Everyone wants to be a little better (and different) than their competitors…maybe a lot better…and the battle is getting more and more fierce every day. The Business Owners and CEOs I talk with tell me this is one of the top “initiatives” they constantly have going on…how they can be better than their competition. Unfortunately, I believe they are thinking about this the wrong way…
Most leaders and companies focus on three primary areas to beat out their competition…PRICE, FEATURES, and SELECTION. To effectively compete and win (some of the time), they feel the need to lower prices or offer some additional features on their products/services the others don’t or add some new products/services to the list they already have. These all can work…for a short period of time. Then a competitor comes in and “one-ups” you in these areas and you are back to square one…only to repeat the cycle and try to do it again.
This is exhausting, discouraging, and expensive…and usually doesn’t lead to where you wanted to go in the first place…being different. This is playing the COMMODITY game, which is very difficult (if not impossible) to win in the long term. Competitors keep changing places and the only ones that benefit are the customers purchasing these products/services. They win because prices drop and deals get sweeter…but unfortunately THEY AREN’T LOYAL to you or any of your competitors…they are “loyal to the deal.”
In today’s fast moving, “low barrier to entry” world, this trend continues until some new company comes in with something completely different and hits all the companies in the industry hard. They have a completely new model for the product or service and they can pull a big chunk of your customers away…immediately. This collapses many companies in today’s world…they have gotten so “lean and competitive” that they can’t sustain a major blow like this…so they close their doors.
BUT THERE IS ANOTHER WAY TO PLAY THIS GAME…AND WIN!
Starting today, think 180…180 degrees. Think completely opposite of what your competitors are doing. Think of what your competitors do that your customers don’t like…and do that. Think about what causes your customers to be upset, what costs them time, what frustrates them…and do the opposite. Think about blowing up your model to do something that you know the CUSTOMER WILL LOVE instead of just trading customers back and forth because of the latest “deal of the day.” This is what THINKING 180 gives you…a competitive advantage your competitors can’t match…because it’s opposite of what they do.
Here’s a great example and story to illustrate the point. It was told by Jason Fried, Founder & CEO at Basecamp about his experience with a hotel, Hotel Drisco, in San Francisco. I would encourage you to read the entire post he made about his experience…he does and awesome job talking about his experience and how the Hotel Drisco figured out the “180 way of thinking” about their business. How they took a basic commodity…a hotel experience…and turned it into a memorable experience for their guests.
In case you don’t have time to read the entire post, here are some highlights…
“When I walked in the place felt historic and cozy. Wood paneled walls, classic human scale lobby, some comfortable creaks in the floor, and a wonderfully polite but never in your face staff. They understood the art of service.
I get to the room. First thing I notice is that the windows are cracked open a bit. It’s a lovely warm spring day?—?I’m sure it was intentional. A gentle cross-breeze whispering welcome. It’s the kind of thing I’d do at home if the weather was nice outside.
There are some booklets on the table. I pop one open and turn to this page: 6 bottles of complimentary water. Now… When you’re a paying few hundred bucks for a room you might expect free water, but as anyone who’s stayed in a hotel lately knows, there’s plenty of bottled water around but it usually wears a $5 or $7 price tag. So a hotel that doesn’t play games and try to nickel and dime you on water feels like a very special place indeed. And not just a bottle or two, but six, and they’re placed conveniently in a few different areas so one is always near by. Thoughtful.
I paid roughly the same room rate at a Marriott recently, and there wasn’t any fruit unless I wanted to order the $15 fruit plate from room service. And they were also happy to sell me bottled water at $5/pop, too.
The Drisco didn’t slip a bill. Instead they left a little bag on the door handle. We know you’re leaving, so here’s a few things that might help. A TSA-approved bag, a microfiber cloth to clean glasses or electronics, and some mints. Probably cost the hotel a buck or two max. Absolutely worth it.
I was left with this impression: The Drisco was on my side. I recommend this place whole-heartedly.”
And not only did he have an awesome experience, he TALKED ABOUT IT to thousands! He was so impressed that he took the time to write about it on Medium and tell everyone about it in person and on social media channels. This was marketing for the Hotel Drisco that cost nothing…zero dollars…no ads, no flyers, no e-mail campaigns…just WORD-OF-MOUTH from an incredibly trusted and respected customer.
Hotel Drisco gets 180 thinking…do you? Could this work for your business? I think it can work for every business on the planet. You just have to get your head around it and change the way you have been thinking. Believe me, it isn’t easy…leaders struggle with this every day and it is one of my missions to help them see the other side of this mountain…how to get to 180 THINKING. If you have gotten excited about this at all…we should talk…you have taken the first step to doing 180 thinking…CONGRATULATIONS!
