There’s a popular motivation program out there known as 212°. The metaphor behind it is that at 211 degrees, you have hot water, and at 212 degrees — just one degree higher — you have steam, and the power to drive a locomotive.
In a similar way, this program implies, that extra degree — in service, courtesy, effort, professionalism — will power you far ahead of your competitors.
Sorry, but I’m too much the science guy, and have too much business experience, to buy the metaphor. Just one degree is not enough. To attain real superiority takes tremendous effort. Of course, making that effort is well worth it.
Checking the science
What’s wrong with the 212° concept? It falls apart based on the facts. Yes, at 211 degrees you have only hot water. But at 212 degrees, hot water is still all you have. To turn that 212-degree water to steam takes something else very significant.
If you have one gram (or one milliliter) of water at 211 degrees, it takes just one calorie to raise it to 212 degrees. But it takes 540 more calories — something called the heat of vaporization — to turn that water into steam. In other words, it takes more energy to make the steam than it did to heat the water from 32 degrees all the way to 212.
And how does that relate to business? Well, doing just a little better, working just a little harder, won’t get you very far ahead.
Think of your business and your best competitors as being around 211 degrees. Turning yours up a degree might mean answering the phone with a little more courtesy. Or washing your trucks and excavating equipment a little more often. Or spiffing up your crew members’ uniforms. Or putting some good educational material on your Web site.
Those are all good things, of course. Your customers may notice, and your business may do better. But those are also things your competitors can easily duplicate. So the edge you gain today can easily be gone tomorrow.
Applying the heat
No, to gain a real and lasting edge, you need to think not in single degrees but in terms of heat of vaporization — a large investment of new energy and resources that your competitors can’t or won’t match.
What might that mean in practical terms? Well, suppose you started by sending every member of your team, in rotation, to one major industry trade show every year. What if you made sure all your people earned the highest level of certification available in your area?
Suppose you decided to learn the ins and outs of advanced treatment systems so that you could win jobs your competitors could not. What about developing a planned maintenance program as part of your package so that you could stay with customers for the long term?
How about instituting a “before and after” education program for every homeowner, so they know upfront what kind of system you plan to install and why, and once it’s installed, they understand how it works and how to spot signs of trouble? What about creating an incentive pay plan for your team members that enables them to earn more than is typical in your market — so you keep your good people and attract the best as you grow?
You get the idea. Now you’re doing things that take work, that take dollars, that take leadership. Now you’re creating space between yourself and your competitors, and it’s space they can’t close just by making a few small changes.
Seeing the rewards
If you do the big things, as well as the cosmetic things that make your company look, feel and act more professional, you set yourself apart in a serious way.
The point is: Don’t be fooled by simplistic concepts. In winning at business, as in heating water, you don’t get something for nothing, or a lot for a little. Building a big edge takes a big infusion of energy.
The good news is that big energy can bring big rewards. The effect on your revenue, on your prestige, on your satisfaction as an owner, on your profits, may be like, well, the difference between mere hot water and steam.
