Can a hotel improve customer experience by letting people check in and out at their own time? Ritz Carlton thinks so. Companies tend to do the same things and it limits their ability to improve customer experience and innovate.
Change comes from the biggest innovators. Distribution innovations like Avon brining the product to its customers, Michael Dell selling direct, Amazon and Zappos illustrate how companies can move their NPS through innovation.
Walton did the same thing with Walmart. The only way to succeed in your industry is to redefine the way you do business and exceed expectations. Owen described what he termed as the, Zone of Tolerance, between what people expect and what they want . If you look at what you do from what customers want, you begin to change business and you redefine what they want.
Nash game theory has competitors reacting to each other. By everyone doing the same thing “industry equilibrium” you create armies of neutrals.
Now as GM faces bankruptcy it has been trying to innovate and change the market with 1. Money back guarantees, 2. Selling cars online etc. Even though they abandoned some of their new ideas maybe too quickly and went back to how they always did business they still, in the middle of disruption, are trying to innovate.
In the airline industry they we fight over bags -- we love your bags we hate your bags, but Southwest didn’t join the group they stayed the same and didn’t charge for bags. Southwest just gave people what they wanted. Just like Virgin who also has innovated the market.
So, Owen asks, what will you think of next?
- Understand your zone of tolerance and develop ideas outside of it
- Focus on your standard operating procedure and think beyond that
- Think like an entrepreneur and remake your industry
Remember Sam Walton’s Rule #0 – Swim upstream and always go the other way
