In Best Practices are Stupid, I discuss the need to “innovate where you differentiate.” That is, discover what you do better than everyone else and rally all of your innovation efforts around that.
In the book I discuss one company that does this well – USAA. They provide financial services to families of the military. For them, their differentiator is clear: they serve those who serve our country. In other words, customer service.
Today I saw confirmation that indeed USAA is innovating where they differentiate. They were #1 and #2 in customer service rankings according to the 2013 Temkin Customer Service Ratings. Congratulations USAA.
What about you?
- Where do you differentiate?
- On which list would you be #1?
- Does everyone in your organization have a clear understanding of this differentiator?
- Is this used to prioritize your innovation efforts?
