How much do you truly understand about your clients?  Why they value and dare I say it, love you?  And when was the last time you validated what you think is important really is?

Barbara and I are flying down to Melbourne for a funeral next week.  Thought, “Let’s take Rex”.  But they didn’t have the timings we wanted – so booked Virgin instead.

A somewhat fortunate decision for us – given Rex’s parlous state.  And while my heart goes out to the 600 or so employees who lost their jobs – I had to wonder if all this wasn’t Rex’s own making.

Rex is a salutary lesson in a) not understanding your market and b) not sticking to your knitting.  Picking a niche (regional air travel) and becoming the best at it.  Hang on, they were the best.  There was almost no competition for most of their routes – and they were a lifeline to regional communities.

Maybe in a moment of hubris they decided to take on the big boys.  Enter an extremely competitive market – flying capital intercity routes.

Competing with Qantas and Virgin, the former with extremely deep pockets.

But what value did they add?  They were competing in a “red ocean”.  Low airfares, a race to the bottom.  Losing $1,000,000 a week!  Ouch!

Compare this to Southwest Airlines in the US who created a completely new “Blue Ocean” by creating a new point to point model of travel.

For any of you who travel the US, as far as I know every other major airline still uses the hub and spoke model – were you must travel to say Atlanta or Chicago then then catch a connecting flight.

<Interesting fact:  Southwest modelled Greyhound Buses – just did it with air travel.  A great example of taking something that works in one sphere with your audience and adapting it.>

Southwest now does more air miles than any other carrier in the US.

So if you’re thinking about changing markets, who’s your competition and if they’re big players what makes you think they’ll not fight to keep market share?

Often the grass is greener where you water it.

Bringing this back to our own businesses, ponder these:

  • What is it you do extremely well?
  • What core problems do you solve?
  • How can you double down and get better? Add more value?

If you’re stumped, give me a hoy.

So my question for you is, “Are you talking to your clients and getting the lowdown on why the buy (and continue doing so)”?

If not, what’s stopping you?  And if you’d like my help doing so, our Client Interview Service could remove any excuses.

Share this...