Team Alpha 375

win inside the box

You’re over-thinking it. You’re banging your head against the wall trying to figure out how to “think outside the box” and come up with a “WOW Factor” that will differentiate you from your competition. “What can I do that’s really different and exotic that no one else is doing? Hmmmmm......”

You want a WOW Factor? Here’s the ultimate WOW Factor: deliver on the customer’s most basic expectations better than everyone else and do it every single time.

The sad, cold, hard truth is that people and companies who are chasing the wild goose of WOW Factor are doing it because they can’t win on the basics. Because they can’t differentiate on price, quality, delivery, or service, they have to find a gimmick that they hope will pull their butt out of the competitive fire and win customers.

Thinking outside the box is all well and good. But here’s the deal: if you win INSIDE the box - if you can actually do a better job on your customers‘ basic expectations - you win it all. Game over. You get all the money and you live happily ever after.

You may be thinking, “No, Joe, it can’t be that simple.” YES! It is that simple. The reason you’re not doing it is because it’s not easy. In fact, it’s hard as hell to be better on the basics than the other guy. But it’s where you get your greatest return.

Look at Zappos.com. They sales are over a billion dollars a year. Their customers are wild, raving fans. Amazon bought them for a billion bucks a couple of years ago. You want WOW Factors? Zappos is a company built on WOW Factors. And here’s where they win: speed of delivery, free shipping, a great return policy, and fantastic customer service from their call center. They win inside the box. Nothing exotic. Nothing edgy.

B-A-S-I-C-S.

Want more? In-N-Out Burgers (great hamburgers and sparkling clean restrooms), FedEx (dependable delivery), Apple Stores (they help you do cool things with their stuff), and the list goes on and on.

List the three to five most basic things that your customers expect from you. Pick one. Improve your performance on that basic expectation by 20%. Then move on the the next expectation and improve on that by 20%. Do this constantly and forever.

You win. Game over.