Be Different or be dead

October 22, 2012

Why the ‘ONLY Statement’ is the best way to express your competitive advantage

Source: Pexels

Why the ‘ONLY Statement’ is the best way to express your competitive advantage.

The most challenging task in today’s world of aggressive and hyper competition is to carve out a competitive position for your organization that clearly separates you from the competitive herd.

Something that makes you relevant, compelling and special to the people you choose to serve.

Something that leaves them breathless every time they do business with you. That captures their undying devotion to you forever.

Today, the herd runs rampant over the economic landscape.

Marketing in the herd is lazy and unimaginative. Incremental product feature creep is the main strategy that tries to distinguish one organization from another.

Price is used to create the illusion of separation.

None of these tactics work.

Unclear value is communicated to the market and consumers are left to their own devices to determine who is capable of uniquely satisfying their wants and expectations.

Unfortunately, when value is not clear, people buy on price and everyone in the market ends up on a race to the bottom.

What’s the solution? How does a business create a unique competitive claim?

Stop copying ‘best of breed’ and ‘best in class’.

Decide that you will be the ONLY one who does something and claim your distinctiveness by creating your ONLY Statement.

The ONLY is simple, practical and effective.

It goes like this: “We are the ONLY ones that…”

If you can make this claim, you are well on your way to distinguishing yourself from the malaise of copiers, followers, and invisible herd members in the market today.

The ONLY Statement must follow these rules:

✔️ It must be about value which is relevant to your customers. It’s not about the product or service you provide; it’s about the set of benefits it creates (experiences, happiness, joy, fun, memories) for your fans. Don’t push products; communicate unique and compelling Value.

✔️ It must be specific. Avoid aspirational words like “best”, “greatest”, “premium”, or “number one”. These claims are not only difficult to prove, they also are constantly used by everyone else. A break- away ONLY is needed to distance yourself from this type of positioning.

✔️ It can never use price as an element of the claim. If you have to talk about price, you don’t have a competitive position.

✔️ It must be brief. ONLY is not a narrative. It is a concise expression of what makes you distinctive.

St John Ambulance in Vancouver: “St John Ambulance is the ONLY First Aid Advocate that provides safety solutions anywhere, anytime.” is a good example to consider.

Before proclaiming your ONLY to the world, test it to ensure it is both relevant (it addresses something your fans care about) and believable (it is true). Ask a group of your customers and employees. They will be delighted you asked for their help.

Finally, be patient. You probably won’t nail your ONLY the first time. Get it “just about right”, test it and start executing. Learn how it resonates in the market. Make adjustments as you go.

You will know you are in the right path when your competition notice what you are up to and try the ONLY themselves.

Nothing is forever. If you’re not constantly renewing yourself to be different, you’re dead (or soon will be).

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

• Posted 10.22.12 at 09:50 am by Roy Osing
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October 15, 2012

How the ‘ONLY Statement’ is a great way to say your thing

Source: Unsplash

How the ‘ONLY Statement’ is a great way to say your thing.

How do you get your thing?

In an organization, what makes one person stand out from another?

Why do we “like” some people and not others? Why so some people attract confidence and others don’t?

The trick is to identify relevant and unique value that you have that will enable your organization to achieve its strategic goals.

Relevant - value that addresses critical business issues.

Unique - value that only YOU have to give.

I have suggested the personal ONLY statement as a tool you can use to sort this out and to stake your unique competitive claim.

“I am the ONLY one that….” is an effective way of getting at defining your thing.

Here are some things that I consider critical in terms of organizational success. How many do possess?

✔️ Distinctive knowledge required to execute your strategy;

✔️ Unique experience in implementing programs that will ‘breathe life’ into your strategy;

✔️ A network of connections you can draw on for help and to fill any competency gaps you have;

✔️ Your drive to get stuff done. It’s not about the plan; it’s about your ability to execute it;

✔️ Love of humans. People get stuff done. Customers are people. You must be an 11/10 in loving people;

✔️ Ability to focus on the few critical things that will deliver 80% of your strategy. Time and resources are scarce. Can you sift through the potential many things that could be done and land on 3 things that will create the most success?

You aren’t born with your thing, the needs of your organization dictate it

You must develop it based on what is required for your organization to succeed.

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

• Posted 10.15.12 at 07:50 am by Roy Osing
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August 27, 2012

Why a plan for 60-minutes is magic when you’re out of time

Source: Unsplash

Why a plan for 60-minutes is magic when you’re out of time.

If you knew you were running out of time, how would you spend your last 60 minutes?

What would be your burning priority?

What must you absolutely get done?

This is an instructive way to think about how to set priorities personally or as an organizational team member.

Time constraints impose the necessity to execute if you want something to change.

Pondering won’t do it.

Pontificating delays results. Intellectualizing creates inertia.

Imagine if you approached each day with an ‘I only have 60 minutes left’ mindset.

You would:

▪️ Sift through all of the possible things to do in search of the one thing that is absolutely critical;

▪️ Pour your heart and soul into getting results fast, and get inner satisfaction immediately;

▪️ Reach out to people for support, as rarely is a worthwhile objective satisfied through the efforts of a single person:

▪️ Never be distracted and diverted from your mission. No time to waste. Got to stay relentlessly focused.

The clock is ticking.

Decide on the most critical thing that will advance your progress.

Do it with wild abandon. Never look back.

Tick. Tick. Tick….

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

• Posted 8.27.12 at 09:36 am by Roy Osing
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August 20, 2012

Why the surprising purpose of a business is not to make a profit

Source: Unsplash

Why the surprising purpose of a business is not to make a profit.

What’s the end game in your business plan?

Some say to generate a profit, but I think that’s a bit short sighted.

Others say to acquire and hold customers, which gets closer to what I believe the correct answer is.

In my experience, successful organizations are amazing at creating these ‘strategic responses’ to what they do:

Uniqueness
Distinction
Remarkabity
Gaspworthiness
Indispensability
Memorability
Unforgettability
Authenticity
Joy
Happiness
Trust

These represent the end game of the standout organizations.

They will result in loyal customers and, yes, a profitable undertaking in the long run.

What business are you in?

If you didn’t mention one of the above, give the question some more thought.

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

• Posted 8.20.12 at 09:16 am by Roy Osing
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