Want A Better Business? Build A Better Mousetrap

Many people who start out in business do so because they're really good at something.

We did. We knew IT, but little about support delivery. So we provided a service we thought clients wanted.

Here's a quote which summed up what happened:

"Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door"
Ralph Waldo Emerson, (1803-1882)

Whenever they reported a call, an engineer would leave the office, arrive at their office fast, and fix their IT problem.

We thought nothing of this. That's what you do isn't it? This was in the days before broadband when remote access was too cumbersome.

The clients didn't agree. It wasn't nothing. A few things were different:

- The engineers were very good, so the problems were fixed faster than they had experienced

- We arrived rapidly - same day usually. Before they often had to wait several days

- The engineers cared

Is Ignorance The Mother Of Invention?

Okay, we weren't geniuses. In fact, we didn't know any better. We just looked at what we believed clients wanted.

We built a mouse trap to suit our view of their mice infestation!

We hadn't a clue that their former IT support companies let the springs rust, and never added cheese to bait the mice.

Clients told their friends about us. Things started to get crazy. Turover grew

Year 1: £42K
Year 2: £189K
Year 3: £390K
Year4: £719K

And by the end of year 8, if we'd have made it, it would have been £1M.

Starting Out? Going Bust? Struggling? Need To Turnaround Your Business? Examine Your Mousetrap

We made 2 mistakes:

1) We didn't really know the mousetrap was the key.

2) We should have closed the door when the world beat a path to it

In other words, our service was built on what we believed was best. There was no reference to the customer or the competition. So the mousetrap was right by luck more than design.

And we felt honoured with the glut of referrals. Too polite to say "no" when we were inundated.

Lesson 1: Look To What Your Clients Want And What The Competition Is Delivering

Look at your product or service. How does it shape up to what your prospective or current clients want?

And then compare it to the alternatives.

Write down a list of attributes and apply a rating system to your "mousetrap" (see Traffic Light Benchmarking). Colour code each element:

Red - Poor
Amber - Good, could be better
Green - Excellent

Now let's examine that green rating for a moment. Because that is the destination.

You see, if you compare what you do to the competition and better them, that's a good first step, but it may not be good enough.

So benchmark your product/service against the competition AND what the client wants.

That's because this is a race. You, your client and the competition. If you beat the competition, you'll nudge ahead in the race for your client's business.

But wait a second! What if your clients expectations overtake what you deliver?

You can bet that your competition spot it, build a better mousetrap, and your client will switch.

That's what happened to us.

We ignored the competition - and they got better. And we ignored that clients' expectations of IT support would change.

Use Red, Amber and Green to rate what you currently do. Tick how you rate in this table. Think of other attributes of your product or service to compare. Rate them too.

Next: Make your mousetrap better. Turn them all green.

Lesson 2: Clients Will Flock To Your Door - Learn To Close It And Take Time Out

You are now in demand. At first, you'll be able to cope. But sometimes you may not even notice the rush. It will be gradual, and you'll start to notice the odd problem.

You or a key member of staff may be off sick for a while. But you cope with demand. A bit of over-time perhaps will cover it.

But then, the pace doesn't let up. So you recruit more mousetrap builders. You need them fast. You rush them through the door.

They don't need much training. Building a mousetrap is easy isn't it?

While it may be obvious to you, you have to keep your quality high.

Another danger. You're so busy keeping the mousetrap production line going and the quality maintained, that you forget to check one vital ingredient.

The mousetrap. It's still the same.

Your rivals have just introduced a mousetrap with a laser rifle on the top. It doesn't wait for the mice to come close and nibble the cheese.

It can sense them entering the room. And blast them in all four corners.

And it costs the same as yours.

You keep going because your clients haven't heard about it yet. And yours still catches mice. But slowly they start defecting. They start to hear about it. Word spreads.

So you build one that matches theirs. You rush it out. You have pride so you reject all the defective models that come off the production line.

Your margins are decimated. And just as you're managing to keep afloat, the rivals suddenly release a new feature. Not only does it blast the mice, it collects them and deposits them in a fancy new accessory - the mice incinerator.

The lesson? Slow the growth. Keep your focus on the mousetrap. If necessary, turn business away. Politely. Shut the door.

And while it's shut, build a betterer mousetrap. Train your staff. You're passionate and think it's obvious how to build one. They may not.

Use systems to control quality. Use a benchmark to control your standards. Focus on other elements to the mousetrap - same day delivery? Easy payment terms?

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