If I asked you how different your service was from that of your closest competitors, many would say, “we’re pretty much the same.”
It couldn’t be further from the truth.
People buy Heinz ketchup, when it is chemically indistinguishable, from the store brand. Same for C&H sugar over generic. By putting a brand around commodities that people used to buy in bulk quantities, from unnamed wooden barrels in Snuffy’s General Store on Main Street, these brands made billions of dollars.
So don’t think your services are the same. Heinz only changed the label and the packaging but by doing so, they changed the story.
Your service is delivered by human beings, who naturally have far more unique qualities than ketchup labels. The tone of voice they use. The confidence they inspire. The rate at which they complete the job. Or don’t. The story they tell and the feeling they deliver to your customer.
As a consumer, you can feel it. Within one minute of entering a business that provides dynamic service, you can tell. If you’ve walked into a Best Buy in the last couple months, you likely felt it. If you’ve walked into a Circuit City in the last couple months………..
Nevermind. You can’t.
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I couldn’t agree more. I believe Home Depot stepped it up in the last year, too. More people around to help. Pressured by Lowe’s, I assume.