There’s a big difference between being the best, and just being best in class. Read this article to understand.
To whom do you compare yourself when you’re assessing your performance? I know that’s a broad statement, and it’s meant to be. Whether you are a salesperson assessing your skills and performance, or a business owner assessing your customer service or sales, the question still applies – do you want to be World Class, or just best in class? Being average is easy, being best in class more difficult, but being World Class is the real challenge – and the place where you find the real rewards.
Being “best in class” simply means measuring yourself against your strongest direct competitor, and then being a little bit better than them. The best in any class, however, might not be world class – a situation that requires you to measure yourself against the top of the profession, and then meeting or bettering that standard. Or, in some cases, it may require setting a completely new standard. Think about UPS and FedEx; both were measuring themselves against the Post Office when they started (remember, UPS’ original focus was not on overnight service and FedEx didn’t offer standard ground service); would either of them have survived if they’d simply sought to outperform the USPS? In fact, both have set new standards that the Post Office has then reacted to meet.
I’m going to repeat something I’ve said before in this space: Most salespeople are inert. What I mean is this: Most salespeople truly do little to actively grow their business, or add value for their employers or customers, over the course of a year. In fact, I think the sales profession breaks down like this:
The top 20% are the salespeople that add value to their products or services; i.e. their stuff is worth more because they sell it. These are the growth-makers, the difference-makers, the superstars.
The middle 60% are the salespeople who are essentially neutral. They neither add nor subtract value from their products, and they seldom dramatically grow or shrink their territories.
The bottom 20% actually detract value from their products and services; i.e. their stuff is worth less because they sell it.
To put it in terms of the “World Class” vs. “Best in class” definition, the top 20% fit the “World Class” definition, while the middle 60% fight for the “best in class” status. The trouble is that “Best in class” all too often leads to mediocrity. Here’s an example:
A while back, I returned from a trip to Dallas via Southwest Airlines. Now, I like Southwest a lot. They get me where I want to go on time, and it’s usually a pleasant experience. That’s enough for “Best in class” status among the airlines. On this particular trip, I got back to Kansas City – but my bag didn’t. So, after doing the ‘waiting for my bag’ routine, I then went to the baggage office. There, they got my information and informed me that my bag would be on the next flight, and that it would be delivered to my house. They also gave me an 800 number to call if I wanted to check the status.
After dinner, I called the 1-800 number and it was answered – by a person! She took the claim number and told me that my bag had been bumped off my original flight by a large quantity of Federal government cargo, and that as we were speaking, it was being picked up by the delivery service and would be at my house within 45 minutes. It was. At first glance, I thought that was great service – but then I thought about it a little more deeply. You see, I realized that, by the time my flight had gone wheels-up at Dallas, Southwest knew that my bag (and a few others) would not make it to Kansas City. So instead of having me wait, guess, and then hope, why not post a sign at the baggage claim that directed myself and my fellow ‘bumpees’ into the office, where they could have proactively handled the situation? Or for that matter, why not have the flight attendants handle the issue while we were in the air?
That’s the difference between “best in class” and “world class.” Best in class wonders what we can do that’s better than our competitors, world class asks what is the BEST that we could do?
And with that as the yardstick, which are you? And if you’re not world class, how can you get there?
