Near Death.

Travelling at 240 kilometres an hour along the straight in an AMG Mercedes 63, with my flesh stretching away from my cheek bones, I felt as safe as if I was sitting on my lounge watching TV. Sure my lungs and other major organs were being pressed into the seat and my eyes couldn't focus on anything to the side of the car but my safety was never in doubt. How is that kind of safety communicated successfully when under normal circumstances your knuckles would be white from fearfully gripping the dashboard? A recent visit to the Mercedes Driving Academy gave me an insight into a different kind of service mentality based on an undying belief in a product. A belief that sees what would normally be a near death experience for most people, just a drive to the shops for the Mercedes driving staff and their all too willing passengers.

The drive in the 63 was the culmination of expectations exceeded as the product was put through its paces by the sales staff come driving instructors. They were able to show their product in extreme situations to give the participants ultimate confidence in their own ability to test the product to the limit of their abilities. How many products do you know that deliver beyond expectations? Okay so Apple is working in that arena but as a rule it would be difficult to find products that work so well regardless of the skill behind the wheel, so to speak.

A recent list of the top 100 global brands looked at what is required for such levels of excellence and highlighted companies like Amazon, Google and Facebook in the technology service sector but also companies dependent on producing a physical product such as Dell, Coca Cola, Zara, Subway and of course Mercedes. Products produced under intense competition yet still able to deliver beyond expectations. How many companies are willing to let you put their product through the most brutal tests, usually reserved for the crash dummy hangar? It's when a company gives you the confidence to test their product to the limits of use that you become an advocate because you have seen behind the screen to reveal no secrets, only more of the same.

The beyond expectations level, for most products is a small dot in the distance but if achievable, would give the sales team the easiest of jobs by simply placing their product in the hands of consumers, asking them to try and take it beyond their normal use pattern and knowing they will pass any tests thrown at them. This is how products become icons, become ubiquitous and hold market share no matter the competition. How many people go to work knowing their product is beyond reproach, beyond doubt and beyond anything the consumers can throw at them?

Personally my list of products for which I am an advocate is small and like most consumers I am disappointed more often than I care to remember. So how do you get to the stage where your product becomes ubiquitous with service, reliability and innovation? I think it's unremitting, unrelenting and passionate belief that the end result is attainable. 80% works for most people but that won't get you advocates or in the case of Apple, zealots.

So if you have the opportunity to influence your work and your product to take it to iconic levels, what are you doing ready this blog. Go make another AMG 63.