COMPETE ON THIS

“No matter how good you are, how long you train, or how hard you try, there’s always a 10 year old Chinese guy on Youtube that’s better than you.”

Competing for marketshare, either on technical skills or price, is becoming increasingly difficult to near impossible. The global economy of free information and shared production has the potential to make everyone a specialist, able to deliver on price. In fact, being good at what you do while asking a competitive price is an absolute given. So if this is the new good, what sets the great apart? No matter how technically proficient your product/service or how competitive your price, people do business with those they trust. Making sure you create a positive customer experience is not only how you retain your business, but also how you expand your boundaries.

The best customer experiences come from consistent service delivery and authentic customer engagement. Make sure you engage with your customers by genuinely caring about them, connecting with them on a personal basis, and constantly communicating progress. Make sure your service delivery is impeccable by planning ahead, implementing the right internal and external processes, and managing projects effectively.

You can always learn how to be a better accountant, and that’s good. But if you can manage to solve your clients’ accounting problems in ways that grow their trust in you both personally and professionally — that’s being great.

Compete on that.