S 01 | Ep 44 The Power of Aligning Marketing , Customer Experience and Team Engagement Barry Labov has spent his career helping companies escape what he calls the commodity monster , the trap where undifferentiated brands have only one direction to move : cheaper , faster , lower quality . His book is The Power of Differentiation , and his central argument is captured in a single phrase : marry the message to the experience . The episode opens with a deceptively simple observation that most companies violate constantly . A brilliant product can be destroyed by a bad experience , and customers do not distinguish between the two . They do not walk away thinking " the car was great but the dealership was terrible ." They walk away thinking the brand is terrible . Barry is quick to separate differentiation from perfection , which he calls its own trap . Customers are not looking for flawless execution . They are looking for sincerity and respect . When something goes wrong , how a company responds is actually the highest - leverage moment in the entire customer relationship . Research consistently shows that a problem well - resolved creates more loyalty than no problem at all .