Be Different or be dead

February 21, 2011

5 simple ways to craft your unique competitive advantage

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5 simple ways to craft your unique competitive advantage.

If you’re not DiFFERENT, you’re dead. If you’re UNReMARKABLE, you’re invisible. If you’re an indistinguishable member of the competitive herd you go unnoticed.

And the end is near.

The ONLY Statement is your way out. It’s your way of clearly defining how your organization is different from the competition, and is expressed by “We are the only ones that…”.

Here are the critical five steps to create the ONLY statement.

1. WHO to serve?

Decide WHO you are going to serve; the customers you intend to target.

You can’t be all things to all people. You don’t have unlimited resources. You need to focus your efforts on those customers who love what you do and who have the potential to satisfy your financial growth goals.

2. WHAT value will you deliver?

Determine WHAT you intend to deliver to your chosen customer groups. You must deliver VALUE (it’s about what your customers receive, not what you produce), BE relevant (you had better address the top wants and desires of the customers you are going after).
And and BE Unique (you must be the ONLY ones who do what you do).

3. Craft your ONLY Statement

“We are the only ones that….”. If you are able to express the relevant and unique value you deliver to your target customer group, you will have a competitive claim that your competitors won’t be able to touch.

4. Validate your ONLY Statement

Before you start using your ONLY claim, however, reach out to your frontline people and the WHO. Check with them to determine if they see your ONLY Statement as relevant (does it address the top wants of your target customers?) AND true (do you really deliver what you say you do?).

Don’t get carried away with your own thinking. Do a reality check before pronouncing your ONLY to the world.

5. Strike your action plan

Develop an action plan to implement your ONLY. Test it for relevance and believability. Communicate it internally. Translate it into behaviors you expect people to exhibit every day. Include these behaviors into your performance management system to make it matter.

Compensate folks on the ONLY behaviours. Decide on the critical few things you need to do in order to implement your ONLY Statement.

There you have it. The lens through which you can grow your organization and stand-out from all others.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 2.21.11 at 10:59 am by Roy Osing
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February 17, 2011

How to build your business plan around chaos

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Your business plan must be built around the chaos of the times; it must be execution driven.

Your planning process must fit the realities organizations are confronted with these days. Volatility. Randomness. Chaos. Unpredictability. Relentless change

Yet in spite of these dynamics, traditional Business Planning 101 is still advocated by educators and is used by most organizations. SWOTS, in-depth issues analysis, predictability modelling and mathematical assessment of alternatives pervade the planning process.

The objective seems to be to seek the last bit of perfection in the plan and then assume that it will be effectively executed as written.

This is a big mistake. Nothing ever turns out the way you planned. Nothing.

Nothing is ever perfect and trying to seek the 100% solution is unproductive in any case.

The planning model to fit current times must be flexible. It must accommodate unexpected change. It must achieve results. It must generate enthusiasm . It must scare the pants off the competition.

Here are three things you can do to to make your planning process more relevant:

▪️ Get your plan just about right —  It will never be perfect so why bother?
Get it directionally right. Don’t tie yourself down to a specific outcome when there are so many unknowns that influence it. Be flexible to pivot when you need to and your original vision is no longer relevant.

▪️ Execute flawlessly — Take your imperfect plan and be brilliant at executing it. Spend 80% of your time figuring out how to implement it and 20% determining it’s essence.
It is a failure of leadership that plans fall short on execution.

▪️ Learn and adjust on the run — Learn what’s working and not working through execution. And adjust your plan based on this learning.

Build in a feedback loop so you get real time information on whether or not your expectations are being achieved.

Get comfortable with the fact that your future is uncertain.

Get comfortable with imprecision. With a bit of vagueness. With the fact that you can iterate yourself to success if you pay attention to your results and learn from them.

Execution driven planning is what is needed to distinguish yourself from the competitive herd.

Take the step.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 2.17.11 at 11:00 am by Roy Osing
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January 17, 2011

3 simple moves that will make your organization absolutely brilliant

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3 simple moves that will make your organization absolutely brilliant.

Competitors are entering markets at a breathless rate. Consumers are empowered more than ever before, flexing their muscles to get what they want and punishing those who fail to deliver.

So, how does an organization win in this world? How do you capture the hearts, minds and soul of the people you want to attract?

There IS a formula for this and it is really quite simple and straightforward:

Deliver VALUE that is RELEVANT —  something that your fans really care about, and UNIQUE — something that ONLY you provide.

VALUE is not what you produce or supply; it’s the experience what you supply creates for your your customer.
It’s not about technology and the cool things you can do with it. It’s about Feelings, Happiness and Joy people experience when you make use of whatever you produce.

RELEVANCY describes the extent to which the value created fits with the person’s worldview (the complex set of bias, interests and beliefs we all have when making a buy decision).

UNIQUENESS. If you are the ONLY ones who do what you do you will be noticed and paid attention to. AND you will build a fan base that will fuel growth and prosperity.

The fact of the matter is:

If you’re not ReMARKABLE, you’re CoMMON, IgNORED and InVISIBLE;

If you’re not DiFFERENT, you’re DiSPENSABLE;     

If you’re not DiFFERENT, you’re DEAD (or soon will be).

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 1.17.11 at 11:27 am by Roy Osing
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January 10, 2011

3 proven ways to make marketing incredibly successful

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These strategic drivers should guide how you market in today’s world.

— Remarkability

— Indispensability

— Gaspworthiness

— Unforgettability

— Uniqueness

— Distinction

You won’t be successful if you continue to practice marketing in the traditional way.

Product push is offensive. A focus on what you produce makes you invisible. Catering to the mass market makes you irrelevant. Mass market media purchases defines you as being the same as every other organization.

Here are the three essentials to create the change you need in your marketing strategy if you really want to make a difference in people’s lives and stand-out.

#1. Create value — as opposed to continuing to push products and services down people’s throats. Its about defining the value that’s delivered to people rather than the fancy gadget with lots of cool capabilities.

It’s about the problems solved for people The experiences created. The happiness generated. The memories produced.

#2. Focus on your fans — the people who really care about what you do. Who are they? What are they all about? What do they need, want and desire?
Who are the Sneezers who have enough social power to spread your word around and expand your customer baset? How do they communicate among themselves? How can you be unique and distinctive in the value created for them?

Growth occurs when you provide more value to your fans and expand your fan base, not by trying to attract new customers through mass market advertising .

#3. Offer packages rather than products — memories, mind-blowing experiences and happiness usually happens when people experience a number of elements rather than a single one.

For example, a “Mountain Adventure” is more likely to delight someone with a combination of a hotel room, a daily breakfast, a spa and a guided horseback ride rather than if a horseback ride alone were provided.

Define the experience. Assemble the package components. Integrate them seamlessly into a value proposition that will resonate with your fans.

That’s the process. And it will make you different.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 1.10.11 at 11:10 am by Roy Osing
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