FollowBE DiFFERENT or be dead Blog by Roy Osing
@passion4retail Gerry Spitzner “@royOsing a pleasure to follow your blog. Getting better all the time.”
February 3, 2010
HOW will you compete and WIN?
Thus far I have outlined the first two questions you have to answer in the BE DiFFERENT strategy creation process:
- HOW BIG do you want to be? - your growth and financial goals
- WHO do you want to SERVE? - the few customer groups you want to focus on and which will deliver your HOW BIG goals
In this blog, I will deal with the third critical question. The answer to the HOW to WIN question dries a stake in the ground in terms of how you will differentiate yourself from your competitors and beat them handily.
And it follows the WHO to SERVE question. You are looking for uniqueness relative to the customer groups you have chosen to target and not the market generally. This is very important. If you have chosen customer groups ‘A’ and ‘B’ for example, then you will be trying to differentiate yourself from others vying for the attention of these two groups specifically. You will be searching for ways of delivering what these two groups want in a more compelling and special way than anyone else attempting to do the same thing.
Answering the HOW to WIN question involves in-depth competitor analysis: Who are they; what are their strategies? How do they differentiate? What is their value proposition?
As a practical (but difficult) way of determining your DiFFERENT competitive position, I have talked in my book and my blogs about the only Statement. The only statement which in my view is the ultimate manifestation of a unique competitive position in the marketplace reads:
‘We are the only ones that…’
This is not a task for the faint-of-heart. Engage your team in the task. It involves looking at every nook and cranny in your organization for opportunities to separate yourselves from the pack - brand, service, product, product support, and how you leverage technology are some examples of where you can look.
Stay tuned for my next blog in this Series: How to build your Strategic Game Plan…. the elevator speech of your strategy!
Cheers, Roy
Remember to follow me on Twitter
Related Blogs
HOW BIG do you want to be?
WHO do you want to SERVE?
Look in every nook and cranny to BE DiFFERENT
Avoid Aspirations to BE DiFFERENT
Create the only statement
Posted 2.3.10 at 08:53 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (1)
February 2, 2010
Hertz Customer Care
I have reserved one of their vehicles for a month in Maui. With the concerns hovering over Toyota’s recent recall challenges, Hertz sent the following message to me in the event I was concerned about the safety of the vehicle I will be renting from them…
A Message from Hertz:
“You have probably read or heard about Toyota’s voluntary recall. As a valued Hertz customer, we are letting you know what to expect when you rent a Hertz vehicle over the next few weeks.
Hertz will not rent Toyota vehicles subject to the recall until these vehicles have been repaired with the approved Toyota process. We expect to begin repairing our affected vehicles over the next several days. You can be confident that on any future rental, should you be given a Toyota product, it is either not subject to the recall, or it has been fully repaired and inspected with the process approved by Toyota. If you are still uncomfortable driving a Toyota at this time, we will make every effort to switch you to another brand (e.g., Nissan, Ford, GM) if available.
You may wonder if it will be more difficult to rent a car because of the recall. We are taking a number of steps to increase our rental fleet to accommodate every possible car rental customer. While there may be some shortages in select markets, we can assure you that Hertz will be able to honor your future reservation.
Thank you for your business. All of us at Hertz look forward to serving you again in the very near future.”
Nice job. Anticipate the concerns your customers may have - acknowledge them directly - provide timely communications - reassure them that they are in control of the situation - provide an action plan - thank them for their business.
Simple, yet it takes vision and a serving customer mentality.
Cheers, Roy
Remember to follow me on Twitter
Posted 2.2.10 at 12:48 pm by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)
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