Ok, so we’ve developed a fantastic online booking system, we’ve got our own quality standards, we’re more efficient than any other supplier in the market place, we’ve got a great team of people, we’re incredibly competitive on cost and we communicate with the absolute minimum of resources. So why aren’t we gaining more business?
In the early years, we didn’t have a marketing budget or the technical resources we have today but, we gained business – and not just small accounts. Our client list contains an impressive number of multi-national companies who spend thousands with us every year. Somehow though, we lost something along the way and we struggled to understand what?
This week I had a passenger who had just visited a Toyota plant - I’ve digested all the books on their history, read how lean was introduced to them, I know the struggles they went through and I’ve consumed plenty of literature on how they developed their culture. Without doubt they are rated as one of, if not THE number one manufacturing company in the world. We follow lots of their management principles and operate as a lean company!
Then the penny dropped! Toyota is incredibly efficient at making cars and they have outstanding quality in the manufacturing processes but would I buy one? Well, no! The reason is I love cars but the issue is that Toyota doesn’t create an emotional connection with me as a brand! So why have we struggled to grow in the last couple of years? Simple – we remembered to tell people how good we are but we forgot to tell them just how passionate we are about doing what we do.
