Chevy Chase Bank (now owned by Capital One) appears to have discovered free business banking. I know; I used to be their customer. In fact, I had one or more accounts with the bank for over 20 years.

While there are lots of reasons I left that bank, there’s exactly one reason I landed at PNC Bank a few years ago. They offered free banking to small businesses. They treated me as though my business is important to them. Bank staff learned my name, welcomed me in, and otherwise provided amazing customer service. Can you guess what happened next? (Yup, I moved all my accounts.)

It doesn’t take an industry changer (i.e., Apple and music distribution or Amazon and book publishing) to be disruptive. You just need to tilt the market in your direction.

What can your business do to be disruptive?

Photo by Christina (Flickr).

©2010 Independent Thinking. All Rights Reserved.

Am I missing something? I really don’t get all the handwringing among insurers and the pharmaceutical industry about a public health plan component to reform. One of the latest naysayers is Eli Lilly‘s CEO, John Lechleiter, who said that a public plan is “a slippery slope towards the days when all Americans would get their health insurance through a government-run plan.”

As a business owner, I face competition every day. And almost all of it is from companies that are far bigger players in the marketing communications field. Heck, unless you’re also a solopreneur, everyone is bigger than I am.

I realize that insurers fear that Americans will drop their private insurance and flock to a government plan. That’s likely true. But companies typically lose their customers because they aren’t valuing them or providing value to them. This happens every day. And yet, while cost alone may determine some purchasing decisions, examples abound where we will pay a premium to support a brand we love. Nike makes money selling high-end running shoes; Apple‘s enthusiasts pay top dollars for a mobile phone. In the insurance arena, I’ve accepted higher auto premiums in exchange for terrific service.

My advice to the insurance industry: Stop worrying about possible competition and look at what you can do to deliver what your customers want.

©2010 Independent Thinking. All Rights Reserved.

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the most elegant. Not the Apple design kind of elegant, but rather the functionality of wheels on luggage or mini air canisters for the road cyclist.

I found the coolest gadget at Costco yesterday: a plastic case for two AA batteries with a BlackBerry adapter for charging your phone on the go.

No more cursing the fact that you forgot to charge your phone overnight, no more worrying about your battery life while checking your e-mail, no more searching for an open electrical outlet.

The cost: $20 for two (hey, it’s Costco, you can’t buy just one of anything), batteries included. Connectivity peace of mind: helpful. Bonus feature: an iPod adapter.

©2010 Independent Thinking. All Rights Reserved.

Business Week’s Heather Green has a very interesting Blogspotting post on the strategy behind the “leaked” Steve Jobs memo about the underwhelming customer reaction to Apple’s new MobileMe application. She writes:

By doing this through an internal email he gets to control the perception of how Apple is dealing with the issue, rather than opening himself up to any pesky follow-up comments or reporters’ questions if he did this on a blog or through a news interview.

A smart communications strategy indeed.

©2010 Independent Thinking. All Rights Reserved.