The Ever-Increasing Business Success Table Stakes

There are a set of table stakes that must be met if an entrepreneur is to have a legitimate shot at growing a great business that can withstand the test of time. Most would agree that success in business is highly dependent on the products and services offered. After all, it is typically the mix of products and services that most businesses are built around. Tesla builds electric vehicles. Apple creates innovative personal technology. Google makes access to information easy.

Once the product and service mix are established and the business model is created, any business looking to withstand intense competition, fluctuating economies, uncertain geopolitical environments, and consumer demand must ante up with tight operations and a culture built on execution, employee development, and customer satisfaction.

All of this gets you to the table and in the game. However, those businesses looking to become a market leader and achieve beyond their competition raise the stakes. They go beyond what it takes to compete. They push the pretenders to the edge and call their bluff by creating something few have been able to wrap their heads around at a level that allows them to maintain market dominance for the life of the business. That is a consistent, multifaceted, and well-developed customer experience.

Top brands understand that everything plays into the overall customer experience. They know that every interaction matters. Whether it’s how their ad campaign appears on social media or the feel of the product in their customer’s hand, they know it all matters to the experience. When we “Google” a question we expect results relevant to our search. Google understands that the user is impatient and poor search results will take away from the experience. They also understand that too many poor experiences, such as irrelevant search results, may result in the user choosing a different engine for their next search. Such a shift not only opens the door for a competitor to step in and take away a user, but it also results in a change in consumer behavior. What does this look like in real life? The typically used search engine shifts from Google to Bing.

Failing to understand the impact of consumer experience on the overall business is where many entrepreneurs fold and find most of their chips, customers in this case, going to the top brands in the market. This is because experience matters to the customer more than it does the business leaders. Leaders of businesses that withstand the test of time understand that experience is more than a smiling face and warm greeting. It’s more than a cool logo and great product. Experience is everything. When we say experience is everything, we aren’t exaggerating. Experience is literally impacted by everything a business does.

Experience is the warm greeting and friendly smile. It is also a concierge service approach, the scent in the air, the music floating into the customer’s ears, the aesthetics that make up the physical space, the visually appealing brand assets, the user-friendly website, the intelligent and consumer driven messaging, and the consistent operational experience. There is a reason Starbucks made it to their 50th birthday and it wasn’t because they sell discount coffee.

Businesses that understand that everything they do plays up to the overall customer experience and put systems in place to ensure they execute on it in a consistent manner are the ones that are most likely to withstand the test of time and achieve long-term success. However, as one would expect, doing so is not easy. This is because it requires a level of commitment and accountability to the overall customer experience that most struggle to fully internalize. It also requires a level of execution at every component of customer journey that is exceptional. Exceptional is not the norm. The norm is average. Vegas was built on average gamblers losses.

Randy Stepp is a Principal with Renaissance Leadership Group. RLG is a full-service business and franchise development company whose purpose is to help business owners realize their dreams of independence and freedom.

Visit Renaissance Leadership Group at www.renaissanceleadershipgroup.com to learn more about business development