No 3 - News You Can Use - January 2009

(To view this newsletter in Adobe Acrobat PDF, please click here).

A belated Happy New Year to you and thank you for staying tuned in.

We recently had our renewal policy for car breakdown cover sent to us in the post. Despite having a good offer, I decided to shop around for another quote to compare whether we are still getting the best service for our money. (I strongly advise investing that time looking around for any renewals that come through as you can save yourself a lot of money).

When I had received a few more quotes, some better and some not, I called my current provider (A) since we were originally very happy with their service overall. They then quoted me £85 (GBP) for the year in contrast to their original quote of almost £109 (GBP) – so you can see the savings already just by making one call! 

My customer service lady then said that they, (A) could not go down in price  any further and match their competitor’s quote, which was £73 (GBP).  She added that if I decided to choose their competitor (B), the competitor would give me the same service, however, they would not cover me for any non-mechanical fault, for example if the tyre would explode whilst driving etc, hoping that I would give in and continue doing business with them. 
I then thanked the lady at (A) for her advice and went back to the competitor (B) who offered me the better price for exactly the same protection and cover. B's answer was that what was said (by A) about their cover was untrue and in the legal documentation provided with the cover, it says that they (B) will cover me within all of the UK anywhere and it does not matter for what reason I break down.

While I totally agree that we must know our own differentiators from our competition, we also must be HONEST because honesty builds TRUST and TRUST builds customers and more customers means more growth. If we are offering like-for-like and just compete on price, we are then operating in a so-called “Commodity market” and how does this place us for revenue and profit growth?

If we have staff who just do not know our differentiators, then train them, bring them up to speed and make sure that they understand. Let them repeat their differentiators on a regular basis, do random checks and most importantly, have the right staff whose personal values are aligned with your company values, so that they do their job from the head AND from the heart and through this, your success will increase.

So I leave you with these thoughts:
* What are your real differentiators?
* What makes your company and people stand out from the competition?
* How can you make your company, your products and services so unique that it is difficult to catch up?

If I can support you with any of the above, please call my office on +44 (0) 20 8668 2000 for a FREE consultation.

Inner Circle Master Programme
Especially in these days of the so-called “Economic Downturn” I feel that it is important that people help and support each other, to stay calm, confident and especially resourceful.
I have therefore created the “Inner Circle” which is for people who are passionate about other people's success in the same way as they are for themselves.
The group is different from others because it is not a group whereby you get invited to spend nights in a luxurious hotel to hear speakers, listen to what they are saying, get motivated and do nothing or very little with the information afterwards. This is about doing; getting results for yourself and others, yours  and their business. It is about holding yourself accountable for your actions in front of the other members.
All it takes is a to take part in a monthly 45 minutes call.
For the benefits, click here.

If you want to know more about the Inner Circle, or if you know of someone who could benefit from this, call my office on +44 (0) 20 8668 2000.
All the very best.

Peter