Is your company normal? I mean does it fit the same pattern as your competitors? I can't tell you how many bronze, silver, gold and platinum plans I've read over the years. And I don't remember the providers names on any of them - maybe because I'm old. But probably because nobody notices normal.

Be unforgettable - for all the good reasons

Normal is boring, and nobody buys boring. This goes for sales, service and everything else across your organization.

What I'm looking for is what you think makes your business, or any business unforgettable.

Good post, Steve (as always). There is no doubt about it. When it comes to being a successful business in this industry, you really need to learn how to "stand-out" from the crowd.

It's not as easy as it sounds, though. You have to find that perfect balance. If you're too different, you might scare away your prospects (people don't like too much change). And, if you're too much like everyone else on the block, you will not even get noticed.

Personally, I think one of the best, and easiest ways to accomplish this goal is to offer great customer support. Get to know your clients, don't just setup their account and move on to the next. Be personal, try to use first name basis when emailing them. Be courteous and polite, treat them like YOU want to be treated. These might sound like simple things, but your clients will remember you for it.

You both hit the nail on the head with this!

With so many choices available both to individual hosters, hosting companies looking for dedicated servers, and enterprise systems looking for datacenters, the only real thing that sets anyone apart is the customer service.

I've yanked a HUGE chunk of business from a data center recently due to customer support and lack of support. Again, as Steve mentioned in another thread, it's not so much THIS MONTH's revenue that will impact, but it's the "lifetime value" of the customer.

I wonder how my "sales rep" started his Monday Morning seeing 100 high-end dedicated servers canceled over the weekend! Since April '09 they've had to resolve support issues, in August '09 I dropped the hammer for resolution - nothing done - 2 months later, buh-bye!

No customer is too small (or two big) to pick up and move equipment when needed. Just takes a little bit of coordination.

As for what makes our company unforgettable - promise 90%, deliver 110%. Go the extra mile when the customer doesn't expect it. Remember their name & situation. Follow up regularly. Answer the questions politely, and if you don't know the answer, say it - then find someone who can give you the answer (or help resolve the problem).

Couldn't agree more with all the points made, we had and still have one of the above mentioned issues namely our site as viewed by customers etc is a corporate rather than hosting layout... not too different but different enough to confuse a few and again change is a good thing but taking in a lot of perspectives helps to perfect the process.

Though that said being different is a good thing, it can depend on how you're doing it however, as we're all aware and many start-ups fall into this category, that by which of excessive discounts or outrageous offers. It may set yourselves apart however it also raises a lot of questions and sets of the alarm bells for most... namely the case of "to good to be true"

The other thing with discounts (and constant discounts at that) is that it has the potential to devalue the service.

I remember working for a waterpark years ago where a new marketing guy took over and ran a marketing campaign for a season that locals got in for half price. It boosted the revenue and we had a lot of locals show up - just what we wanted. HOWEVER, when we increased back to our normal rates for the following year, we were chewed out and in some ways boycotted by the locals. After 4 months of failed revenues, the park was then practially FORCED to re-introduce the "limited time offer" of locals at half price. That was 15 years ago - they're still in the "limited time offer" and will likely never recover because they devalued their service with a huge marketing promotion.

Disneyland also suffered the same - Southern Californians receive a $30 or $40 discount - they tried to remove it, but had to bring it back. It's still in effect however now they've just raised prices for EVERYONE. It's $90 I think now to get into Disney!

In St. Louis, we are routinely greeted each morning via commercial by the owner of a bedroom furniture outlet with "Good Morning St. Louis - hope you slept well." He goes on, "Seems like every week, you hear of a sale of the century at other stores. Does anyone really believe that?" Of course we don't. I'm always hearing of sales of 50 to 70% off name brand items like ...

Bottom line is, I don't trust sales hype, even though I write my share. LOL. What matters is, how does your NET price and service compare to your competition today?