I believe it is possible for ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things. For me, the difference between an “ordinary” and an “extraordinary” person is not the title that person might have, but what they do to make the world a better place for us all.

I am not the originator of this list, but found it instructive as to the success and failure of companies and success.

1. A lost customer means lost feedback and the opportunity to improve.

2. A lost customer means lost sales and revenue that is lost forever!

3. A lost customer causes asking, “Why didn’t we recognize the problem before losing them?”

4. A lost customer means having lost a testimonial to use in selling to others.

5. A lost customer opens us up to potentially negative word-of-mouth that might affect our reputation with prospects, customers, suppliers and staff.

6. A lost customer means having lost all their possible future referrals.

7. A lost customer has a negative impact on the confidence of our entire staff.

8. A lost customer increases the urgency to prospect for new customers (and often at the worst time).

9. A lost customer and the resulting reduced revenue can slow or even halt plans to grow.

10. A lost customer means less money available for payroll, commissions and benefits for the work force.

11. A lost customer can demoralize the sales and marketing staff.

12. A lost customer may become an unexpected opportunity for the competition.

13. A lost customer means a distraction from other important issues.

14. A reputation for losing customers can hang a black cloud over the ability to find and hire the right personnel.

15. A lost customer can be the beginning of a reputation for losing customers that hangs like a black cloud over the ability to find and hire the right personnel.

16. A lost customer can degrade an image and reputation in the marketplace.

17. A lost customer forces undertaking tasks and changes that weren’t wanted or planned.

18. A lost customer can have a damaging impact on our sales projections, cash flow, receivables, and payables.

19. A lost customer can cut volume and prohibit meeting buying commitments with suppliers and vendors.

20. A lost customer can trigger the need to spend un-budgeted funds on marketing, research, new customer acquisition, etc.

21. A lost customer can disrupt inventory levels, inventory investments, ordering procedures and reorder frequency.

22. A lost customer may cause the need to refocus priorities and go in a totally different direction.

23. A lost customer can cause the need to focus attention on poor performance rather than growth opportunities.

24. A lost customer can cause doubt about the validity of service fulfillment and pricing strategies.

25. A lost customer causes hard work in an attempt to regain the business.

26. A lost customer can cause overreacting and even panic when confronted with similar situations with existing customers in the future.

27. A lost customer can discourage a prospective salesperson from ever trying the job.

28. A lost customer can lead to an accounting, collection or legal nightmare.

29. A lost customer can devalue the worth and saleability of a business.

I just finished the Ken Blanchard book, [1995] Raving Fan. It was amazing. It is a simplistic presentation of what it takes to succeed in todays business world.

Primarily, these actions center around these three elements:

1) know what you want to provide
2) learn what your customers want
3) provide it ‘plus one’

Highly recommended reading.

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: “If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups have been taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups… And then you began eyeing each other’s cups.

Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live.

Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee.

Savour the coffee, not the cups! The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

I recently was in the grocery store.  Looking for my favorite coffee.  When I found the isle I was presented with a wall of choices.  38 different varieties of coffee were on the racks with another set of choices as to the volume of coffee.  In a simple walk through the rest of the store, I began to realize that consumers are presented with a Tsunami of choices in all categories.

We all become overwhelmed with these choices and often then gravitate to the best known brand or make some other criteria that will provide the consumer with a method to make their purchase.  The lack of true analysis based on the choices translates into consumers sometimes buying the product that is not the highest quality or the best product, but the product that they know best.

This lesson of choice is important to each of us individually or as a corporation.  When given a choice, why would a consumer seek to choose you?  What makes you remarkable?  Are you packaged differently so that you and your product stand out?  What features of your product is extraordinary?

In service industries, it is close to impossible to change our products.  But our presentation of our products can provide the differentiation that will allow for us to stand out.  Design or experience or features, they all are ways to different products. 

Apple computers uses a design and simplicity as the hallmark of their product.  They have the most elegant designs and the simplicity of their user interface is years ahead of the competition’s. 

Bank of New York has long emphasized the ‘history’ and ‘experience’ of the bank and its bankers as their distinguishing marks.  They don’t sell checking or saving accounts, they sell the value of their advise in the financial arena.  It is what sets them apart.

Trader Joe’s, a grocery store, long ago determined that they could provide high quality private label products to their consumers.  They choose to eliminate the big national brands in lieu of their own labeled products.  Many grocery stores do this also, but Trader Joe’s did it with panache, a unique sales experience, and the quality of their products made them highly successful.

Commidization of products and services can negatively impact many industries and products.  If they fail to make their products and services extraordinary, they will die. 

What can you do to set yourself apart in this tsunami of choices?

Even ordinary efforts, given enough time, can produce extraordinary outcomes.

We are finding that being a normal or regular person or professional eliminate our ability to exhibit ourselves or to distinguish ourselves from others, either personally or professionally.  This is my online dialague that I am using as the basis for a Training Program and book [by the same name] to assist people and to guide them to break out from the pack and start to exhibit the elements that creates a ‘natural selection’ for them to succeed.

This is one of the ongoing develepment programs that is apart of the Lengthen Your Stride! LLC training company.