A couple of years ago I blogged about a book I'd read. Over the past couple of weeks I've been reminded of that book several times.
People I've been talking with have expressed their interest in achieving, concern for achieving, and/or self-contempt for their failure to achieve excellence in all areas of their business and life. So much so that I thought it would be worth repeating what I wrote before. But before I do that, let me give you one example - from another industry, unrelated to Real Estate.
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I found a new Optometrist a couple of weeks ago. (I finally had the need since moving here about a year ago.)
She was clearly lower-priced than other Optometrists in the area. Her full price was below their discounted price. Still, without even asking for it, she offered to discount her price for me by a percentage that just happened to match the percentage the other Optometrist I'd called had offered.
She expressed her desire to be THE Optometrist who is interested in providing the best service and education for the area. She's genuinely concerned about children and learning, and wants everyone to know that correcting the focus of each eye individually is often NOT ENOUGH to help kids who are struggling with reading. (Sometimes there are problems with the eyes working together, or with the interaction between the brain and the eyes. That's why it's important to have your child see a Developmental Optometrist - not just a discount Optometrist, or (less specialized yet) just a Pediatrician.)
She mentioned that she's looking for a different location. Presumably to improve her accessibility. Or maybe she wants to also improve the "experience" of the office - making it less "office-like."
When another patient mentioned that they were going to shop around to see if there was another frame-design that they liked better, she quickly jumped in to say she could get pretty much ANY frame.
So, here's my new Optometrist trying to be the BEST in everything: BEST price, BEST service, BEST accessibility, BEST experience, and BEST product selection.
The result: I'm convinced she's leaving money on the table. And I suspect she's struggling in business as a result.
She's not advertising as "The Low-Price Leader", yet her prices blow away the nearest competition. She could raise her prices and STILL be lower than their discounted price. She spends lots of time with each patient - and flexes her hours to accommodate virtually any need or desire - opening early and/or staying late, including weekends. She'll apparently go to any length to get any product for any patient - regardless of cost to the business. And she's (semi-)actively looking for a new office - despite having a VERY well-established clientele (many of whom have known her main assistant for more than 40 years!)
She lamented that while she knows she's very good as an Optometrist, she doesn't have any business background. And fears that the lack of business training (that she and all her Dr. friends didn't get in school) is hampering her ability to build her practice. Yet she has no time to get that training now.
OK, so what does that have to do with you? You're either a Realtor, or a Lender, or someone who works with Realtors and/or Lenders. You're most likely not a Doctor, and even less-likely a Developmental Optometrist. (As important as they are, they're a fairly rare group!) And you, in all likelihood, have some business background. So, what's it got to do with you?
Here's what:
If you own a business or are working in a business, or volunteer with an organization (basically, if you are more than a couch potato or a perpetual web-surfer), and you're interested in helping your business or organization move in the direction of being the BEST, you may benefit from considering what it REALLY means to be, and what it REALLY takes to be the BEST. It very well may not be what you expect.
Read on to see what I wrote two years ago:
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Yesterday I wrote about Exceeding Expectations versus Meeting Needs. I proposed that we should first and foremost focus on discovering and meeting the needs of our clients.
Today I want to talk a little bit more about exceeding expectations, but more from the perspective of trying to achieve excellence in every area of our businesses. I should "warn" you - this will be more of a book review than my own independent thinking.
A while back I read the book, "The Myth of Excellence" by Crawford and Matthews. The authors set out to research and write a book on excellence in business. Their hypothesis was that the BEST businesses excelled in ALL 5 areas of business, including: access, experience, price, product, and service. As they did their research they discovered that the thousands of people they were surveying seemed to be all giving the wrong answers. Finally, they decided, those answering weren't wrong about the BEST businesses excelling in ALL 5 areas of business, on the contrary, the BEST companies DIDN'T dominate in all areas.
The BEST weren't THE BEST in everything. No, they were THE BEST in ONE thing. Excellence in EVERYTHING is a myth.
What they discovered was the BEST companies tried to dominate the market in one area, and one area ONLY. They tried to be better-than-average or "good" in a second area. And they tried to make sure they weren't less than average in the other three areas - this they called "par."
The point is: we are foolish to try to be the best at everything. We'll burn ourselves out, and in business end up leaving "money on the table" if we try to excel in everything.
And it will be most helpful if your entire organization is all "on the same page" as far as identifiying what you're going to try to dominate and be "good" in. Again, if you're pulling in different directions you'll be weaker for it.
If you get the book (or find it in your local library to read), the first two chapters outline their research. The rest of the book is spent going into detail on each of the 5 areas giving examples of how it all works out.
;)
;)
