Why should I do business with you and not your competitor?  Many companies try to solve this riddle. It seems like most of them have nothing but the best intentions but many of them have “happy ears” in their attempts to answer this question for themselves.  Happy ears are when someone only believes in, or perceives how they answer the question above to be based on their own assumptions. These are their own beliefs but the real question is, “do your customers feel the same way you do”?  At Data Age Business Systems, we constantly do the exercises highlighted in a book called Creating Competitive Advantage by Jaynie L. Smith. Simple stated, we test what we feel is the reason customers buy from us and then we poll our customers and ask them the same questions we’ve asked ourselves to make sure we’re in alignment. 

Our company is well-known for how we listen to our customers. Through the constant interaction and feedback from them, we have built an industry-leading product, which can be delivered on multiple platforms and has sustainability and stability. This is clearly witnessed in the industry with the massive usage we have but what is not seen is how we meticulously refine our approaches in working with our customers. We do a perceived value versus a customer value exercise to ensure what we think is value is validated by the customers. Many times we identify mis-alignments and this approach constantly allows us to stay in sync with our customers. Try this, it really works. I am a firm believer in finding new approaches and working with different people to ensure we are always doing things the right way. Many of my contemporaries fall into this easy trap. They manage off memory. What worked back in the day (the day could mean 6 months ago) but is surely not going to work now.  Having good templates to ensure alignment is one thing, having the desire to stay at the top of your game is another. We strive to get better every day because our customers deserve it… Your customers deserve it.