Over the years, we’ve spent many hours talking about the service business, which both of us are in, and today we talked about the idea and the practice of service differentiation, one of my favorite topics.

In product and technology, almost everything is a commodity at this point. Everything. You can always find someone who will give it to you cheaper (and sometimes, even, better).

So what can never be commoditized?

Genuine Caring.

What is ‘Genuine Caring’?

It basically means giving customers a feeling that your concern for their satisfaction is something beyond the ‘same old, same old’.  It’s not just a post-service survey. It’s making that survey count. It’s not just asking what was good and bad or wrong and right in the service – it’s letting them know how their experience will change the way you’ll do business with them in the future. It means asking them what they think and then giving them a sense that what they said REALLY matters. A tall order when you have millions of customers.

And how do you do this?

Well what did that old Dean Witter ad say?

“One customer at a time.”

To be continued….