For example, in an attempt to create a “Southwest-like experience” – with the associated profitability – Continental Air Lines rolled out Continental Lite. It was a major flop. Why? Because it didn’t have the underlying corporate philosophy and infrastructure to bind the program and systems together. Continental’s plan should have started with a customer-centric attitude from top executives and included a way to spread that attitude throughout the organization. They also didn’t have the cost savings associated with a single aircraft type, a focus on secondary markets, or the tenacity for on-time performance.

Identifying and duplicating success means you have to also try to get all of the interlocking pieces that include not only the infrastructure but the culture, tradition, and imagination of the company overall. Not an easy task.

What’s the culture like within your organization? Are people providing support or helping customers be successful? Bob Nardelli, (current CEO of Home Depot) while CEO at G.E. Power once said, “We’re getting better at [Six Sigma] every day. But we really need to think about the customer’s profitability. Are customers’ bottom lines really benefiting from what we provide them?” This is not a common point of view but it is one you should consider. It’s also a path that, if taken, will impact key decisions within your organization.

Take Neutrogena soap as another example. This is a product in as much of a commoditized market as you could ever find, yet the company differentiates the product in so many ways that it has no real competitors. Having no competitors means higher prices and greater profitability. So what does Neutrogena do so differently? They market to the medical community, not to consumers. The product is in the pharmacy section of stores, not near the other soaps, and the very manufacturing process of a clear glycerin square-shaped bar would be too costly for Proctor and Gamble or some other company to tool up for manufacturing.

Moving toward providing experiences in the IT world presents some rather interesting challenges because so much emphasis is placed on “best practices” or “support standards” that organizations get caught up copying each other instead of looking for ways to differentiate themselves from the competition. The new book by Jonas Ridderstråle and Kjell Nordström, “Karaoke Capitalism,” explores this phenomenon in detail. These authors continue to provide some of the most important business insight available today. Their 1st book, Funky Business is considered among the top 15 most important business books ever written.

McKesson Provider Technologies, a leading provider of IT solutions in the healthcare industry, strives to maintain a good balance of standards and differentiation. Paying careful attention to details and best practices as part of the SCP certification programs, there’s also a good amount of fervor when it comes to customers. The ICARE customer-centric principals that every employee operates within keeps us focused on customers and positive experiences become the outcome as opposed to an objective.

What will you do to differentiate your support teams? Even if you’re the best in your industry today, you need to continue to look for ways to get better. While you may not be able to create a unique experience immediately, there’s nothing preventing you from creating memorable experiences within your company or industry soon.

About the author
John Dunleavy is a veteran of 35 years in the IT support industry. Holding positions ranging from Director of Marketing for a Fortune 500 company to his current role as Customer Support Manager at one of the nation’s leading healthcare providers, he has always had a passion for customers. A featured speaker at support conferences nationally and published author on the subject of customer satisfaction; John provides insights and creative approaches that push organizations to new heights.