Here’s an example of how a trainer talked to me about a client named Bob.

Bob is a 35 year old account executive. He is married with two children, a dog, a cat and a bird. Bob spends ninety minutes a day commuting to work everyday. He travels a few times a month for business and on weekends and plays hockey with the boys. He enjoys the camaraderie of the boys as they drink beer and eat fried foods. He often talks to this trainer about his games during the session. He complains of being tired from his multitude of responsibilities. The trainer has been with Bob for six months.

Based on the case study above, does it sound like this trainer knows a lot about the client? If you answered yes, then you are incorrect. There is so much more the trainer could know about Bob after six months of training. What is his wife’s name, how about the names of the children and pets? What does he do while he drives to work? What kind of beer does he drink? What does he like to eat? Why is he so tired? What type of house does Bob live in? What kind of car does he drive?

Now you might be thinking, “Do I really need to know all this to train him?” No, but if you want to differentiate yourself you may want to use customer service as a way of standing out from the crowd. How can you use the information you learn about Bob to do that? Since his commute is so long maybe you can make him a mixed CD of his favourite music or suggest he listen to podcasts while he drives. You could offer a package of pet grooming services with training so he can get his workout done while the pets get cleaned up saving him time in his day. There are many mobile pet spaws available. You could create a workout for the family where everyone gets to play together. I’m sure he doesn’t have a lot of time to spend with his family so this would be a bonus to him and his wife. Be creative and step outside of what is traditionally done into the unconventional.

In order to be different you have to think differently. If you go down the same road where everyone else travels you have less chance of getting noticed. The secret to differentiate or die is to grab people’s attention, be different and take a risk. Otherwise you are just the same.

In the movie Madagascar 2, Escape from Africa the eclectic group of New York zoo animals find themselves crash landed in Africa. They roam the plains of Africa and soon stumble upon herds of other animals just like them. Marty, the zebra sees hundreds of other zebras. He discovers that once he was among the crowd he was no different from everyone else. Even his best friend Alex the Lion couldn’t pick him out from the other zebras. Obviously, Marty was extremely distraught by this because he thought he was special and unlike everyone else. However, as the movie progresses we learn that Marty really is special because he was willing to do something the others in the herd wouldn’t do which was take a risk, break away from the herd in order to be brave and help others. The other zebras were content to remain where they were.

Which zebra do you want to be, the one that steps out, takes a risk and dares to be different or just another member of the herd?