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 Value-added
peak competitors are those organisations and people who embrace
and live the value-added philosophy. They expect the best from themselves,
which enables them to maximise the value they bring to their customers,
says Tom Relly
What makes great organisations great? Is it their
products? Is it their service? Is it their employees? Yes, yes and
yes. They are great for all these reasons. Value-added organisations
are great because they deliver a valuable total experience to their
customers. That’s what this chapter is about—how your
company can become a value-added organisation. The way you approach
your career, the way you interact with your peers, and the way you
interface with customers determine the level at which your company
competes.
The three styles of competitors
Since 1981, I’ve had the privilege of working
with some of the best organisations in the world—global leaders
in their industries. I was their student as well as their teacher.
I learned as much from them as I taught them. One of the lessons
they taught me was how to compete in an industry.
Equalisers or qualifiers
At the most fundamental level of competitiveness
are the equalisers, or qualifiers. They want to be as good as everyone
else in their industries. They seek ways to close the gap between
themselves and their competitors. Equalisers have a lot of catching
up to do. They live the me-too philosophy.
If one competitor offers twenty-four-hour service,
equalisers will copy this. If another competitor offers better quality,
equalisers will attempt to close that gap. They are always seeking
ways to level the playing field between themselves and everyone
else. Their competitive focus is external. They take their cues
from the competition and respond appropriately.
The differentiators
The differentiators represent the next higher
level of competitors. They want to be better than the rest of the
pack. They seek ways to expand the gap between themselves and everyone
else in their industries.
Differentiators live the and-then-some philosophy.
If one of their competitors offers forty-eight-hour turnaround time
on orders, differentiators will try to do it in twenty-four hours.
Like equalisers, differentiators take their lead from the competition.
They have an external, competitive focus. Their goal is to be better
than everyone else in the market.
Value-added peak competitiors
The highest-level competitors are value-added
peak competitors. These value-added organisations (and people) march
to a different drumbeat. They rarely focus on the gap between themselves
and the competition. They concentrate on bridging the gap between
potential and reality— their potential and the customer’s
reality.
Value-added peak competitors are those organisations
and people who embrace and live the value-added philosophy. They
expect the best from themselves, which enables them to maximise
the value they bring to their customers.
These companies have a positive addiction to
excellence—they’re hooked on doing things well. They pursue
excellence in all that they do. They’ve discovered the secret
of companies that adopt a business excellence approach: they outperform
the competition, create lasting value, and achieve long-term success
in the process. The stock-market performance of companies that practice
business excellence beats the S&P 500 average return on investment
by five to one.
There are no sacred cows in these value-added
peak competitor organisations. They challenge the status quo with
this question: “Does this policy, procedure, or process add
value to our efforts, or does it just add cost?” Your company’s
practices that add cost without value diminish your position in
the market. They slow you down. It’s like driving with one
foot on the brake and one foot on the accelerator.
The value-added way of life is a simple philosophy
that permeates every aspect of your being: Do more of that which
adds value to your life and less of that which adds little or no
value—whether it’s time management, career development,
personal and professional relationships, or spiritual, emotional,
and physical well-being.
Value-added peak competitors are proud of what
they’ve accomplished but possess the humility to admit that
they can still grow and get better. Couple this humility and pride
with a curiosity about their own potential, and value-added peak
competitors challenge themselves with this question: “Is this
the best we can do with the resources we have available, or can
we reach higher?”
Value-added peak competitors benchmark their
accomplishments against their own company’s potential, not
against the rest of the market. They respect, but do not fear, the
competition. They realise that their primary mission is to serve
customers better, not just to beat the competition. They defeat
competitors by serving customers better. Their focus is clear.
It is a customer-value focus that defines value
and success in customer terms. It’s not value until the customer
calls it value. Value-added peak competitors view success as their
ability to help their customers achieve higher levels of success.
By helping customers become more successful, value-added peak competitors,
in turn, experience success.
Value-added peak competitors focus more on making
a difference than on just making a deal. They realise that if they
work tenaciously to make a difference for their customers, they
will have all the deals they can handle. And they make a difference
with their employees.
For value-added peak competitors, people represent
the single, unique dimension of value. Why? Because there is no
commodity in creativity, and no traffic jam on the extra mile.
Organisational excellence
Organisational excellence is the natural outcome
of individual and team excellence.
How you approach your career
Whether you’re the CEO, the vice president
of sales, a mid-level manager, a customer service rep, a factory
worker, or a salesperson, your performance affects your organisation’s
performance. Are you a cost centre or a profit centre to your company?
Do you add value or cost to your company’s efforts? What are
you doing to add value to your company’s efforts?
Value-added peak competitor employees seek ways
to add value because that’s the way they live their lives.
They naturally put forth extra effort. Excelling is a habit for
them. One effective way to add value is to identify impact areas
where you can make a difference for the customer and for your company.
Your behaviour and how you treat customers have a positive impact
on your company’s performance.
A few years ago, I was in Sacramento working
with an equipment dealer. In an effort to identify impact areas,
I assembled a group of employees and asked them, “How do you
personally add value?”
One of the mechanics said, “On every piece
of equipment that I service, I perform a five-point safety check
just to be sure that everything leaving my repair bay is safe for
our customers to operate.”
One of the salespeople in the group heard this
and asked, “Do you perform that test on everything?”
The mechanic said, “Yeah.”
And the salesman responded, “I can sell
that value added this afternoon.”
Other employees in this company also found ways
to add value. A manager added value by the amount of face time he
spent with customers. He could get things done. By having his ear
that close to the ground, he was able to prevent many of the fires
that other companies fought. He was a real go-getter.
A driver went the extra mile for his customers
by adjusting his delivery route for his customers’ convenience.
“I want to make it easy for our customers to receive our deliveries.
Other drivers won’t do that,” he said.
This driver made it a habit to do what others
viewed as a hassle. This positive addiction to excellence is what
characterises value-added peak competitors—they make habitual
what others consider to be a hassle.
Excerpt from ‘Value-Added Selling’
by Tom Relly. Reproduced with permission © 2003, Tata McGraw-Hill
Publishing Company Limited
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