Redefining 'The Best': Catering to Your Customer's Real-Time Needs

Aiming to be the best in the world is a common ambition.

After all, there are significant rewards for the best—for example, being number 1 often brings in 10 times the rewards of being number 10, and 100 times the rewards as being number 100.

However, striving for this position of excellence isn't a walk in the park. In fact, it's an increasingly difficult challenge.

Nowadays, if I want the best, I am not limited to what's available in my immediate surroundings. Whether it's hiring someone from halfway around the world or having the best product shipped overnight to my doorstep, the possibilities are endless.

But here's a thought: achieving the status of 'the best' might not be as hard as it initially seems.

The term "best" is relative to our current needs—it's something that is the 'best for us' at this moment.

That best thing could be anywhere we choose to find it.

Consider a simple example. If I'm in need of a pen, the 'best pen in the world' could be the fastest one I can get, with a specific ink colour, at a price I'm willing to pay.

All of a sudden, the criteria for being the best have become much more specific.

What's worth remembering here is that being 'the best' is not defined by any single criterion. And that those criterion are not defined by any one individual.

To understand the true measure of 'the best', we'd do well to ask our customers what they think the best is.

By striving to deliver on what our customers define as their "best in the world", we start to see that being the best is a lot more achievable than we may have first thought.