January 12, 2026

How To Turn 5 Common Ways Into Unheard-of Ways - Part II

How To Turn 5 Common Ways Into Unheard-of Ways - Part II

The pressure to conform to standard “acceptable” practices and approaches is immense.

In a previous post I outlined how to supplant “Common Ways” with “Unheard-of Ways”.

My intent is to provide a roadmap of how to move from doing things the way everyone else does to delivering value in a unique way that no one else does.

This is the second in a series to help you understand what you can do to step away from ways that everyone else exhibits and make moves that ONLY a few make.

Here are your next 5 Common Ways transformations…

Common Way #6: Meet customer expectations.

Meeting customer expectations is a requisite for doing business, but it does little to guarantee an ongoing revenue stream.

Meeting expectations is all about delivering what you promised and if you do, you get an “ok” on your Customer Report Card for the transaction; nothing more.

The Unheard-of Way is to subordinate the transaction and focus on building long term relationships with customers.

Trust that deep relationships WILL drive better performance and higher revenues.

Common Way #7: Satisfy customer needs.

Satisfying customer needs is simply not any guarantee for business success.

Most people have their basic needs satisfied today, so trying to compete in the “needs space” is more often a commodity play where low prices is the strategy and skinny margins are the result.

The Unheard-of Way is to compete in the “Cravings space” where the value delivered is based on what people DESIRE not need.

The results of being a CRAVINGS player are higher less competition, premium prices and higher margins.

Common Way #8: Get your plan “perfect”.

Strategic Planning 101 emphasizes the importance of creating a plan that conforms to the academic guidance of the day.

The planning prescription is theory-based replete with professorial methodologies with the promise of high performance and success when organizations comply.

The Unheard-of Way is to lighten up on trying to get your plan perfect (aka complying with what the textbooks say) and tightening up on EXECUTION of the plan.

Get your plan “just about right” and execute it flawlessly is the formula for winning in a highly changing and intensively competitive world.

Common Way #9: Sell products.

Most organizations are product focussed, selling products and services while stressing their features and benefits.

Problem is it’s almost impossible to differentiate yourself when everyone’s doing the same thing.

If you’re in the communications business, for example, you and your components are all likely to offer similar products and services with similar features.

Product “Floggers” abound with insipid value propositions and nothing unique or special to offer.

The Unheard-of Way is to keep your product promise to people—it must work the way you said it would—but focus on creating unforgettable experiences for people when they engage with your organization.

In other words, do things that make them FEEL good when they transact with you.

If you’re going to flog anything, flog amazing experiences to people. Be known for knocking their socks off!

Common Way #10: Hire people for knowledge.

Recruiting for any job generally involves searching for individuals who have the education and technical skills you are looking for.

And the use of online tools pervades the recruitment process.

These questions tend to guide today’s interview:

- What academic degree do you have?
- Where—what institution— did you receive your education?
- What marks did you receive—honors achievement?
- In what faculty did you study?
- What have you achieved?
- What significant projects did you complete and what were the impacts?

The dominance of online tools and intellectual capabilities in recruiting are limited in terms of selecting a person who will truly have the potential to deliver long term value to an organization.

The Unheard-of Way is to treat knowledge and experience as only one aspect of the individual you want to hire, and, as a priority, look for people who “love humans” and who have an innate desire to take CARE of others.

The customer experience is the dominant variable in determining whether customer loyalty is enhanced during a customer engagement or destroyed, so the recruitment process MUST expose whether a potential candidate actually LIKES people or not.

Customer obsessed cultures possess people who naturally exist to take CARE of others. It’s in their DNA to do so. When you find one in an interview, their customer service stories leave you with GOOSEBUMPS.

If you’re tired of the coddling and crave more unfiltered takes, subscribe for weekly doses of uncomfortable truths.

Cheers,
Roy
My Podcast Show Audacious Moves to A BILLION shares the specific Moves I made to achieve jaw-dropping growth in an insanely competitive internet business.

”The Audacious Unheard of Ways I Took a Startup to A BILLION IN SALES” is the latest in my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series.

• Posted 1.12.26 at 06:00 am by Roy Osing
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