Forget bench-marking. It really only reveals what others do, which rarely is enough to satisfy, much less delight, today’s clients.
Forget studying critical success factors, although the Japanese built an apparent economic dynasty by focusing on them.
That dynasty was merely apparent, because their foundation question was flawed. The question “What has made companies in our industry successful?” leads you to the old answers – which leads you to copy and refine rather than to innovate.
The Japanese preferred copy and refinement method was to improve product quality and build at a lower cost : Two huge american weaknesses at the time.
This resulted in $700 VCR’s that could profitable sold for $400, an d gave the Japanese a huge but temporary advantage. And because the Japanese approach was a simple refinement of the “critical success factors” in the electronics industries, American companies were able to copy the Japanese formula quickly by tightening quality control and outsourcing their labour to lower-wage countries.
Never mind what clients say they want.
No client ever asked for ATM’s , IPODS, heated car seats, Disney Land, Cirque Du Soleil, and no one outside of a few thousand techies ever asked for personal computers.
Clients, never said they wanted any of those things.
Their creators simply created them, sensing that people would love them.
The extraordinary successes : Federal Express, Apple, Lion King the play, Starbucks — never bench-marked, studied critical success factors or polled customers on what they might want .
Instead each of these companies asked the same question : “What would people love?”
Ask that question, too.
Ask- and keep asking yourself — “What would people love”