We are all consumers. Not a single day in our life passes by without us buying something or availing ourselves of some service. Now when you buy a product or need a service, what do you consider? The brand name or the quality?

Let me tell you an interesting story (well at least to me). I got this from the book, The Quest for Quality by Phillip S. Wexler et al.

The early marketing mantra is location, location, location! Regardless of the quality of the products, Mr. Shopper would buy from a Local Store just around the corner rather than walk several blocks to the Mall. Then competition and modern tranportation came. Mr. Shopper now has a choice of Superstores, all of which are a convenient mile-drive away. Besides, maybe Mr. Shopper is enjoying his new mule-ride and gasoline was still very cheap. Proximity therefore disappeared as a decision-making criterion.

Fast forward to the nineties. Mr. Shopper notices that buying has never been exciting. Mr. Technology has arrived and began making differentiated products. For example, all TV sets were no longer the same. When GE developed a TV with advanced features, Mr. Shopper bought only GE. Years later when Magnavox came out with an even more advanced TV, Mr. Shopper bought it for the advanced features. It didn’t matter who was selling the products, Mr. Shopper bought them for the more modern features.

Suddenly, Mr. Technology made corporations out of small stores. Corporate America was born. The distance between top executives and customers increased. Their mantra became: “Mr. Shopper will buy whatever we make, whatever we sell.” Companies began then the journey to R&D, working to discover the latest in technology in order to make more advanced products than the competition.

Meanwhile, Mr. Technology is brewing a surprise for these conglomerates. That same technology that made a product different from the other, is the same one that made them the same. That same Mr. Technology becomes the great equalizer. The technology that one company acquires tonight, the following day the other company got it too.

Faced now with a lot of choices, Mr. Shopper feels that he’s seeing the same products everywhere he turns. Price then becomes the differentiator. He buys whichever is cheaper—cheaper, yes, but not less in terms of advanced features. Products are now a dime a dozen. Mr. Shopper may be ecstatic about it but not Mr. Businessman. When you win a customer on price alone, you can lose that same customer to another who lowers his price just by a few cents.

Aha! Then Ms. Service came waving in. Mr. Business can’t miss her. He starts to think, “when I win Mr. Shopper by good service, I win him forever.”

This is how Customer Service, or Customer Relations become the new competitive edge.

The book: The Quest for Quality: Prescriptions for Achieving Service Excellence.