Recently, I had an epiphany. It occurred to me that the most important aspects of my job (and likely yours) are nonessential.

Think about it. Most jobs consist of a set of essential job tasks that define a job role. These tasks might be described as mandatory job functions—the bullet points that make up a job description.

I use my cell phone a LOT! I use it for business. I use it to stay connected to my friends and family. I use it to check email. I believe that my cell phone is one of my most important tools.

Needless to say when my Samsung cell phone started dropping calls I was worried and upset. I mean how many times can you tell your client that you really are not trying to repeatedly hang up on them.

In a recent article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Joe Guy Collier writes about the changes that AFC Enterprises new CEO, Cheryl Bachelder is making to Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen. Bachelder said “We would like for our service, our guest experience to be as sharp as our food.”

This kind of forward thinking is exactly what we all need to focus on in these tough economic times. Instead of letting the economic downturn get her down she said “We’ve had to be more focused, but I actually think that’s been a blessing. We’re going to get the fundamentals of our business moving the right way.”

During the bustling mid-day lunch rush, my coauthor, Lori Jo Vest and I met at a coffee shop with a big stack of “Who’s Your Gladys?” customer service books. While we were writing words of thanks to our endorsers and placing the books into mailers, a tall, well dressed young man walked by our table.  He passed us with coffee in hand and a quizzical look on his face, and then he came back.

One of the best ways to keep customers coming back more often is by living the old Boy Scout motto:

Be Prepared

Be prepared to take care of them better than anyone else can or will take care of them. If every customer you work with is impressed at how knowledgeable you are, they’ll tell others. If you are able to help them get what they want every time without fail and without hesitation, they’ll come back.

Has this ever happened to you? You’re in a hurry. You want to complete your business and the person serving you is preoccupied with something other than serving you. Then when you are served, you might get an insincere apology for the delay followed by the completion of your transaction. If asked to describe this experience you would likely respond “That’s typical” or “It’s nothing more and probably a little less than I expected.”

Here’s a sad, but true statistic:

2/3 of all new restaurants fail before their first birthday.

But not Danny Meyer’s establishments. His eateries not only survive, they become culinary icons in the most competitive restaurant market in the world: New York City. His Union Square Hospitality Group owns more than a dozen restaurants, the oldest of which is over 20 years old, and he’s never closed a restaurant!

Makes you wonder, “How does he DO that?”

One of the best ways to distance your organization from the competition is to solve a problem that frustrates your industry’s customers. I just read an Orlando Sentinel article that provides a great example of this approach: Disney by Cell Phone.

The number one guest complaint at Walt Disney World is about long wait times for the rides. And over the years Disney World has implemented several tools to help minimize the problem. Tools include:

I remember when we were kids. We’d play all kinds of games. And when one kid pushed things too far (playing unfair) a parent might step in and enforce some basic rules on the group.

This usually had a stabilizing effect on the game. But sometimes the kid who was acting out would escalate rather than cooperate. He might ruin it for everyone by picking up the game board and throwing it. Or he’d get up and leave, refusing to play anymore because he couldn’t do things HIS WAY.

When was the last time you re-evaluated your value offering?

When did you last sit down expressly to think about the value you offer to both your customers and your employees?

What does your organization offer that sets you apart from your competition? And remember competition is not just others who offer the same service — but others who compete for the same dollars.