Costco Proves It Pays To Be Different!

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Costco Proves It Pays To Be Different!

by John on May 15th, 2012
32 Comments

Your rival is doing well and you want a piece of the profits. You copy what they are doing, its a natural occurrence and usually everyone does it or even considers it. It could be a marketing campaign that mimics theirs or a product that you cut down the price on, its all somehow linked with the actions of the other. But you need to become the rival that everyone tries to copy, this involves changing and being ultimately different from the rest of your market.

Costco

Consider Costco which is an American international wholesale company that reported earnings of $88 billion in 2011.

Never heard of them? That’s because they don’t spend a dollar on advertising. This already goes against the grain of many of its competitors and the majority of business lesson’s.

The company relies on the experience that it offers to its customers and employees to then advertise for them, it works wonders.
The culture within the company means the employees are respected and customers have a wonderful experience.
The employees receive various benefits and a wage that easily beats the competitors offerings.
In return the company gets hard working and loyal individuals which has resulted in reports that the company has the lowest level of theft among employee’s in its market.
For the customer they get to play the guessing game on a weekly basis as Costco focuses on stocking exotic and different items to ensure customers always have a surprise every time they visit.

The fact they don’t advertise anything results in more customer visits and even more spending simply because the customer fears they won’t be able to purchase the item next week. If you personally visit the store consider how many times you have gone over your budget or sidetracked from your shopping list.

Change employee incentives

Making changes to incentives can result in employees becoming more productive.

Causing a little competition within the team can bring a lot of positive results. A simple press up challenge could bring out a new drive or determination within your team.

Its also about changing frequently, press up competitions will get boring for many after a while so keep changing and keep everyone guessing.

Excite customers

The same can be said for your customer whatever market you are in throwing in an offer or product which doesn’t appear anywhere else other than in store can soon start a new wave of customers.

Word of mouth and the guessing game can bring a lot of curiosity and even more profits. Find a product within a niche that very few other’s stock, the excitement itself will cause people to search your business for more offerings.

How do you differentiate your business from your competitors?

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Image: “avidinvestorgroup.com“

Category: B2C sales, Direct sales

Tags: Costco, word of mouth marketing

The Author: John

Johns company - Tactical Sales Training, is about the subtle art of sales. Those little details that turn into big deals. If your business is missing opportunities or dropping prospects that looked like sure things, it could be because your salespeople need a few pointers on the art of sales. Tactical Sales Training will help you explore the value and power of honesty so you can address problems as they arise, mention the unmentionable, acknowledge roadblocks, admit uncertainty – and be a better salesperson because of it. http://www.tacticalsalestraining.co.uk

Add Your Comment

http://www.channelship.ie/blog/ Fred

Great points Barney. In our case we started using for instance on-deman CRM two years ago but mainly because our customer database had to be somewhere. In this case, the need to have a secure database was not letting us see all the other 100 useful things that you can do with your CRM. We have explored them gradually. Still trying to understand better use of CRMs.
Anonymous

Nice post Barney – CRM is essential for all business. Easy to work the customers you know and who know you that target new biz.

Had a interesting conversation with my mechanics wife a few months back as she managed all non technical stuff for the biz. She was talking about the high cost of advertsing in a local publication. I asked her if she had a database of all existing customers who had used the service to which she replied no. Crazy that orgs still chase new business when managing existing business is much easier.

P
http://www.btbtraining.com/blog Niall Devitt

Hey Barney, congrats! another spanking #SugarTone entry – you are a busy bee I am often asked to advise about CRM, for me CRM is about having information that makes having the relationship with customers/prospects better/easier. All too often, CRM is seen as as administration tool/task and this misses the point of what it was meant to do. By the way, there are some cool things happening around social CRM, it’s a space carries big potential in my opinion. Great read! Niall
Anonymous

Great post Barney,

I often find people shy away from CRMs for two reasons – 1. They have a perception that is costly and 2. They do not understand what CRM is and therefore feel it is not relevant for their business.

I myself could be with a shake up when it comes to managing my own database. At present I am using zoho.com. What other CRM companies would you recommend for small businesses?
http://blog.myprojecttracker.com Barney Austen

Agree totally Paul. She understood her customer but that is no good unless you capture that somewhere and use it appropriately to develop the business. Thanks for reading.
http://blog.myprojecttracker.com Barney Austen

Zoho is one of the better one’s actually . There are others out there – but the reality is to use what works for you. Whether that’s a notebook (clunky, but it can work!), a spreadsheet or whatever. The key is to make sure you capture the customer feedback and sentiment in a way that you can then use to develop your business. Thanks for reading.
http://blog.myprojecttracker.com Barney Austen

Hi. Thanks for reading Fred. I would suggest that alot of the time, people buy the technology without really understanding what they want to do with the information. Glad to see you have the former sorted and are working out what to do with the latter
Anonymous

Thanks for the speedy response Barney.
http://www.wchingya.com wchingya

Customer Loyalty – my manager talked about this very often back in my working days. I agree with Niall, many have misunderstood the main concept of CRM but focusing more on the tools they’re supposed to be using. I love the idea of a spreadsheet, simple yet effective. It doesn’t have to be a costly app if we know how to use our limited resources. Another good article, Barney. A prolific writer you are.

@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
http://blog.myprojecttracker.com Barney Austen

Thanks for the feedback and reading
http://www.onepagecrm.com/ Michael FitzGerald

Hi Barney. Good to see your take on CRM. I agree that it’s all about that relationship with your customers. We’ve scratched our own itch in this area and launched our CRM app yesterday http://www.onepagecrm.com/ . Would love to get your comments/feedback on it, since you have an active interest in such systems. I’ve tried to make it 100% customer-centric.
http://www.fortysomethingbride.com/ Colleen Cole

Excellent article on CRM. I’d like to relate a story that happened to me recently, and truly illustrates how CRM is important for all organizations:

I am the president of a local Toastmasters club, and we just held an Open House, which we managed using online tools. We are lucky that we made that decision. We publicized the event using social media as well as traditional media. A week out from the Open House, we were most of the way to filling the room, then success/disaster struck. We landed on the front page of the local newspaper. Within a few hours we were sold out. By the day of the event, we had as many people on the wait list as we could fit into the room.

Can you imagine the CRM experience if we hadn’t managed the event by issuing tickets? We would have had 280 people show up to attend an event in a room that held 140. As it was, we were able to collect everyone’s data (we used eventbrite.com) and contacted ticket holders to remind them close to the date and to ask that they let us know if they couldn’t make it. We let them know that the wait list was long, and that we wanted to offer their seat to someone else, if they couldn’t attend.

20 people contacted us to release their seats, which was surprising, and our no show rate was below 5%. (Astounding for a free event). We were also able to move some of the wait list people to another event the following night, and are working to book another night for the remaining people.

We also used the tool to contact the wait list people and let them know that they haven’t been forgotten, that we are working on an event just for them, and to invite them to our next meeting.

CRM isn’t just for businesses, it is for not for profits too!

If you offer seminars as part of your business, you may wish to look at eventbrite as a tool. It was quick and easy for us to use, and was a no cost tool, as we weren’t charging for our event. We now have a contact list, loaded with 280 names for future events. It was well worth the few minutes it took to learn the tool and use it, and it’s use created a positive “customer experience” where we could have had a disaster.

[I have no business relationship with eventbrite, it just worked well for us.]
Anonymous

CRM certainly seems to be making a comeback these days. I’ve recently started hearing more about the term Social CRM, and I noticed that Accenture are really starting to push this concept – obviously with a few to getting more consultants off the bench.

It will be interesting to see if the application of Social Media to CRM will help create a resurgence in this field.
http://twitter.com/fredchannel Fred

Cool post Elli. I wouldn’t be able to simply acknowledge bad times, put my head down and wait for the storm to stop. There’s ALWAYS something you can do to stay ahead.
I guess the simplest advice, as Seth Godin suggests, is to focus of gifts. If you have extra time or even if you don’t! (make some), invest time preparing pieces of content to give away that reflect your passion and knowledge about a subject. Not only this will make you feel better, but you’ll be constantly developing your skills and staying ahead, visible… so more people can find you
http://www.btbtraining.com/blog Niall Devitt

Nice one Elli, I try to keep moving, it’s about getting things done, It’s about seeing what opportunities exist for me now. So long as I can count the small steps, I’m feeling fine.

“Look all around, there’s nothing but blue skies.
Look straight ahead, there’s nothing but blue skies!”
Anonymous

Elli

Great post. Really enjoyed this. While I always keep moving, I am aware that so does everything around me, so very often yesterday’s aspirations and goals require a tweak or two to ensure success today!
Anonymous

Greg,

Yes, change is a certainty. Good for you for seeing how everything is in motion and you have the choice to adapt!
Anonymous

Niall,

Small steps definitely count! Thanks for pointing them out. I think too many of us think we have to do leaps or something equally huge. Love your optimism!
Anonymous

Fred,

Yes, yes, yes! There is always something you can do! It can be small like Niall described or it can be preparation for movement like you point out. Resilient people are frequently generous because they have the capacity for compassion, empathy, and gratitude.
http://blog.myprojecttracker.com Barney Austen

Super post Elli! In the current climate, it’s very easy to be dragged down by negativity. The point you make on resilience to what I would call the “nay-sayers” is very well made. If everyone listened to them, the business world would have stopped long ago. Like Niall, setting small and realistic goals for my business are what keeps me seeing clearly. Thanks for sharing
http://www.seefincoaching.com/blog Elaine Rogers

Ironically Elli, I get a lot of inspiration from working with my clients. We never listen to our own advice (which is often the best, as it is always about us) so when I go through discussions and goals and action plans with clients, it’s a great reminder for myself to keep upbeat, focused on resilience and know that things are changing and moving every day

When I am training, there is a similar effect, but the added bonus of feeling energised after every session. Now that we have less payments coming though the letterbox, every payment is appreciated more

Thanks for sharing
Anonymous

Elli creative post – Me likes it!!Like Barney says – I stay clear of the doom and gloom merchants. I mentioned in another post – exercise is powerful, clears my head and provided energy. I am 24/7 alert to new ideas and opportunities….P.S. I am laughing to myself here. Check out my next post. We both have a great taste in music Paul
Anonymous

Barney,

It is very easy to get dragged down by the negativity when things are in such flux. While the trend is up, it can feel like such a slog through the mud. And yet, we do have control over our choices and our actions. Small is beautiful! Thanks for commenting!
Anonymous

Elaine,

I got such a chuckle from your comment about not listening to our own advice. Our clients are such wonderful amplifiers of what we need to work on to improve or enhance ourselves.

Things are changing and moving every day! I would imagine you are a wise and wonderful gift to your clients. Thanks for sharing your perspective!
Anonymous

Paul,

Thanks for your compliments and comment! Exercise is a fabulous way to stay resilient. All those endorphins make you feel so good and capable! Great tip!

P.S. I can’t wait to see your next post!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_63QD43RHJI6YPPXPKFSAURZOJI Jasmine Limp

Wow ! You sure have done a great effort putting these inputs about CRM Management Software in position. These information are sure of great help.
http://twitter.com/jaslim18 Jasmine

Wow ! You sure have done a great effort putting these inputs about CRM Management Relationship Management in position. These information are sure of great help.
http://www.bloggertone.com Niall Devitt

Hi John & welcome to TweakYourBiz. The Costco story is very interesting and no, I hadn’t heard of them before so thanks for the introduction.
http://www.tacticalsalestraining.co.uk/ John Perrin

Hi Niall, thank you very much! It’s an incredible sales model and it really does make you consider the options for shaking up the standard “business & market models”.
http://www.smartsolutions.ie/blog/ Elaine Rogers

It is so tempting to use models that have existed and been successful previously, far easier than re-inventing the wheel. But John, your point about “being the rival” is the key here. A great book by Oren Harari ”Break from the Pack” covers this topic in detail and is an inspirational read for anyone who wants to literally break from the pack

I even attended a business mastermind programme based on this very concept http://smarteregg.com/programmes/break-from-the-pack/

Welcome to TYB John, great post
http://www.bloggertone.com Niall Devitt

I think the inital valuation meant that the Facebook share price had no where to go except down. That said, Facebook is now going to be much more focused on generating revenues and could mean good news for investors, provided they can continue to keep users happy.
factoring financial services

Invoice factory are so receiving with different accounting and rangable industries. The obligations suppliers are so traders with factoring retailers.

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