Don LaFountain is busy. Ever since the former beaver trapper transformed himself into a "wildlife damage-control professional," business has been booming.

Beavers, to the unfamiliar, are large rodents who are fond of building dams and artificial ponds to create their own protective habitat. In the past, beavers were hunted for their fur, which earned trappers $20 per beaver pelt. But as the Wall Street Journal reports, solving "beaver problems" is a much more lucrative business than hunting them for their pelts.

For $150, Don LaFountain will remove a "problem beaver." For $750 he'll take out a family of five. LaFountain even has a service for those concerned about beaver welfare. For $1,000, he'll install flood-control piping so the beavers can stay.

For the past three decades, companies have shown a relentless pursuit of innovation. That's why your local supermarket stocks 60 varieties of suntan lotion, 120 types of pasta sauce and 175 types of salad dressing.

But most of the attention in the field of innovation has been given to the development of new products, not services. That's why most maids offer the same thing - a clean house, while most Laundromats offer, well, clean clothes. But there's a silent revolution taking place in the service industry. More and more businesses are beginning to realise that they're not in the service business at all, but in the business of creating experiences.

"So what?" you might say. "Calling your service 'an experience' doesn't really change anything about it, does it?"

True, calling your service an "experience" will change it as much as calling your product "unique" will make it unique. But if you're looking to offer your customers something that sets you apart from the competition, there are two important lessons to be learned from this new "experience economy."

1. Customers, not you, define your value.
To most people, ZENHome looks just like another cleaning service. But for its customers, it provides much more than a clean house. ZENHome uses only non-toxic and eco-friendly cleaning products. Its trained staff burns essential oils like lavender and jasmine while they work. When they leave, a box of organic chocolates is placed on every bed. The cost? ZENHome charges its customers $30 an hour, more than twice the average hourly rate for a maid in New York.

When I first heard about ZENHome, I couldn't help but think that it's just another example of new-age fluff. Then I realised that it doesn't matter what I thought. The only thing that matters is what ZENHome's customers thought. "What business thinks it produces is not of first importance," said Peter Drucker, the father of management theory. "What the customer thinks he is buying, what he considers value, is decisive. And what the customer buys and considers value is never a product. It is always utility, that is, what a product does for him."

Why are people willing to pay double the market rate for ZENHome to clean their house? Because they're not buying a clean house. They're buying the feeling they get when they come back to a house that's been cleaned by ZENHome.

2. Your competition isn't another service-provider. It's another experience.
Slate NYC is a new laundry service that aims to take the hassle out of sorting your clothes, bringing them to the Laundromat and picking them up. For a weekly flat fee ranging from $45 to $59, Slate will provide you with a personal hamper which you can stuff with as many clothes as you want, without needing to sort your whites from your coloureds from your dry cleaning. Two days later, Slate will deliver your clean clothes in a fashionable bag at the most convenient time for you (all bookings are made online).

Why would anyone pay close to $60 for their laundry when they can get their clothes cleaned for a third of the price? Well, if the job you're trying to complete is "clean clothes," then it would make no sense. But that's not the business Slate is in. "On the surface we are a clothes cleaner," claims the company on its sleek website, "but underneath we are a fashion label."

Regardless of how good your service is, sooner or later the competition will arrive. And if the market you're in is lucrative, expect the competition to arrive sooner rather than later. The only way to beat the competition is to know where future demand is going to come from. And the only way to do that, is to be closer to your customers than anyone else.

Innovation has long been the mainstay of the high-tech industry. But you don't have to produce widgets to be innovative. You can be a maid, a dry-cleaner or even a beaver trapper. All it takes is the willingness to see the world through the eyes of your customers.