Know-How Exchange : Strategy

All business (not just telecoms) come down to being good at 1 (or sometimes 2, but never 3) of lowest price, best service, or best technology. Your list kind of shows all of these. In reality, you need to look and see which the business really are. Are the telecom's prices lower than other telecoms in market? Do they provide better service than other telecoms? Do they have the fastest connections or can they be conencted to in more areas than others?

In my area, looking at mobile phones, Verizon mobile phones have the best coverage (you can get connection in more places), fastest data connections (both competitive advantages), but highest prices (disadvantage). Sprint has the lowest price (its competitive advantage), but worst connections (not an advantage). For a while, AT&T had a big competitive advantage in that it was the only one to offer the Apple iPhones, but they lost that competitive advantage as iPhones started to be offered on other carriers.

If it is a telecom that has a monopoly or semi-monopoly, one of the competitive advantages is that. In the US, most land line telecoms are semi-monopolies.

Have you surveyed people who have recently become customers and asked them "Why did you choose us?" You may be surprised at the answers.

Peter's usually spot on - however today I wish to demur. My point is this: when Peter says "All business (not just telecoms) come down to being good at 1 (or sometimes 2, but never 3) of lowest price, best service, or best technology."

Price: anybody can undercut you. Some have done so to the point where you get free phones with a contract.
Technology: "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." Albert Einstein.

Now this isn't saying that you shouldn't stake your position on price or technology. What it does mean is that your position will be insecure, and easily undermined.

A good organization that is responsive to customer needs is A LOT harder to establish. It's also a lot harder to counter or undermine because it's responding to your customer needs - and satisfying them means they'll become more loyal. That's a win-win situation for your business, and a firm foundation to take it further.

That's when points one (price) and three (technology) really sparkle, but I do regard them as secondary to dealing with the tough questions of what your customers actually want. It's also your advantage as this is usually the one place where most communications companies fail spectacularly.
Remember, they're only selling communications.

Now one other thought: Claude Hopkins took Schlitz beer to the #2 sales spot in the US and he did so by claiming one thing. It was absolutely true and genuine. Only it happened to be that all brewers did this ... he was the only one to openly claim it! Have a good think about this sort of thing that can be used to set you apart. Only in the short term, as copy=cat marketing is extremely common. Keep something better in reserve for later!

What brings customers to the company? What binds them to the business? You're thinking functionally. Think emotionally. Character. Care. Willingness to go an extra mile. Smiling. Feeling like you belong. Community. Innovative thinking. Quirkiness. Rebeliousness. Vision. Basically how the brand feels to customers.

Now think what you're selling. It's not telecomms per se. It's connections. A lifeline. A link to a friend in times of trouble. A link to a friend in times of celebration. Gossip. Family. Safety in an emergency. Games and entertainment. Music. My world. Access. An escape. A time saver. A trouble fixer.

Now find narratives, stories and behaviours that specifically show how the brand's character provides the better approach to meeting the aims and needs the customer has.

For instance Virgin Atlantic. Customers want to get from A to B quickly - but anyone can do this. Virgin Atlantic has a quirky innovative character and focuses on the quality of the entire journey. The narrative is construted around motorcycle pick-up (quirky but fast), massagers on the flight (pampering), entertainment and pop-star treatment - the experience rather than the journey.

When looked at in detail and in the cold light of the market place, sadly, there isn't a single point in your list that could be considered a competitive advantage: customer service is something EVERYONE offers. Likewise service quality and reliability, local presence and support, and pricing.

This is list is YOUR list of what sets you apart in the market place. What's of importance to you ... is MEANINGLESS. It is IRRELEVANT.

What really matters is what's of importance to your customers.

Each one of these points is a yada, yada, yada statement that everyone's saying, which means none of them stand out. Your competitive advantages are the things only YOU can claim, they are the things that only YOU offer, and that only YOU provide.

To figure these things out you need figure out what's important to your customers questions via double blind surveys, and you need to contrast the numbers you hit against industry-watchdog calculated percentages. What YOU think is important to buyers and what's ACTUALLY important to them are two different things.

When Mr. Bloomer says "customer service is something EVERYONE offers" - I live in a country that's bereft of customer service. They all say they do it, they all "offer" it. Actually getting anybody to do it is quite another matter. When someone tells me to get in touch with customer service, my response is that I'm better off with my existing problems without adding any more to them.

Because this is as much about backup as it is about strategy. If you're going to take the Hopkins route (see previous message) you'll have to go into the how of what you do very carefully just in case there are any loopholes in your system, weak links.

Whatever you do, it has to be copper-bottomed. Even if it's small, it's enough to make a dent in the market.

... most customer "service" blows. Its ubiquity ensures it this. The bar is set so incredibly low.

It's one of my personal bug bears. Most customer service here in the USA is no different than it is anywhere else: piss poor. My take on this is as follows: SCREW CUSTOMER SERVICE.


Instead, offer customer EXPERIENCES that surpass ALL other telecom experiences (Verizon, take note ..., what ! really mean is, Verizon, get of your asses and take note. Same thing).

If you tell customers that you offer customer service ... if you event THINK of using this—the LAMEST of all marketing messages—Moriarty and I will hunt you down ...

Hang on a minute - before I get out my M16 ... if you are intent on using customer service, make sure it's an ASPECT of customer service that's genuinely useful and you have customer references to tell you how good it was.

It's not just customer services though - for one small contract with Vodafone, in the six months of a two year contract I received two invoices that were the same - for a fixed tariff contract. You can guess why I got my contract cancelled. It took a lot of time and money. Not being a customer of Vodafone saved me a great deal of frustration.

SO BE WARNED: telecoms companies are viewed very darkly in the world outside your offices.

That means you have a MASSIVE chance if you do your job well. Once people get a sniff of good communication, they'll stick to you like glue.