Yesterday afternoon was a day to get our house in order. After a busy weekend with home projects, playing with the kids and dog the house needs a good cleaning. My wife and I split up the chores and yesterday I had to vacuum the house. Quite honestly, I enjoy vacuuming the house and the reason is I can see the results of how much dirt and dog hair the vacuum picks up.

As I was vacuuming the house I began to immediately think that the reasons why everyone likes a Dyson vacuum are that it truly does a great job and that you can see the results. Instead of a vacuum bag the Dyson has a plastic container that you can see through and see all the dirt you pick up. So as I was vacuuming the house I began to think about how successful Dyson is and their positive word of mouth. I then began to relate that to our industry and as well as to Galvin. In theory a vacuum can just be a commodity – you can buy them anywhere and price is a decision factor. But Dyson showcases that they are not a commodity but rather a high end vacuum that will pick up much more dirt and vacuum then any other vacuum. Then they show the results by showing you the dirt that you picked up.

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“A professional service company becomes a commodity when the skill set, ideas and solutions cannot be valued or visualized. As a result, the only part a prospect can see is the price and then bases their decision on that alone.”

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This relates to the web and software industry because our industry could be considered a commodity. Over the years I have learned that you can get your web or software project done by anyone within our area. “If all you want is a vacuum then go spend $19.99 at Wal-Mart” is just like saying “if all you want is a website then you need to shop around because there are a lot of freelancers who will do it for much cheaper”. A professional service company becomes a commodity when the skill set, ideas and solutions cannot be valued or visualized. As a result, the only part a prospect can see is the price and then bases their decision on that alone.

Talk is cheap. For Galvin Creative Technologies to proclaim great service and great delivery we have to back that up with showing the results. The Dyson shows you the dirt you just collected and we show you the results by accurate budgeting and forecasting, approved use cases, constant communication, updated project plans, updated work break down structures, weekly status reports, an issue log and then the end product. With a vacuum that uses a vacuum bag to collect dirt you can only assume and hope the vacuum is working and with a web project if you are not getting weekly communications and updated documents you can only assume the project is being done properly.