Nice Trumps Price
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Hyper competitive markets eventually crack the fabric of goodwill that is the fundamental business driver in a capitalist market. When goodwill is fractured trust and goodwill is replaced by the confrontation, frustration and low-ball pricing tactics
Hyper Competitive Markets Create Noise and Pollution
Unfortunately, the customer gets caught in the middle having to sort out who is telling the truth and who is passing the buck. Customers learn to filter out the wheat from the chaff.
This all leads to a marketing battle with everyone shouting trying to get the customers attention. This creates doubt and the customer making a decision using the last tactic they have left - buying from the lowest-cost provider. That way if they do make a mistake in their purchasing decision it will at least be a ‘cheap mistake’. Not exactly a nice way of doing business.
Why Nice Beats Price
You simply cannot turn on the ‘nice factor’ and expect to succeed. It has to be congruent with who you really are and what your company is really about. Faking it is not an option because customers have really good crap detectors today. They are looking for the real thing.
Real, Genuine and Responsive is a Competitive Strategy
Customers are sick and tired of choking on hype, broken promises, and senseless chatter. They want to do business with nice people working for a genuine company that respects and appreciates staff and customers - businesses who keep their word, provide real value, and are responsive to their customers’ needs.
Traits of a Genuine (nice) Business
- They keep their promises.
- They ignore the competition.
- Treat the customer the way they would want to be treated.
- Earn your ‘business’ by earning your trust.
- Create a great customer experience.
- Focus on serving customers versus marketing to prospects that know nothing about them.
- Rely on Word-of-Mouth advertising.
- Make everything easy for their customers.
- Tend to offer an end-to-end solution.
- Everyone in the company is a salesperson and part of the customer service department.
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