Efficiency is not enough

Are you doing everything you can to make your organisation efficient? Do you run a very ‘tight’ and ‘lean’ company..

Good!

But it’s not enough.

Efficiency is the baseline. It is where all organisations should start from. It is almost a ‘given’.

If your competitors are also striving for efficiency, they will be at the same base position.

So, on top of your efficiency, you need to add …. innovation, strategic direction, world-leading customer service … those things that make a difference to the customer experience. These are often perceived as somewhat more difficult to achieve … but a singular focus on the needs of the customer is all that is required.

One way to help this is to think not about what the customer wants but about what the customer wants to achieve,  So, if you are selling dog biscuits successfully, you might, on reflection, assess that what the customer really wants to achieve is a healthy, happy dog. The biscuits are simply a means to that end.

You might then consider what other things you could do (and sell at a profit) to help create healthy, happy dogs.

Your expertise and experience with dog biscuits should be retained (and even enhanced) but you might look for complementary products and services … or simply a marketing campaign for the biscuits that focuses on their role in creating healthy, happy dogs

Your biscuit manufacturing should be efficient but the ‘wrapper’ of customer service and appropriate promotion is where additional, customer profits lie.