You Can Compete By Being Competent
Perfect your execution. This is the part you fully control. It won’t save you when the results aren’t there, but it can help sustain the relationship while you wait for them.
Building a service business isn’t easy. If we compare it to any software company, the worst part is that you aren’t really compounding. Every client requires dedicated work. You can’t just win and move on to capture new ones.
The good part is all your competitors struggle as well. And ultimately, whether сustomers like you depend on two things: results and execution.
Ideally, both parts should be perfect to extreme. There are areas where you don’t fully control the outcome. But you always have full control over your own execution. The way you talk, write, draft documents, make proposals and do everything else.
Sometimes I have to interact with people in other services businesses. This could be an accounting firm offering their services to us or a local PR agency we might need to support our client.
Too often I see how they fail at basic things, stop responding for a week, don’t make it clear what the process is, or take way too long to revert with an proposal they just copied from their templates without any real customization.
Perfect your execution. This is the part you fully control. It won’t save you when the results aren’t there, but it can help sustain the relationship while you wait for them.
If you liked this post, subscribe to get new content right in your inbox
Read More
- What The EU Should Have Done Instead of DMA
The Digital Markets Act is a far-reaching framework that can be used against any major company the EU holds a grudge against. It also effectively prohibits product improvements and vertical integration.
- The United Internet is Collapsing
The internet is one of my favorite inventions of all time. When nobody was watching, it emerged as a global network without borders, but now the governments are returning the physical borders.
- Why Arc is The Best Browser
Arc reinvented web browsing for the modern Internet. And I’m very thankful.
- Can Markets Regulate Themselves?
Sometimes, governments regulate markets. And sometimes, market participants regulate themselves. The outcome can be surprisingly different; thankfully, we have several examples that can serve as case studies.
- Why Execution Eats Ideas For Lunch
Most people tend to overvalue ideas and undervalue execution. In my experience, that holds even for many people in the tech industry. Yet it couldn’t have been further from the truth. Let me tell you about a product that allowed you to easily create and manage your own relational databases together with your team members. It’s not Airtable but their early competitor.