Personalization Is The Key To Differentiation
Every product by its very nature goes through a cycle and ends up in what we call commoditization. In other words, it ends up looking like, acting like, and being priced like other products available to the same customer. Even lasik surgery, where a physician has practiced and prepared himself for years to improve vision, ends up putting up billboards to sell lasik surgery for a fixed price of $495, $695, or $895.
I would suggest that the secret to differentiation is personalization. If Starbucks can do it with coffee and Dell can do it with computers, certainly you can do it with every product or service you offer. But that's for the next message. So I say its not the product but the process that gives you the greatest opportunity for personalization.
I purchased a car that I could have purchased almost anywhere, even on the internet. I bought it from somebody who personalized the process. They helped me understand my needs and decision-making process for that particular car. They understood my driving habits and what I expected from a performance automobile. They helped me key in on the five things that they could do to support the process and the experience I had with the automobile. They called on me after the car had been delivered to ensure the fact that I was happy. They also make sure a person calls me on a regular basis to get the car in for a performance check and service.
Now I might buy a car every three or six years. But they maintained a relationship with me because I think there is something about what they did for me that is personal to me. Many years ago, a young man arrived at my office to sell me office supplies. When I got done I realized that he wasn't selling me office supplies at all. Instead he was selling me a customized office product supply system to ensure the fact that I did not run out of those items that were most important to the productivity of my business. Now quote that to your friends. But at the same time I felt Tony was with me. He understood my business, my needs, and the fact that I really wasn't buying paper because it was cheap. I was buying a process that had value, that ensured the fact that I didn't run out.
If you're working on the "you" brand, and you want to personalize, find out people's names and use them. Get to know a couple of things about the people that you interact with on a regular basis and focus on those things when you encounter them. Write notes whenever possible. Don't depend solely on e-mail to make things personalized. As a matter of fact I truly believe that technology by its very nature, tends to strip the personalization out of most relationships.
So maybe you can't personalize the product or service you sell, but you can personalize the way you interact with the person. Then again maybe you can personalize the product. Maybe putting a product in a unique box with a unique card, like Godiva, and giving people a choice on how they put that product together, what kind of flowers they want in the bouquet, what kind of interior they want in their particular car, personalizes your product. The process is key to differentiation and we must differentiate that process. The P of process must be the P of personalization and we must focus on it in every quality relationship with every valued customer, friend, or acquaintance.
Products are services and services are products. Many years ago I worked in the banking business and it was amazing to me that no matter how hard we tried to add value to bank services, people did not treat them as products and they were harder to sell. It was harder to differentiate the product. I developed a process called tangibility. This means that the more tangible the service the easier it is to differentiate it as a product. So if I talk about the service and I explain the service, but they can't drive it, eat it, or wear it, then it is not tangible.
The other thing most people have discovered in business is that it is pretty hard to put a price on a service. Because of that, over the last decade we have attempted to raise the price of our product to cover the value of the services we give away. In the last three years it has become harder and harder to raise the price of our product in an economic environment where in many cases price is driving the appeal of the product.
Treat your services like products. In my banking responsibilities, we took a checking account and turned it into a product called First AmeriCheck. This product had five features. We created a logo and a special color for this product. We put a value and price on this product (i.e. service). It was truly just a checking account with overdraft services and a supply of free checks based upon the amount that you kept in the account with a special statement process provided each month. But we treated it like a tangible product with value tangibility. We gave it a branded name. Good subject for the next message.
If your product is delivered and your delivery is included in the price, would it not be smarter to explain the delivery as a product that has a price but when you purchase the product we include it with it? So the grill is $600 and the delivery is $25. As part of our relationship, we're going to include the delivery and the set-up with the product. What you have done now is you have made delivery and set-up a separate product. You have created a pricing value that the customer can understand, and you've added that value to the relationship so that they understand the true meaning of the process. Think of all the things that you do for the customer that have no perceived value from a pricing stand point, but are given away and taken for granted. Set it up, give it tangibility, identify a price value relationship, tell the customer what it is, and include it with your product so that it adds relationship value.
About the Author
 Thomas Winninger is the founder of WINNINGER Visionscope a Minneapolis based Think Tank. He is author of the best selling books MarketQuake, Price Wars, Full Price and Sell Easy and his just published book BULLSEYE! - What Market Leaders are doing to consistently HIT the BULLSEYE! Thom is one of the most in-demand business speakers in the North America today. For more information about his programs please visit,
BULLSEYE! How Market Leaders consistently hit The Mark
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