In his book Purple Cow, Seth Godin wrote about the importance of being different, about standing out, to be noticed. His analogy is simple. If you were driving through fields full of grazing cows, would you stop to look at them? Probably not. Because all cows look the same, and you’ve seen plenty of grazing cows in the past. But what if one of the cows was purple? Would you then stop? Perhaps, for a few seconds, if only to marvel at its uniqueness. Because a purple cow would stand out in a sea of sameness.

Getting noticed is difficult

Getting noticed is a big problem for businesses, mostly because there’s so much vying for the customer’s attention at the same time. Companies look at so many ways to create a competitive advantage. Some want to be leaders in innovation. But you cannot innovate every day. It’s important, but it’s impossible to innovate every day. Besides, innovation doesn’t seem to be delivering the same sustainable advantage as it used to. Look at the gap in availability of say the Apple iPhone 4 and the Samsung Galaxy S4. It was over a year. But there was hardly a gap of a few weeks between the iPhone 6 and the Galaxy S6. Don’t get me wrong; innovation is important, but it is increasingly looking like a matter of survival than a sustainable competitive advantage.

Another way of seeking advantage is price. You’re the cheapest, so people buy your products. Only one person can win a pricing battle, and that’s the one who is the cheapest because it’s no good being second best on price. It’s especially untenable because others can create lower cost business models, or fund their losses and out price you. But more importantly, your ability to create long term value is limited if price is your competitive advantage.

Many companies have built a great image, and people buy from them because they have a good image. However, image has to be based on something concrete, and the value proposition has to be more tangible. The pillars that support the image may also have to keep up with market realities.

That’s where customer orientation becomes important. Can you be different in a sea of sameness? There’s plenty that’s been said about it. The latest big statement came a few months back from Microsoft’s Satya Nadella. He all but put Windows to sleep when he said Microsoft would shift its focus from building Operating Systems to building customer experiences.

Two weeks ago, it hit me in the face. I saw, I felt and I experienced something quite unique, and thought I would share it with my network.

Put the customer at the centre

My work requires me to travel 3-4 days a week. That’s also about the number of nights I spend at different hotels every week. These are some of the better hotels in the country, and they’re all pretty high quality. That also means there’s little to differentiate between one and the other. 9 times out of 10, you can accurately guess the location of the in-room dining menu, they’re that similar. You see one, you’ve seen them all.

Not so at the 4 Seasons Hotel in Mumbai though. It started the moment I got off at the porch. Usually, it’s a security guy who gets your bag for screening and a bell desk guy who delivers it to you inside the hotel. Its location in the interim is a matter of great concern to me. I find it singularly disconcerting, especially since my laptop is part of the luggage and I’m not sure where to look for it once I get into the lobby. It’s the last thing I can afford to lose, since my business is equal to my laptop. At the 4 Seasons, the Bell Boy meets you at your car and walks you all the way to the reception, where he attracts someone’s attention and tells them your name, your organizations name and the purpose of your presence at the reception. It’s different!

The next morning, I came down for breakfast and went through the routine. On my way out, I was wished a good day. Pretty standard. But when they asked me my room number in the coffee shop, they took the pains to find out the name of the guest in the room. And as I left, the greeting wasn’t a standard “Have a good day, sir”. It was “Have a good day, Mr. Mathur.” It’s different!

I got back late in the evening. I usually carry a book to read on flights, and my bookmarks are often boarding passes from the previous flight. I was reading Carmine Gallo’s “Talk Like TED” at the time, and had left the book at the table in my hotel room. While doing up my room behind me, the housekeepers had replaced the boarding pass with a 4 Seasons bookmark. It wowed me. In my eyes, it was the hotel’s Purple Cow moment. Every step of the way, they were doing little things that enriched my experience, and differentiating themselves from the crowd.

That evening, I went up to the rooftop bar because it’s highly recommended. Great views are one of the attractions. No disappointments there. The waiter took my order and brought me my drink in about 5 minutes. Then he asked me if I was waiting for someone. When I said no, he went away for a few minutes, returned, and struck up a conversation. When he realized I had no problem with that, he didn’t leave my side for 45 minutes even though the bar was reasonably busy at that time. They think of everything!

Takeaway

The facilities at the 4 Seasons are pretty good, though not remarkably different from other hotels in the same class. But that’s not the point. It’s the things they did to improve my experience. They focused on me, their customer, not only on the facilities they provide. The facilities are good, but there’s a maniacal focus  on improving customer experience. That’s what makes them different.  I rarely write hotel reviews, but I did for this one on TripAdvisor. I tweeted about the place, and can’t stop talking about it with anyone I meet.

There are many stories of how exceptional customer experiences have made businesses successful. I haven’t ever used an Apple product, but people often say similar things about the user experience. For about 20 years of my life, I refused to go to the movies until PVR improved the movie going experience for all Indians. I now go to the movie theatre 3-4 times every year, which is a lot better than never. I go because the experience is better. Mind you, it’s the same movie they screen at other places, but I like the experience I get at the new theatres.

My experience at the 4 Seasons made me more convinced than ever that customer orientation is a sustainable competitive advantage in any industry. You can create greatly differentiated value propositions based on customer experience, and if the delivery is strong it will ensure recall, acquisition and retention. After all, these are 3 things all businesses care for!