What "Small Thing" Can You Add to Differentiate From the Competition?

One of my biggest "passions" and supposed "talents" (at least according to the Clifton Strengthsfinder) is coming up with strategies and ideas to help businesses perform better. Unfortunately, it's difficult to blog about ideas in general. It's not difficult, though, for you to generate them.

Have you had a brainstorming session recently to generate new ideas of how you can differentiate from competitors to attract new prospects and maintain current customers? If not, I think it's a good idea to have one session at least every quarter - preferably with different groups of people to ensure new ideas are injected into the process.

These ideas don't have to be expensive, time-consuming or even "brilliant." The most important aspect of any differentiation idea is that it will be observed and appreciated by your prospects and customers.

Okay. I can't resist. Here's one example of a very simple idea that came to mind today of how a local small business that most of us use every week, could easily implement something that would differentiate them from the competition; win more new customers; generate additional revenue from current customers; and increase retention rates.

Like most Americans in the suburbs, we pay for trash pick-up service. Now, there doesn't seem to be too many opportunities for a trash company to differentiate itself - other than price. As long is the price is competitive and the trash is gone when you get home, most people are satisfied.

Our trash company, as well as all the others in this area, offer a 90 gallon (large) trash can on wheels (toter) for an additional, small monthly fee. Like most trash cans, these toters tend to get very dirty and smell pretty "ripe" after a month or two of heavy use by a family of four.

So, when the trash can reaches the peak of "ripeness," I'll take it to the end of the driveway and try to clean it. For those of you who have one of these large toters, this cleaning process is not as quick and easy as you'd think.

First, it's impossible to reach the bottom of the toter with you hands to grab all the "stuff" that is always stuck at the bottom. You know the stuff that refuses to fall out regardless of how hard the mechanical arm on the trash truck shakes the toter? Your best option is to use a broom and power washer to scrub and spray everything out as the toter is tilted on its side. This process usually takes about twenty minutes and then I usually add a little bleach to kill the "ripeness" and then let it air out for awhile before placing it back in its home in the garage.

Bottom line is this cleaning process takes a good amount of time and is not all that pleasant. So here's the opportunity for my trash company:

Provide and charge a fee for an extra service where they'll replace my "dirty" toter with a "clean" toter every quarter (or every other month) - whatever makes sense for the billing cycle. I already pay an extra fee each month for the toter, simply add a new line item or increase the toter fee to switch out my toter every few months. They already have the process and equipment in place to pick-up, clean and deliver these toters for those customers adding or removing the current service, so they would only need to make very minor changes to their business model.

Small thing? Sure. Small things can generate a lot of revenue though. And time and convenience are extremely important in today's society and many people are willing to pay extra for services that help them save time and makes their lives a little easier. Even if it's just the trash.