February 20, 2023

Effective differentiation is lost today for these 3 surprising reasons

Effective differentiation is lost today for these 3 surprising reasons.

Even though:
✔️ competition has never been more fierce,
✔️ customers have never been more fickle, and switch suppliers with ease.
✔️ technological change is occurring at the speed of light.
✔️ regulations are getting more complex.
✔️ unpredictable events are hitting unsuspecting organizations with unbelievable frequency.

You would think organizations would be proficient at declaring why people should buy from them and not their competitors; why their value is special and unique when compared to what is being offered by other competitors in their space.

BUT THEY’RE NOT!

PROBLEM?

#1. COPYING IS RAMPANT

Everybody is copying everyone else. Benchmarking is used as the ‘tool of innovation’ by literally everyone.

Copying is the antithesis of originality. Nothing new is created. The ‘old’ is perpetuated.

It’s no wonder that ’undifferentiation’ is happening. The gap among organizations is blurred rather than focused.

What makes one organization special vis-a-vis their competitors is clouded in common rhetoric.

“Emulation gets you to parity. But when everyone does it it gets you to strategic hell.” — Herman Singh, LinkedIn Post

#2. CLAPTRAP DOMINATES

Concepts like ‘better’, ‘best’, #1, ‘leader’, ‘most reliable’, ‘premium’, ‘great’, ‘most trusted’, ‘lowest cost’ and ‘first ever’ pervade the way most organizations declare their ‘special sauce’.

Differentiation claims expressing these intentions are found everywhere.
Most organizations make similar claims.
They’re not believable.
No accountability is established.
Customers are confused.
No differences among organizations are defined.

They don’t answer the question “Why should I do business with you as opposed to your competitors?”

Some CLAPTRAP claims:

▪️“Canada’s largest and most reliable 5G network”
▪️“… offers the best coffee and espresso drinks for consumers who want premium ingredients and perfection every time.”
▪️“We work hard everyday to make … the world’s most respected service brand.”

#3. ASPIRATIONS CONTAMINATE

These are helium-filled claims at the 10,000’ level.
What the hell do they mean?
They lack the tangibility needed for people to make informed decisions on who to select as their supplier.
They can’t be proven.
They don’t inspire execution or accountability.

Some ASPIRATIONAL claims:

▪️“Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. If you have a body, you are an athlete.”
▪️“Champions of Customer Service”
▪️“Our mission is to make the world happier and healthier”
▪️“We’re in business to save our home planet.”
▪️“To inspire humanity – both in the air and on the ground.”

So, what’s your solution?

SOLUTION!

In a world of cluttered and confused messaging, you have to put ‘precision to your promise’ in order to make it clear to people why they should do business with you.

I created The ONLY Statement—ONLY— as the way to clearly define what makes you special and unique in a crowded marketplace.

ONLY looks like this: “We are the ONLY ones who…”

Some ONLY claims:

✔️ “BCI Marine is the ONLY complete service partner committed to delivering solutions to grow a boat dealer’s business.”
✔️ “Kimberly Lebbing is The ONLY High-Performance Success & Mindset Expert Helping Business Owners, Entrepreneurs, and Their Teams Get Mind-Blowing Results in as Little as 4 Hours.”
✔️ “ONLY TELUS PureFibre has upload speeds as fast as download speeds, and a 100% fiber optic connection that runs direct to your home—so you can binge without buffering.”
✔️ “We provide the ONLY permanent solution that prevents biohazard contaminants (such as used syringes) and all other debris from entering manholes.”
✔️ “We are the ONLY team that provides integrated safety solutions that go beyond the needs of our customers ANYTIME, ANYWHERE. We are committed to growing our customer’s business. We ONLY serve safety.”
✔️ “Roy Osing is the ONLY author, entrepreneur and executive leader who delivers practical and proven ‘Audacious Unheard-of Ways’ to build high performing businesses and successful careers.”
✔️ “Roy is the ONLY coach and advisor who offers The ONLY Statement as a practical and proven tool to create a competitive advantage for organizations and individuals.”
✔️ “The North Delta Business Association is the ONLY team that:
1. Links you to other businesses.
2. Connects you with experienced & knowledgeable people to help you lead & grow your business.
3. Constantly challenges you to do things differently.”

Can you see the difference between ONLY and the other claims?

ONLY smokes them all.

Draft your ONLY.

Let me help.

Cheers,
Roy
My 50+ Podcast Shows that will change your life.

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• Posted 2.20.23 at 05:57 am by Roy Osing
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February 6, 2023

Why amazing leaders spend their Wednesday as the Strategy Hawk

My book, BE DiFFERENT or be dead, A Weekly Calendar for Leaders highlights Wednesday as the day the audacious leader embeds themselves in the workplace looking for strategic clues.

As the leader, today is your opportunity to walk about the organization and audit how well the strategy of the organization is being executed. It is the chance to discover for yourself how the strategy is being implemented in every nook and cranny of the organization.

The success of the strategy doesn’t happen on paper or in the bowels of the planning department.

It succeeds in the trenches where people deal with the “unreasonable” demands made by customers, the pressure inflicted by competitors and the rules, policies & procedures mandated by your organization that sometimes impede progress.

On this day, you are looking for things that work in favour of effective strategy EXECUTION  and barriers and roadblocks that work against it.

You are also a teacher on this day.

When you spot an issue or behavior in the workplace that impedes progress toward your strategic goals, stop and take the time to paint a picture of what actions are required to brilliantly execute.

You are not criticizing or chastising anyone; you are showing them the way as a coach and mentor.

This day requires you to be intimately knowledgeable about how every function in your organization must act to deliver your strategy.
What new actions do people have to take in marketing, sales, customer service, internal audit, human resources and engineering?

I’ve frequently discussed my concept of Line of Sight , which describes defining the specific critical actions that must be taken and behaviours that must be exhibited by the various functions and departments in an organization in order to effectively execute its strategy.

Line of sight means behaving in such a way that the employee is able to “see” the strategy and deliver outcomes (revenue from specific customer segments, premium prices, customer experiences and products for example) that the strategy demands.

Direct line of sight is the ability to describe in absolute clarity the specific actions and behaviors people need to exhibit to precisely execute the chosen direction.

Indirect line of sight, on the other hand, clouds the path between strategy and action.
The relationship between what the strategy demands and what the employee does is vague and imprecise.
There is limited ability to see the direct relationship required between employee action and strategic outcome.
It is not clear which actions and behavior are necessary to brilliantly execute the plan.

As a result of indirect line of sight, energy is wasted, inconsistency reigns and the strategy is compromised.

As the Strategy Hawk , you must know your strategy on such an intimate level that you can define in specific terms what people need to do to deliver the strategy pristinely all day, every day.

The Hawk is a translator in this sense with the rare ability to make the strategy real for every one in every department in the organization.

Plan your days. List the departments you intend to visit over the coming weeks.
Prioritize them according to the influence they have over delivering your strategy’s results. If marketing’s role is the most critical, spend more time with them.

Observe, ask questions, take notes and teach. And be prepared to delve into the details.

If people don’t know what specifically they need to do to deliver the strategy, they will invent their own actions and behaviors resulting in a strategy that is delivered inconsistently and ineffectively.

Organizational “chaos” is the result of people creating their own meaning of the plan and doing what they think is right.
You don’t want everyone doing their own thing when it comes to strategy execution.

Audacious leaders reinforce the behaviors that don’t need to change; emphasize and demonstrate those that are DiFFERENT and need to be adopted.

Cheers,
Roy
50+ of my helpful podcasts that will make your business soar.

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• Posted 2.6.23 at 04:40 am by Roy Osing
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January 16, 2023

Why a competitive edge is not good enough to beat your competitors

Why a competitive edge is not good enough to beat your competitors.

If your business plan talks about achieving an edge over your competitors, it’s falling short.

Words like ‘edge’ and ‘advantage’ to describe your competitive intent lack the visceral dimension to create lasting success.

Let’s talk about crippling the efforts of your competitors and prevailing over them.

Being better isn’t good enough.

Sustained success comes from assaulting the competition with the sole purpose of dominating them.

Here’s why:

1. Incremental thinking gets incremental results. An edge to me connotes being slightly better; it is simply not good enough. It implies that you are inches ahead when you really need to be miles ahead to assure longer term success.

2. Bold outcomes need to be achieved to survive. Set a bold goal and you have a better chance of achieving significant progress. Set a weak goal and unfortunately you may achieve it.

3. ‘Dominate’ and ‘assault’ represent a state of strategic mind. A way of thinking. They challenge us to gain quantum leaps. Our customers, employees and owners have a right to expect such outcomes.

4. A domination outcome requires customer value creation of a different scale than a competitive edge strategy. To dominate, HUGE value must be created for customers constantly in unrelenting fashion. A casual approach will not work.

5. The ‘word’ drives organizational energy. How much juice is created with mild milk-toast intent? An adrenalin rush inside your warriors is needed to execute your strategy. ‘Lets go get an edge!’ is not likely to arouse the passion as much as ‘Lets go dominate and cripple them!’ No energy = No execution.

6. True competitive spirit comes through emotion not the intellect. You can’t intellectualize yourself to beat your competitors. You need people who will go to war to create customer loyalty and prevent the hordes from entering your turf. Language IS strategic. Words that appeal to the right brain will help drive the behavior needed.

7. Sustainable differences are needed. Long term success comes from a relentless, constant strategic push. Domination implies a long time horizon. Edge doesn’t even come close.

My reader might say that such strong words are inappropriate; they’re ‘not dignified; they’re ‘unbecoming’ and ‘unprincipled’.

To this I say we, as leaders are charged with the responsibility of creating customer VALUE in the market to ensure people have meaningful and fulfilling work and to ensure that owners get paid.

Tough task. Horrendous roadblocks.

It requires toughness, a high pain tolerance and a strategy that WINS over the long term. If the language that goes along with achieving this purpose offends some, so be it.

Cheers,
Roy
My 50+ Podcast Shows that will change your life.

Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

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• Posted 1.16.23 at 12:00 pm by Roy Osing
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January 2, 2023

3 bold ways to turn your resolution into unexpected results

Source: Unsplash

3 simple ways to turn your resolution into amazing results.

Resolutions rarely are achieved because they are aspirations at best.

Think about your challenge as creating a game plan NOT declaring a resolution.

A game plan to achieve your goal by the end of the year. A declaration with sufficient granularity to define specifically WHAT needs to be done to get to where you want to get to.

I am not a fan of resolutions.

“I resolve to…” is merely an aspiration; a dream that more often than not lacks the precision to achieve it

You may have the will; but unless you define the steps to achieve it, it is unlikely to happen.

My resolution is to get physically fit this year fit isn’t particularly helpful in terms of actually doing it; “I intend to join a gym by Feb 1st and workout at least twice a week.” Is much better because it’s operational.

Here are 3 suggestions that might help move you forward in terms of having a Resolution that actually yield results:

1. Keep it simple — What’s complicated doesn’t get done. Try for the binary thing: on or off; do it or not. Easy to measure.

You either want to get a new job or not. “Doing better” is a non-objective. Clap trap goals are meaningless. Too wishy-washy. Too vague.
“I intend to go on a vacation to Tahiti by September”. Nice. Simple.

2. Keep it focused — on your most pressing priorities. Just because the herd wants to go gluten-free you don’t have to.

And only include something if you are serious about doing it. What do you “itch for”? What do you crave? Ignore the rest of the universe. What do YOU want?

3. Keep it to three —Many scattered complicated declarations don’t work. Few promises get kept. Frustration creeps in. Your personal plan isn’t a To Do List. It’s not a list of possibilities.

What 3 things would make your life so much better? Travel? Education? Health? Career? Family?

Pick your top 3 and get on with it.

Good luck…

Cheers,
Roy
45+ Podcast Shows I’ve done that unpack my work.

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‘Audacious’ is my latest…

• Posted 1.2.23 at 05:43 am by Roy Osing
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