I was leafing thought the latest book by salon owner John R. DiJulius III and came across a bit of wisdom I thought was downright profound. The book is called What’s the Secret? To Providing a World-Class Customer Experience and although DiJulius happens to own a chain of salons, it’s written to apply to any customer service-based business.

What he wrote was: “No matter what product or service you provide, you have two options: compete on price or compete on experience.” For the salon industry, where price competition has been downright demoralizing in the past, I think this observation is particularly significant.

Here’s more of what he had to say on the subject:

“When you compete on price, you attract customers who are opportunistic and looking for the best deal. Margins are too thin today to compete on price. On the other hand, if you choose to compete on experience, you eliminate 80% of your competition, who are cutting costs and service trying to be the cheapest. Today customers are pickier and more demanding than ever. Your company’s goal should be to create a word-class culture that delivers a world-class experience. Do that and customers will become more loyal regardless of the economy…”

I think he makes good sense.

— Judy