Savage counsel – having an X factor
Each week in Encore, Chris Savage tackles your career and agency dilemmas. This time he talks about finding your company’s X factor.
Hi Chris,
My agency has been in business for 15 years. We’re doing okay but it seems to be getting harder to stand out from the crowd and win our fair share of work. In your experience, what is the key to ensuring your agency remains relevant?
Good question. The answer might shock you. To succeed in business today, you have to do something dramatically different. Don’t do it, and die. Seriously.
Ten years ago, for businesses to succeed, they had to have two out of three things. They had to be good, fast and/or cheap; pick two (‘cheap’ does not mean the lowest price but highest perceived value). You could be good and fast but expensive and succeed. Or good and cheap, but slow. Or fast and cheap, but not very good. Two out of three was good enough to be in the game and be sustainable.
I first heard this concept from business thinker Peter Sheahan.
About five years ago, the game changed. To simply be able to hold our own, we had to be good at what we did, fast at getting it done, and cheap (great value). We needed all three to be able to survive. Today, to become a leading competitive force, we need all three, plus we must have an X factor which differentiates us from the competition.
I lived a great example of this last week at The Intercontinental Hotel in Singapore. The Intercon is a good hotel with fast service and the price is standard. But it had one extra offer that made all the difference. Its X factor is its business lounge service; a business centre on crack with free meals and drinks, quiet meeting spaces, printers, TVs, helpful staff and wifi. You can stay all day, hold multiple meetings, eat and drink to your heart’s content, all within your hotel room rate. That is a real ‘wow’ factor to me.
So, what’s your X factor? What’s the one thing about your firm or product that differentiates you from your competition? What’s the one thing that you can claim as your own?
Just find something. It can be superficial. Build it. Polish it. You have to be good, fast and cheap, and you must today also have a differentiated X factor, or ‘wow’ factor, that sets you apart. Go find one now. And claim it, loudly, as yours alone.
Chris Savage is the chief operating officer of STW Group. His blog, Wrestling Possums with Chris Savage, can be found at chrisjohnsavage.com
This story first appeared in the weekly edition of Encore available for iPad and Android tablets. Visit encore.com.au for a preview of the app or click below to download.
