What’s the Fun in Being Average?

“There is always a different way to do everything.” That’s a phrase my father drilled into me from the time I was a young man. Frankly, I resented the pressure to always think differently than everyone else. That is, until I realized that his influence is what led to my development as an entrepreneur.

Following the crowd is always the safe choice - isn’t it? It is if you want to be average. But if you or your company want to be special, you’d better learn to look at the world differently. Nobody ever achieved greatness by doing the same thing as everyone around him. Being different certainly doesn’t guarantee success but at least it gives you a chance.

A common business strategy is to study successful companies and try to copy the things they do best. There is nothing wrong with learning from successful companies but the idea that you can succeed using someone else’s playbook is a flawed concept. When you base your business plan on someone else’s plan you let someone else do your thinking for you. Successful companies continue to innovate and grow. By the time you figure out their gameplan they are working on something entirely new.

No question, being different is risky. New ideas fail at a higher rate than ideas which are tried and true. On the other hand, the greatest successes rise from the riskiest ventures. The question is not whether a new strategy is risky - the question is can the risk be reduced? The answer is not easy, but it can be done. In the case of a service company like ours the answer is found in asking the right questions of our customers, then providing solutions which are unique in our industry.

The first step toward greatness is to define what great customer service really is. This is the intellectual and analytical part of the process. Forgetting our perceived limitations, what could we do to produce a “wow factor” for our customers? We already do the easy things - politeness, uniforms, shoe covers, friendly and knowledgeable employees - but we aren’t yet doing anything truly innovative.

By analyzing every point of contact with our customers we are bound to learn what they perceive as truly game-changing service. Once the answer is found it will be up to us to figure out a way to meet the need. Great companies do this; average companies do not.

The naysayers among us will have an endless supply of reasons why improvement is not needed. “It costs too much, employees won’t go along with the changes, nobody else is doing it.” The last objection is my personal favorite. If no one else is doing something our customers desire, then by all means we should figure out a way to get it done!

Change is hard. Innovation is hard. Greatness is hard. Just as “Good is the enemy of great,” easy is the enemy of hard. If we truly set our sights on achieving greatness, we do so with the knowledge that the path will be difficult and disappointments may be frequent. As someone once said, “Lead, follow or get out of the way.” We are on a path toward greatness. Are you leading the charge or are you in the way?