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Todd Watkins Becoming Different by Being Better!

Todd Watkins - STC Managing Partner/CAO

Dale Dauten is a syndicated columnist who writes weekly articles published in many newspapers across the country. He's an economist, successful businessman, published author, and corporate consultant. I enjoy reading his weekly columns published in the Albuquerque Journal's business section each Monday morning. A recent article was entitled "Creating a brand requires that you care." Since STC is currently looking to "brand" itself in a broader HIE marketplace, I was especially eager to learn some clever tactics we could quickly implement.

Like most anything else worth pursuing, I learned that it is not quite that easy. Mr Dauten suggests that...

"The better way to create a brand is by caring so much about customers that you move through the stages of consumer interest: That's nice: that's good: that's better; that's different."

He spoke about a seminar he recently conducted for a printers' group in Florida. He heard numerous complaints from the attendees about their products becoming more and more of a commodity, and that price wars were intensifying. At STC, we too are seeing more of a trend towards software being considered a disposable commodity and are frequently challenged with having to compete solely through price reductions. Mr. Dauten got frustrated with the whining from the group and told them...

"You don't blame the marketplace if you have failed to make customers care about quality. If you can't educate your customers and make them appreciate the impact of quality on results, then it's your fault, not theirs, when they buy according to price. You are a commodity till you prove otherwise."

Mr Dauten went on to explain a number of key principles when trying to establish a brand. Here are just a few...
  • "Branding is Caring."
  • There is no need for gimmickry (he used Google as an example of a graphically boring page on the Internet and yet it was the most "startlingly useful").
  • Those not able to "go beyond good to better" are the ones who are thinned out of the marketplace.
In 2009 we introduced our "Raising the Bar" initiative. In 2010 we announced the sequel, "Extending the Bar." For me, Mr. Dauten’s article clarified the value on cultivating a corporate culture of truly satisfying the customer. It further enlightened me to the fact that our goal of innovation is directly related to our goal of Extending the Bar. According to Mr. Dauten...

"Different isn't always better, but better is always different."

We don't become different simply by innovating (although that is important). We become different by being better at "Extending the Bar."
Posted on: June 1, 2010 | Links: Facebook | Bookmark and Share