Some things happen so frequently, you'd swear they were part of some Grand Plan.
Two recent examples came from Brad Cooper, Chief Executive of FAI Security based in Sydney and Richard Wooley, of Highway Fisheries based in Te Puke, New Zealand.
Richard's is a super example of team work leading to differentiation AND, in this case, leading to a new product.
The company breeds and sells live fish by mail order, would you believe. And when they send them out by mail they even include little heaters in the package to make sure the fish arrive safely and in good condition.
Richard's team were running the “Towards Awesome Service” programme with their external Accountant, Colin Olesen. One of the main thrusts of the programme is to develop “differentiators” which truly make a difference.
The team came up with, of all things, chocolate fish. They now send chocolate fishes (yes - insulated from the heater of course) with each order just to say “Thank you.”
The effect, according to Richard, was amazing. Customers rang up to order the chocolate fishes. They're now a line item (no pun intended).
But even better - one customer sent Richard a note with some very small chocolate fishes inside. He claimed that the fishes Richard sent had mated with his very own chocolate fishes. He was, he said, sending Richard just a few of the off-spring.
And that leads us to Brad Cooper. Brad has really got his teeth into differentiating. His 35-million company sells security systems with a system that I'll write about soon - it is absolutely stunning. But for now, contemplate this:
When Brad's installers go into a home to install the alarms, they turn up with three things under their arm - slippers, a carpet and a vacuum cleaner. Before they come in they put the slippers on to vividly demonstrate to the home-owner that they're special.
Then they lay down the carpet to make sure that any dust falls onto their carpet rather than the home-owner's floor. And then, when they've finished, they vacuum the area thoroughly.
Talk about difference. But it doesn't stop there. Brad's team have a 'performance standard' that really does differentiate. It's this - the job should take 45 minutes but always allow 90. Use the remaining time to do the things no-one else would even dream of doing.
So when the job's done, Brad's installers ask the customer, as they have their step ladder and tools out “are there any other odd jobs” they could do whilst they're there?.
Invariably, there's a light bulb to be replaced - which is why the installation team always carry at least ten light bulbs of different size and fittings.
Extraordinary isn't it? Once again, it's always the little things that make such huge differences. Got any chocolate fishes, slippers or light bulbs right under your nose (figuratively speaking) that might just make a huge difference to your customers too.
As specialists in business development too, we can help you build yourself a better business. So give us a call. We can start off simply with a planning session before deciding to go on. That way you are under no pressure, and the choice to go forward is totally under your control. And remember what we said about our guarantee.
