In these days of internet-instantaneous, many put the cart before the horse. They are so busy posting images to Instagram, adding people to their database, and plotting world domination, they’ve forgotten to do something remarkable.
Creating something remarkable is about ‘doing’, rather than ‘being’. A lot of the noise on social media is about people ‘being’. The doing part is the recording, distribution and commentary on social media. That’s not business.
Creating offerings that answers the needs, wants and worries of your ideal client means you are in business.
Going from good to great
Meeting expectations is good. Exceeding expectations is better. Anticipating expectations so that new expectations – new standards – are created, is the best.
In pursuit of …
In the years that I wrote for corporations, I was encouraged by management to keep using the phrase “in pursuit of excellence”. Some smart cookie had articulated how excellence isn’t a destination – it is a journey. There will always be more to do, more to create, higher expectations to exceed.
What are you in pursuit of? No complaints? Re-bookings? Or new ways of doing things?
Remarkable products
Frequently I see businesses that suffer from too few, too limited products – the yoga school that only has 10 classes a week, the psychologist who only works Tuesdays and Thursdays. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with keeping business small, your clients are only ever going to get a limited interaction.
People get stretched by you. When you’re great, they are inspired; they want to experience more. When you have only have limited products, they can get restless. They may get distracted by their itch which isn’t being scratched – they leave.
Creating a product landscape
A landscape of products allows people to interact with your business over time. Your introductory product might be free – your email newsletters or your YouTube video that was relevant, inspiring and useful. Your regular products will keep your audience involved – these are your classes, your treatments, your consultations.
Regular products might pay the bills, but it’s the premium products that pay for your overseas holidays – these are your retreats, your books or DVDs, your teacher training, your coaching programs, your private clients that pay up-front. These products give clients the pleasure of diving deeper with you.
They are special, limited, and truly excellent.
Engineering out faults
To go from good to great, and great to remarkable, engineer the faults out. Remove the annoying song from your iPod – when it’s no longer there, it can no longer interrupt your class when you get up to skip it. Add the second toilet, improve the water pressure in your shower. Revitalise the default email ‘welcome’ message that is essentially invisible, put personality in your prose.
Becoming great is when you are constantly seeking to serve – looking for additional extras that you can add, talking to your clients to uncover their deeper issues or worries, and researching the latest and greatest ways to solve these.
Anticipating needs
Becoming remarkable involves creating new, premium products that enable clients to continue their journey with you. It involves finding new depths to plumb, and guiding clients so that they feel challenged and remarkable themselves.
When we’re ordinary, we copy what everyone else is doing. When we’re good, we have something we believe is wonderful and we go out looking for people to buy it. When we’re great, people refer others to us so we don’t need to market so much. When we’re remarkable, we ask people what they want and then we go away and create it for them.
