Be the fastest gun on the West Rand… or PE’s Northern suburbs, or Soweto, or Durbanville, or greater Pietermaritzburg. Sometimes the best way to distinguish yourself from your direct competition is by being the fastest.
Certain services are so similar that what really sets one supplier apart from another is the speed at which it’s delivered. Consider locksmiths. When you’re getting a key cut, or you need a copy of the remote for your security gate, one place will do the job as well as another. The main differentiator is how quickly you can get it done. So try to distinguish your business as the quickest in the game.
Aim to be fast, efficient and always available. Then advertise your boast, and deliver on it. Be a 24-hours locksmith. When a guy has been locked out of his flat on a Sunday evening, you’ll be about 12 hours faster than your competition.
Service Tip: You can even incorporate your promise to be fast into the name of your business. This is a strong selling point in our time-strapped modern society. Companies this has worked for include Kwikot, In-N-Out Burger and Instagram.
Throw in a little bonus surprise
Have you noticed how small children love surprises? A three year old I know can’t get enough of them. In fact, she often bugs her parents with this request: “Please can I have a surprise?”
Her folks are at pains to explain that you can’t ask for a surprise. The whole point of a surprise is that you aren’t expecting it. But the young lady isn’t perturbed. She wants her surprise! Luckily she is usually satisfied with a yoghurt or a little glass of juice.
As humans, we never completely grow out of our love for surprises. Try to add an inexpensive surprise to your product offering and it will add an extra dimension to your customer service. It needn’t be extravagantly valuable, just a little bonus they weren’t expecting.
Here are some ideas:
- Branded stationery — pens, rulers, scissors, etc. that your staff can give to clients
- USB drives
- Inexpensive sweets with or without branded wrapping
- Free bottles of sparkling or still water
- A free round of drinks for a table of regulars in your restaurant
- A free headband for little girls visiting your boutique
- Free chips with a full chicken at your take-away
- Free airport shuttles to and from your B&B
- A free cup of tea or coffee for shoppers at your store.
Service Tip: Remember to give it a name. Say, ‘Would you like a free cup of coffee?’ It’s the ‘free’ that makes it a bonus surprise. So much more impressive than, ‘Oh, it’s included in the price.’ We all react with joy to the idea of a free gift — so call it by its name. Your customers will get that rush of happiness that’ll keep them coming back.