The Differentiation Challenge: Turn Ordinary Into Extraordinary

What if I were to ask you, “Why would a customer buy from you instead of your competition?” In other words, “What makes you different?”

If I followed up with the rule that you can’t say, “We have great service,” or “Our people make the difference,” because any one of your competitors might say the same thing, how would you answer? The key to this exercise is to be able to articulate true differentiation. Even better is when your customer experiences what you consider to be true differentiation and notices.

Jamey Lutz, a consultant focusing on “fueling irresistible corporate cultures,” has an interesting take on this idea. He refers to it as The Better Sameness Dilemma. In short, the experience is just a better version of what others put out there. It may be a little different because it’s better, but it’s just another—better—version of the same.

Lutz believes that prioritizing incremental service enhancements, such as faster response times to phone calls and messages, shorter wait times and other standout customer service experiences, are important, but they won’t be different enough to make you stand out as a leader in your industry.

Lutz says most of these enhancements are about the transactions that happen within the experience. A typical journey map that details all the touchpoints where the customer interacts with your business is a great place to start, but you have to go further. Rather than just looking to optimize each touchpoint, play the “What if?” game with the result being a new standout experience that is noticed and truly differentiates you from the competition.

We played this “game” in our own business. What if I charged 10 times more for a keynote speech? It’s not that I would ever charge 10 times more (at least not today), but if I did, is there something I’m not doing or something dramatically different that my competition isn’t doing that I could or should consider?

Our process started with a team brainstorming session, where we looked at each touchpoint of our client’s experience when booking me to speak at a conference. How could we optimize those touchpoints, such as response times to phone calls and emails, or how we send a contract? That’s where we start—with basic touchpoints—but while optimizing those incremental experiences may make doing business with us better, all we’re doing is creating, as Lutz calls it, The Better Sameness Dilemma. The key is to think differently, bigger—even crazier—to get ideas to consider.

Hotels are a great example. There are various prices you can pay for a hotel. A hotel room should be clean and have a bed, a TV, a phone, etc. However, as a customer or guest, you have choices. You can stay at lower-priced or higher-priced hotels. There’s a big difference between a Motel 6 and a Ritz-Carlton, and it’s much more than the price. While both offer the same basic essentials of a hotel room, the experience surrounding those essentials is dramatically different, and most importantly, recognized by the guest.

I recently saw Will Guidara speak about his book Unreasonable Hospitality, which is about how his restaurant Eleven Madison Park was named the No. 1 restaurant in the world on the annual list of the “World’s 50 Best Restaurants.” He explained how he took various touchpoints and played his version of the “What if?” game. This exercise allowed him to transform the typical touchpoint of leaving a check at the end of the meal into one of the most memorable parts of his restaurant’s dining experience. Looking at each of the touchpoints that guests experienced and finding ways to “break the mold” from a typical restaurant visit allowed him to move beyond the Better Sameness Dilemma.

Breaking away from the Better Sameness Dilemma means challenging conventional thinking at every customer touchpoint. By reimagining basic interactions with customers, you can transform the ordinary into extraordinary. In today’s competitive world, differentiation isn’t about being slightly better. It’s about being different enough in ways that get customers to say, “I’ll be back!”