Out of the Crisis.Org

[Bud]

A procedure, the dictionary states, is a course taken or a
mode of action. It is our customary process. In common slang it
is simply, ‘the way we do things around here.'

So in our case it would be ‘the way we fix cars.' For other
products it is the way they are made or, with services, the
way they are delivered.

Now everybody on this forum is a consumer, just like our
customers are, and even more so. We not only buy the same
consumer goods our customers buy, we purchase business
products as well. All that buying makes us smart shoppers.
So, being smart shoppers, it is safe to say that we care
how the things we buy are made, and how the services we
contract for are delivered.

So why would it seem strange to us, that our customers, or
lack thereof, would care how we fix cars? After all, hardly
anybody actually asks us how we work on cars. On those rare
occasions when somebody does ask, it seems like a weird and
strange question.

But the people that sell to us certainly tell us how they
make their products and how they deliver their services.
They spend millions, each week, telling us just that. Their
logic is simple. Often the only discernable difference in
their product, and their only claim to distinction, is a
step in their process of production or delivery that is
different.

As just a few examples, would any reasonable person decide
to buy a product, similar to so many others like it, that
was advertised like this:

Beer: “Beachwood aged.” As opposed to what, a process using
some other kind of wood? Bourbon: “Aged seven years.” Is
that process better than six, or worse than eight? Wine:
“We will sell no wine before its time.” So everybody else
is selling premature wine? Come on. Is that really a plan
of action?

But it works. All three companies have built up
quite a loyal following.

What about fast food: “Flame broiled, not fried.” That is a
pure process difference. To tell the truth, that is the
only main difference they claim. Everything else is so
similar as to be inconsequential.

Rental cars. Again, same business, similar cars, same
prices, same locations served, often identical rental
terms. “We are not number one, so we try harder.” Now that
really is appealing to shoppers, a company that actually
tries to please them. It is a good ‘way to do things.'

Gasoline, when it was sold full-service. Similar stores and
locations, very close prices, and the businesses were
almost carbon copies of each other. Their only advertised
difference? “Service with a smile.” If only they could have
made their advertised difference a reality.

Oil changes. Don't leave your car at a garage. “We do it in
ten minutes.” So the same service, done in a much shorter
time, is a different service. Or is it?

What about a restaurant chain, serving the same type of
food as so many others already in existence, with only one
major difference in their procedure. Have the waitresses
wear short-shorts and tight tops. Would that alone be
unusual enough to base an entire business concept on?

What about these claims to distinction that were not
believable, or not worth paying for:

“Quality is job one.”

“Fly New York to Paris in three hours.”

[Louis Altazan]