The Real Secret to Out-Servicing Your Competition

This article answers the question: What is the real secret to out-servicing your competition?

Answer: The real secret to out-servicing your competition is recognizing that products are commodities and creating a customer experience, especially after the sale, that builds trust, validates the customer’s purchase decision, and keeps them coming back.

Face it, just about everything you buy, you can buy from somewhere or someone else. Basically, everything you buy is a commodity, and in business, that means almost everything you sell is a commodity. 

If you want to buy a TV, you can buy it from any one of the many electronics stores in your area. And if you get the yearning to make that purchase at 3:00 in the morning, when most stores are closed, you can go to your favorite online retailer and buy it from them. And in the process, I bet you look at other retailers’ prices. The TV is a commodity. Everyone sells it for pretty close to the same price. 

I’m a big fan of Amazon. In the past, it was typically the lowest-priced provider, yet it still offered an incredible service experience. As an Amazon Prime member, I can almost always get my merchandise delivered by the next day. That was one of Amazon’s big competitive differentiators. But today more and more retailers can match or come close to matching its speedy delivery. 

So, why do I choose to still do business with Amazon? I trust them. I know that if I have a problem, they’re going to take care of it. They make returns super easy. It has always had that high level of service, but today, it isn’t always the lowest price. And here’s what’s interesting: they don’t hide it. They let you know and provide a link to another retailer in its marketplace that might offer a lower price. But that lower-priced retailer might not be part of the Amazon Prime program, and when it comes time for me to decide if price is more important, I go with Amazon.    

I recently wrote an article in Forbes about Group 1 Automotive, an auto retailer with more than 250 locations in the U.S. and the U.K. Its CEO, Daryl Kenningham, recognizes that in the automotive business, they sell what every other automotive dealer sells: a certain brand of car at a very similar price. More than just recognizing the need to create a better service experience during the purchase, he recognizes the importance of what happens after the purchase. 

And here’s his big idea. He recognized that customers come back to get their automobiles serviced 12 times more than they come back to buy a car. That’s when he realized he wasn’t in the business of making a sale. He was really in the business of after-sales. Every interaction the customer has with you confirms that the customer made the right decision to do business with you and will come back again and again.  

So, don’t think of customer service as something that supports the sale. Think of it as what secures the next sale. The sale is the starting point, not the finish line. Every interaction that follows reinforces that the customer made the right decision to do business with you and not your competition.