The Space Between...By Director Wayne Hall

June 1, 2010


We all do it…spend time and energy looking for a “point of difference” for our products and services - that something special which will provide us with the “extra edge” in the market. Often, (and probably more-so in today’s time poor, techno-materialistic society) we seem to assume that the differentiating feature will be a “special app” or perhaps a piece of ground-breaking software or technology. Personally, I can’t even keep up with the jargon any more, let alone what it is the latest “apps” are designed to do.

It’s so easy to fall into this mind set…after all, we’re continually reminded about how Apple’s latest product - rich with cutting edge features - can’t keep up with demand.
Get a load of the queues outside their store! That’s the way to do it…if it’s good for Apple, surely it’s good for simple fruit like us.

I wonder, though…

Our business - indeed our market - is essentially about supplying and supporting recurring services, and my experiences with clients in this type of market is that the dominant requirement, over time, is the personal relationship between parties - the one that allows you to ask questions, understand one another’s needs (not just the clients), and at times, (but critically) to explain why the timing isn’t right to go to the next generation of features. Again, my experience is that continually breaking new ground might be sustainable in certain markets (notably the high volume ones such as the consumer market), but in a niche business-to-business market like ours it is not only incredibly demanding on all parties…it is not even necessary.

This isn’t to say we should shut down our strategy for improving product. However, as a case in point, our number one selling background music player here at SBA is a great, practical reminder of the realities of our market. It presents a suite of features that (i) our clients’ value very highly, (ii) lend nicely to the selling proposition, and (iii) allow supply efficiencies. Interestingly, not one feature on the player is less then five years old, while at their time of implementation (over various version refinements) most existed, in one form or another, on other players.

So where are the points of difference within this particular service of ours? They’re certainly not jumping out of the player, as even I’m not so egotistical enough to suggest we built something five years ago that still hasn’t been “topped” by someone else in the market.

The key term, of course, is “service” - the player plus the other “stuff” we do. Somewhere in this mix of “other stuff” is what differentiates us all from our competition.

But what is it?

I need to refer to a few recent experiences in order to have a stab at the answer. I’ve picked three at random…

• Earlier this year I flew to London and caught the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station (where it terminates). The ticket attendant on the train stood out as someone who really enjoyed their job - some people can do that within seconds. Anyway, I’m a little forgetful at the best of times (the term “vague” gets used a bit), and not long after getting off the train and making my way in a jetlagged state through the packed station, I “tuned in” to a person yelling above the noise (it’s a noisy place) “heh..! heh..!”. I still don’t know whether he knew the bag he was holding up (as he made his way through the crowd) was mine or not… but when I turned and saw it I almost went numb. It contained my passport, laptop, credit cards and cash. I pushed my way to him and said “thank you, thank you” (that’s all I could get out) and he looked at me with a wry smile, turned and walked away…

• Two weeks ago I left my (favourite) pair of sunglasses in a hire car. An evening drop-off, dark interior colours, weak inside lighting, and a black glasses case didn’t combine well for spotting them when getting my stuff together (that’s my excuse, anyway). I telephoned the office the following day. “Sorry sir, you can’t speak directly with our lost property department. I can check on the weekend (three days away) if they have been handed in and call you back. No sir, we don’t have any set procedure in terms of accounting for the person who checks the vehicle…yes sir, I suppose it is an honesty system…no sir, there’s no lost property email address, just the general office one…” And so it goes.

• At a recent meeting with a major client, it became apparent that they had been pitched an alternative solution which had some serious appeal. As we worked though the “issue”, it became apparent that what was at stake was not our capacity to come up with an equivalently featured piece of technology or solution there and then, but our capacity to explain why the solution we had in place was what it was and whether our comments in relation to the alternative solution made sense in terms of being “destructive” or “constructive” (the first impulse is to attack the competitor). I think we passed the test: “ We love what you guys do for us…and we know there is always going to be something different on offer. We want to know that we can rely on you to help us make sensible, long term decisions…”  

Examples of how  individual action, process (or lack of it) and a strategic approach can make a difference…and if  I had to nominate three key criteria by which to assess the above “service” situations, they would be expectations, resolve and experience.

The first guy, with that one action, took the service to a level which exceeded my expectations and established incredible trust - albeit as a result of an unusual situation. This guy cared enough to resolve the situation there and then by chasing me down. He certainly gave me a customer experience I shall never forget.

The hire car company fell well short of meeting my service expectations and left me feeling, well, that they don’t really care…and possibly can’t be trusted. Again, it took an event slightly out of the ordinary to bring this condition about (though I have been told that “lots of people leave all kinds of things behind”) and while I can understand there is no foolproof system, it wouldn’t be too difficult - surely - to implement one which took advantage of leave-behinds to build long-standing relationships. Having lost property returned is one of the most powerfully enjoyable experiences we can have, and these guys are actually set up to do it daily.

Our major client is comfortable (for now) that we do care…that the solutions we have in place have been designed to meet their requirements, and that there are solid, logical reasons why we haven’t rushed them to other solutions. Importantly, though, the discussions have taken place within a framework of “we can all learn a bit from this…none of us are perfect”. Best not to pretend to be…


So what differentiates our service? Well, here goes…

The component of service which, over time, allows a business to differentiate itself in our market, generally starts with people who love engaging with the customer, either through defining and meeting expectations, or resolving issues whenever something special needs to be done (this is the “customer experience” phase). But the cycle (and it is a cycle) shouldn’t stop at this point. There must be people in the business who enjoy tapping into the wealth of information that comes from the customer experience in order to distill it to a series of action points and execute change - in the form of new product features or refinements to procedure…or something new altogether.

Actually - I think it‘s the same for all markets…if you look beneath the wiz-bang of Apple you will find a business which spends a lot of time and resources understanding and responding to it’s customers needs…Apple management know how vital this is for long term survival. We tend to forget, but not that long ago they were standing on a precipice… 


Wayne Hall 
Director

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