Last week, we discussed the advantages of copying the ideas of your competitors and quickly integrating them into your business. While true innovation will always be important, we’re learning that the imitators are often the ones who reap the rewards of new ideas. Here’s a quick case study on how this has recently worked with Ford Motor Company.
Have You Talked to a Ford—Lately? While this probably won’t become the new slogan for Ford, it would be the most descriptive thing to say concerning what the company is now focused on. The next generation of Ford’s Sync technology will turn its cars into rolling, talking, socially networked, cloud-connected super-machines.
Fast Company reports:
“By almost any measure, Ford’s in-car Sync communications platform, introduced in partnership with Microsoft in January 2007, has been a huge success, largely because Sync enabled Fords to do something dramatic. Where once driving entailed a kind of social disappearance, Sync was a breakthrough because it allowed you to move seamlessly from the connected world contained in your phone to an equally connected one inside your car — without touching a single button.”
Alan Mulally, Ford’s CEO, puts it this way:
“Look, it’s cool to connect. But it’s past cool, it’s a reason to buy. Tech is why people are going to buy Ford! We’re going to be the coolest, most useful app you’ve ever had, seamlessly keeping you connected.”
Mulally remembers that when he took the CEO job in 2006 as an outsider (he previously worked at Boeing), there were many developmental initiatives that he reviewed. He surprised everyone when he pointed out Sync (then a prototype) as the “future to the company.”
Did his strategy work? You bet. In 2009, while his competition stalled, Ford made a $2.7 billion profit; by early 2010, the company had earned “car of the year” and “truck of the year” awards from the auto press and its stock price rose 700% from its 52-week low.
I would encourage you to read more about how Ford has implemented its Sync strategy—it’s a very interesting story that is full of many lessons that can likely be applied to your business. One lesson that can be applied to our discussion today—where do you think that Ford got the idea for Sync? That’s right—they copied it from General Motors, their largest competitor.
In 1996, GM introduced an innovation called OnStar. By 2001, GM was pulling in hundreds of millions in revenue from this feature. Ford noticed and went to work on copying GM’s innovation. Granted, they didn’t move very fast, but they eventually got the job done. And, when they did introduce Sync, they were able to improve upon GM’s idea significantly. Mulally attributes the success to keeping an open mind about new ideas. As he puts it…
“The ‘not invented here’ syndrome kills all kinds of good ideas.”
The same principle can be applied to recruiting. Take the topic of agent (or employee) referrals in the real estate industry… There is not a real estate company in business today that cannot attribute some of its highest quality and successful hires to agent referrals. One company, Keller Williams, has focused on this concept to the degree of building their whole business model around it.
You may say to yourself, “I don’t like the marketing approach Keller Williams uses, and the way they execute their agent referral system is not something I’d want to imitate.” That’s fine. But remember, successful imitators build upon the innovations of others. I don’t particularly like OnStar (I have it in my car and don’t subscribe to the service), but I find the Ford Sync system very interesting and potentially very useful. The bottom line? If you’re a real estate company trying to recruit new agents without a compelling agent referral strategy, you’re operating at a disadvantage.
There are hundreds of ideas in many different industries that can be copied and adapted to your business. Start looking for ideas that you can copy and build upon to make your business more successful.
Editor’s Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you’re an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the “comments” link below.
