-deliver in an economy where everyone else is doing the opposite? I even ask clients: “What could we do that would make you say ‘wow’? They always have an answer.
Perhaps the greatest opportunity you have to make me say wow is what you do when things go wrong. If you maintain a good attitude, are proactive, and eager to make things right in the face of potential disaster…you not only distinguish yourself, but show me I can count on you in the future. This leads to lifelong clients.
3) Design your company to model and lead. People want to do business with leaders and innovators. Be different in the way you run your organization: For example, be transparent with your financials when everyone else is not. Or give away a product or service that everyone else is charging for. Or be generous with your profits and bold in your philanthropy. All of these make you stand out in your field and potential customers DO notice.
What can you create to force us to talk about you? Indeed, it might be the only thing that can really assure you the kind of edge you hope for and the extraordinary growth you’ve always wanted.
(This post was previously published the July 2009 issue of Business Leader http://www.businessleader.bz/ )
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Written by Tom Plake
Topics: Uncategorized