Studio Note #18: You're Not Competing with Your Competitors.
The experience starts long before the product.
Months ago, when my wife and I were planning our recent wedding, we reached out to two restaurants we really liked to cater the reception.
Since we’d eaten at both before, we knew the food was excellent. In other words, the product wasn't really the deciding factor.
The first restaurant eventually responded to our inquiry, but the communication never inspired much confidence. The answers were vague, the response was slow and every interaction seemed to create another question instead of resolving one. We found ourselves wondering whether they even wanted the job.
The second restaurant had a quote in our hands almost immediately. Every question we asked was answered thoroughly and every interaction felt organized, thoughtful and intentional.
Then something happened that made the decision incredibly easy.
We went to that second restaurant for dinner to taste a few things and figure out the reception’s menu. Once they realized we were the couple planning the wedding, they quietly refunded the cost of our meal.
The value of the dinner wasn't what mattered. Compared to the overall cost of a wedding, it was a relatively small gesture. What mattered was what it communicated.
They understood they weren't serving us dinner that night. They were earning our trust.
We booked them without giving it a second thought.
The interesting part is that we still don't know which restaurant would have ultimately served the better meal. Maybe they would have been equally good. Maybe one would have exceeded the other. We'll never know, because the decision was made long before the food ever reached the table.
That's something I think a lot of businesses overlook.
Customers don't experience your company all at once. They experience it one interaction at a time.
Every email, every phone call, every estimate, every meeting either builds confidence or introduces uncertainty. By the time they're comparing prices, they've already started deciding whether you feel like the right choice.
That's why you're not just competing against the company down the street.
You're competing against the best experience your customer has had recently.
Whether that experience came from a restaurant, a hotel, an online retailer or another service business doesn't matter. Great experiences raise expectations everywhere. People carry those expectations into every future purchase they make.
Branding isn't just about looking professional. It's about creating an experience that consistently tells people, "You're in good hands."
Because when people feel that way, they stop wondering if they should hire you and start wondering when you can begin.