Steve Blank - Service is essential

In the last article we started to split up the topic "value contribution" and started with the product itself. Today we move on to the second important aspect, service. If you are the only supplier of water in the Sahara, then your service is rather irrelevant, you will get rid of it. We experience this very often with Internet on the countryside. The big ones often live according to the motto: Eat or die... In the long run, they will certainly annoy customers and encourage them to look for alternatives. But if they don't exist, it doesn't matter. But what if you have a good product and the competition still doesn't sleep and has something to offer? The service is a very important value contribution for many people and it is not uncommon for people to choose your competitor or you because of the offered service.

First of all, ask yourself whether you sell services. And if so... what kind of value do they create for your customers? At the hairdresser's I like to have a good magazine while waiting, a cup of delicious coffee and I like to have my hair washed before cutting and then blow-dryed. This is a service for which I specifically opt for a few hairdressing salons, as I feel I am in good hands with them.

 

 

Can you imagine becoming a multi-billion Euro company through service? Based on your product and the therefore optimized service this can work perfectly. Let's take Amazon as an example. At some point they introduced Amazon Prime and created a real added value. The Prime product then got a special service for its customers and the delivery was not only included in the price, it was to be handed over within 48h at the doorstep. This alone enabled Amazon to retain millions of customers. Who now thinks it is enough ... Amazon went one step further and began to integrate a further service into its Prime product in many geographically relevant locations (major cities...) and to renew and optimize the value contribution: "Same Day Delivery". People often wonder how it can be that Jeff Bezos became the richest man in the world and Bill Gates can't even begin to reach his fortune. It was precisely this fact that he and his team were constantly questioning the situation and improving the service.

Always try to use the value chain of your product and your company as widely as possible. When you create a product, think very early about the value of an excellent service. It keeps your customers, makes them happier and makes them YOUR brand ambassadors. You've certainly heard it before... "Hey! I really like shopping there, they always have the things I need, they are very friendly and the checkout is really fast and when my mom was there, they even put the things in her car..."

Take service very seriously. If this is not the case, you are either the only one offering water or you fail.

 

This article is written by our CEO, Bernd Korz. With his experience as an entrepreneur, he shares his vision about the lessons provided by Steve Blank. Join us every week for a new article on Steve Blank’s lectures.

More information on Steve Blank:

• alugha Videos
• Google Search
• Wikipedia
• Amazon Books
• Twitter Steve Blank
• Twitter Bernd Korz
• LinkedIn
• Medium
• Website

 

#alugha

#doitmultilingual

#everyoneslanguage