True competitive differentiation

Do you really understand what is important to your customers and clients?  What is your point of competitive differentiation that separates you from the pack?  After your own assessment of the issue, if high levels of competence are on your list, you may be ignoring what is truly important and meaningful to your customers.  Customers are assuming competence and expertise in your business; that’s a given when they call or visit you.  Relying on competence alone, when seeking to separate from your competition is like a hotel seeking new customers by advertising they have clean sheets and towels.

You should be looking at areas of service and behavior that have seen historical failure in your industry, or common complaints that are specific about your local competitors.  A rich area to mine information is local forums and postings.  This is not to say that competency isn’t important, it’s the baseline structure that you build your business upon, it’s just not enough. Great examples are contractors and tradesman. These are frequently small or even one-person businesses. Communication and customer follow up are difficult due to lack of office or administrative staff. However, a company that follows up quickly on a customer request or better yet, answers the phone on the first call is frequently far ahead of their competitors.

Find a similar example for your business and simple actions can truly separate you.