Our customer service blog is going to (from time-to-time) feature insightful posts from the CEO of COMNIO, me (@rossclurman). This is one of those posts…

COMNIO’s central idea and impetus, and eventually our self-identified industry (since the summer of 2013) has remained:

Customer service concierge.

And, from day one we’ve been working hard to fulfill the idea: save people the time (and frustration) of dealing with customer service, by dealing with customer service on their behalf.

In addition to building on our idea, we’ve come to realize just how important the execution of our idea is. Especially, in a space (“on-demand customer service”) that is slowly catching the attention of some worthy competition.

I cannot stress enough how important the execution of your idea is. In fact, I would argue (until I’m black in the face) that the execution of your idea is far more important than the idea by itself.

[Tweet “When it comes to competition, your execution is far more important than the idea itself.”] [Tweet “idea + execution (your company/startup) > idea (the market) #competition #business pic.twitter.com/rv7mZolhfj”]

Let’s use an example. If your idea is to “allow people to send money electronically” (e.g. PayPal, Square Cash, Venmo, Visa, MasterCard, Intuit, SnapCash, Payza, Google Wallet, Facebook, etc.) then, your execution could be any of the following:

  • Enable people to sign up, sign in, and send money electronically via email (if the recipient has an account)
  • Enable people to sign up, sign in, and send money electronically via email or an online UI (regardless of whether or not the recipient has an account)
  • Enable people to sign up, sign in, and send money electronically via a mobile app (if the recipient has an account)
  • Enable people to sign up, sign in, and send money electronically via a mobile app or online UI (if the recipient has an account)
  • Enable people to sign up, sign in, and send money electronically via a mobile app (regardless of whether or not the recipient has an account)
  • Enable people to sign up, sign in, and send money electronically via a mobile app or online UI (regardless of whether or not the recipient has an account)
  • Etc. (this list could go on, infinitely)

Each of these executions matches a company’s execution in the “online/electronic payments” space – either their current execution, or their former execution of the idea to “allow people to send money electronically.”

One could easily argue that any of the aforementioned idea execution combos are good, but which one is the best idea + execution combo?

When it comes to competition, your execution is far more important than the idea itself. An idea can be copied, imitated, and re-packaged – something many competitors may share, but the way you execute the idea can be uniquely yours.

In other words, and, because I’m watching my home team, the Kansas City Chiefs in the Playoffs (!!!), both teams – the Kansas City Chiefs and the New England Patriots – will go into today’s game with the same idea: win. The team that executes better — will win.

Go Chiefs!