With competition for market share becoming more intense, and expectations for returns and growth becoming fiercer, companies are making surprising moves to gain a greater share of their customers. Some of these are agile giants that have been around, moving past their less agile and less imaginative competitors. Others are new generation firms unencumbered by business dogma that says, “You can’t do that.”

Home Depot, the nation’s second largest retailer is making bold moves to expand it sales to the professional market which makes up 30% of its annual $82 billion total. A new program, named Home Depot Business ToolBox, treats its loyal customers as if they were employees. These small business owners and contractors can now have their payroll, credit-card processing, and personnel paperwork done through Home Depot. They can also receive mobile phone and shipping services. But most notably they can sign up for health insurance through Home Depot. Initially 12,000 customers have signed up to take advantage of insurance at Home Depot’s affordable group rates. Did any insurance or business service providers think that they would be competing with Home Depot?

H&R Block Inc. will now offer its 19 million tax customers a full service bank using its 12,500 tax offices. It hopes to get 1 million of its tax customers to open banking accounts to which their refunds are directly deposited. The average tax refund for H&R Block clients is $2,400 and their customer survey notes that 3 million of its clients do not have a checking or savings account. Did banks see this coming?

Even Wal-Mart is launching a credit card and moving into financial services. You can already cash payroll checks, transfer money, and buy money orders for low fees. This provides lower-income people opportunities they never had before. Did financial services companies see this possibility?

And consider the acquisition of internet phone company, Skype, by Ebay. Now that’s a move that the telecom’s didn’t see coming. We’ve gone from “What’s a Skype?” to “Uh-oh!”

I see at least three themes in the strategic moves described above. The first is a strategy to move beyond increasing market share (which is eventually captured) to increasing share of the customer. The second, now that companies have created a scale of operations that effectively organizes what were once fragmented markets, is the effective delivery of affordable services to lower income people. And third is the use of the Internet to democratize, even to the point of free, the availability of services previously controlled by near monopolies. Free phone calls to anywhere in the world. Think about that!

What are the lessons for us?

One, we have to think more and more about how to serve our best customers, delivering more and more real value. If we don’t they will leave.

Second, we can no longer hide in local markets. We can only compete with the Wal-Marts, the Home Depots, and the eBays through unique services and strategies that differentiate us. Or we have to align with them. We can complain, but we can’t hide.

Third, margin will be squeezed out of the value chain. Unless you provide unique value you will be disintermediated. We must study and acknowledge what is happening in order to effectively respond.

Fourth, the Internet, by providing the possibility of democratizing services, will spawn a whole new generation of business models. What were Ebay and Skype ten years ago? These services are accessible to us in ways that will enable us to innovate.

This is no time for strategic complacency or inaction. It is a time for greater focus on our customers and on innovation. It will be a time of testing for our normally inflexible cultures and assumptions. And I think a biblical worldview is of great advantage in this time because it encourages a focus on people, fosters a creative and value creating servant spirit, and emphasizes the ability of individuals and small bands of people to make a difference. The trends above, though threatening to some, seem also to be opportunities to serve people in ways that have previously been unthinkable.