Your competitors are always on your heels, trying to beat you by offering similar products or services — frequently, even at a lower price. Those in business know that competition is fierce. Competition drives prices down, making it more difficult for you to earn profits.
To stand out from your competition and stand apart from the crowd, it is critical that you create distinction.
A distinction strategy for your business (and for yourself as a professional) allows you to stand out from competitors and creates valuable differentiation for your products and services.
By distinction, I mean differentiating yourself from your competition in the minds of your customers in a manner that has relevance and importance from their perspective. This differentiation takes place within your customer’s mind — and is often reflected in your communication or behavior towards your customers and prospects.
Your distinction strategy allows you to make a clear statement about what makes you unique and how this uniqueness translates into benefits for customers.
We have all witnessed how competitive pressure has forced companies to constantly attempt new approaches. Perhaps it is new products or services, new names or branding (such as we have recently observed with Facebook becoming Meta), new advertising messages, and more. These new tactics are all from companies hoping to become the provider of choice in their industry or specialty for their customers. Yet we frequently discover that these efforts have no meaning or value to customers or prospects!
As mentioned earlier, distinction practices are actions or behaviors that distinguish one business from another in a way that has relevance and importance to customers. These practices can be implemented both internally and externally in an organization. For example, you can recognize them through the creation of product differentiation (offering customized products or services) and customer differentiation (segregating customers based on their wants, needs, or desires).
Attempts to create space from the competition have been around for a long time. However, despite its long history, it seems like more businesses are now getting on board with differentiating themselves from competitors. Leaders and entrepreneurs finally realize that the marketplace is too competitive to merely imitate the competition, hoping you sustain enough marketshare to stay afloat.
The benefits an organization can experience by creating distinction are perhaps the most crucial reason this approach is becoming so popular. Distinction has always been beneficial for customers, but now it can be found even more frequently throughout internal business models because of how it enhances profitability.
One benefit to distinction is that it attracts customers by increasing interest and attention to your products and services. Your distinction becomes a point of interest to existing and potential buyers. Customers are naturally drawn to you because the distinction you deliver benefits them in some unique manner.
In recorded history, no customer has ever exclaimed, “I LOVE doing business with them — they’re exactly like everyone else out there!” It’s not your similarities that attract customers — it’s your differences, your uniqueness. If you’re exactly like every other competitor, the only way you win is based on price. That’s the worst location in which any business can find itself!
Lastly, differentiation saves money for both parties — you and your customers. According to Professor Robert Lusch, “A differentiation strategy will save money over a commodity strategy (because commodity) requires more extensive market coverage and multiple price points.”
As I state in my book, “ICONIC,” the distinctive are informed about what the competition is doing, but it does not rule them. When you play the game your way, you become a leader in your industry. When you follow a competitor’s path or get caught in the trap of imitation, your progress will only be about the same as your rivals.
Distinction serves as an enormous benefit to your customers, saves money for both parties, and draws needed attention to your product or service.
Why wouldn’t you want to pursue a course of distinction?
If you’d like to learn about how you and your organization can stand out and earn more, contact me at The Distinction Group.
At the risk of sounding somewhat like my Dad, who had to trudge to school, in the snow, barefoot, uphill in both directions: Today’s generation of employees want (some would say “require”) something different from the world of work that I never expected.
They want to do work that has meaning. Younger generations now want to know that their efforts for your organization are more purposeful. And they will not be satisfied with work for work’s sake.
Many organizations have a purpose, even one that might be virtuous and laudable. But your organization’s purpose can’t stop at the office door. It has to follow your employees home and inspire them in their personal lives—and it should do so in a way that makes sense from an employee perspective.
This purpose-inspired culture has become so important that it isn’t merely the very top – C-Suite leaders or business owners, for example — that need to buy into it; it has to be shared by all who work for you, managers and non-managers alike.
The organization’s greater purpose needs to leap from job descriptions and company mission statements and flow into employees’ consciousness 24/7, wherever they are.
This purpose-inspired culture will be critical to attracting the best of the Millennial generation (generally accepted as born between 1980 and 1997) and Gen Z (born 1998-2012), who expect meaning from their work–and who have a multitude of employment options. These generations know what they want, even if older generations of leadership and management do not yet know exactly how to help them get it.
Studies show that Millennials and Gen Z are searching for purpose in employment more than anything else–and not merely purpose at work, but purpose with their lives.
To borrow a phrase from the 1930s, purpose is the “New Deal” that young workers seek from today’s world of work.
Some would say purpose is the difference between being “engaged at work” and “having a job.” It is a purpose that engages employees and keeps them focused on their work, producing higher-quality outcomes, and staying committed to the organizations they work for in a manner that ensures they’re present for work tomorrow.
Purpose is no longer solely an HR issue: Purpose has become a business imperative.
From product development and marketing to operations and quality control, purpose is the New Deal. Every department and every business leader should explore purpose for their organizations and how they can market it to not only to Millennials and Gen Z– but also to existing experienced employees who may demand purpose in return for sticking around.
The purpose could be your organization’s mission or a purpose you apply to a specific unit. The purpose could be to do something worthwhile for the community or society at large, which is often a powerful draw for Millennials and Gen Z. Your organization’s purpose should be something that everyone can get behind.
Your purpose is not required to be altruistic, though. It can also be about an improved customer experience or a purpose-inspired product line. Purpose could also validate that your organization is doing something important in its own right, and is something that employees could take pride in delivering for customers.
Your purpose can be to make work more purposeful, which means designing the purpose into the project or taking purpose into consideration for any given marketing campaign.
Your purpose could be to make employees’ jobs easier, not harder, to find new ways to help them get their work done, or to give them time for other pursuits while still performing effectively.
However, here’s a fundamental problem I’ve observed that leaders experience as they attempt to move in this direction: purpose shouldn’t get confused with meaning.
Purpose is a direct result of meaning — purpose is what you do to give your life meaning, or purpose is applying meaning to your work. Purpose may be an immediate objective, but it’s typically not something you bank on for a lifetime.
Meaning is about “an applied purpose over an extended period.” Meaning is what you embrace and believe in for years or even decades.
This purpose/meaning gap can lead to some significant problems. Here are some important questions to assist you:
What is the meaning behind the products and services your organization provides? What’s it all about?
How does the purpose of each project or activity — or even daily work — contribute to the organization delivering on its very meaning in the world?
How does the work of each individual employee serve a purpose that aligns with the purpose of their team, a project, or their daily activities?
And have you made it abundantly clear how that individual’s work of purpose contributes to the organization’s purpose — which, in turn, creates meaning in the world?
If you can’t answer those questions — or if you haven’t considered them — there’s no way your employees understand their purpose. This means they may be currently searching for an employer who can deliver one, as opposed to you. It’s a primary reason we have seen this “Great Resignation.”
If you desire to be an employer of choice — and consistently remain the employer that top talent chooses to work for — the role of purpose and meaning in your organization should be primary in your efforts to create distinction.
Here’s a statistic that’s a bit difficult for me to wrap my head around: in July, 4,000,000 people quit their jobs! By the end of July, there were almost 11,000,000 jobs open — an all-time record, according to Harvard Business Review.
As I talk with entrepreneurs and leaders of large corporations, all are singing a similar tune: “It’s tough — almost impossible — to find and keep great people.”
Since the Great Recession of 2008, you have likely been hearing about the “skills gap.” That is, “there aren’t enough trained workers with skills needed to fill open jobs at a time when a record number of them are going unfilled.” But it does not stop there. We hear from constant news reports and analysis about the “Great Resignation” — a tsunami of employees walking away from their employment. It’s a critical challenge for every business, regardless of size.
In the book “Why People Resign: The Great Resignation and What to Do About It,” author Robert Bacal states that his research found eight principal reasons why people quit their jobs. A few of the reasons he discovered were that employees were resigning due to:
lack of appreciation
being under-challenged or overly challenged at work
being paid less than their colleagues.
Bacal’s research discovered that when employees quit, it has much more to do with the overall employment experience than simple matters like salary.
For many years, I’ve been writing and speaking about the customer experience — always pointing out that we need to be equally concerned about the experiences that our internal customers (often called “employees” or “team members”) are having and not focus solely on external customers who buy our products and services.
In my first business book, “ALL Business is Show Business!” over twenty years ago, I wrote:
“The purpose of any business is to profitably create experiences so compelling that loyalty becomes assured.”
Many would read that sentence as advocating an Ultimate Customer Experience® for those who purchase from us — and it does!
However, it’s also to state the superior importance of delivering an extraordinary experience for internal customers, as well — so their loyalty becomes the result of our efforts.
It’s amazing to me that if an employee quits, walks out of the building, and tries to leave with the company computer she has used during her employment, the manager would call the cops and have her arrested for theft. That same employee, however, can walk out with customer relationships, knowledge of the business, and recipient of an extensive investment in training and education from the company…and most managers just shrug and say, “That’s the way business works today!”
I promise you that it’s more likely their knowledge and relationships are significantly more important to your business than their company laptop!
Yet, you would never know that, because the vast majority of managers are blind to this. Some even think all employees are interchangeable. If they can’t find a good replacement from within, then they just hire from the outside without much thought or consideration for what is really going on.
(By the way — do you know your turnover rate? Do you know the primary reasons that people are leaving your employment? Have you done a bit of research to discover why great candidates aren’t accepting your job offers? Until you take these steps, you probably aren’t going to solve your employment problems.)
The reasons for this are many, but several sources report that the most common reasons people quit their jobs are:
The work is not engaging.
Leadership doesn’t care about employees.
There are no opportunities to advance or grow.
I don’t feel valued by my employer.
(You can probably think of more. But, please note, salary is not among the primary reasons that people quit.)
You probably have an acquisition strategy for customers — in other words, you’ve planned out how you are going to attract new customers for your business.
You have one for external customers…how you’re going to get paying customers away from your competition and over to your side; and you probably have a recruitment approach for new employees, as well.
The problem is that today’s marketplace requires a retention strategy that is engineered with as much passion and precision as your acquisition strategy. What is your detailed plan to keep the customers you have — both internal and external?
In this time where people feel little reticence about quitting a job, planning a distinctive retention strategy for your internal customers may be one of the most profitable steps you make this year.
Want to obtain and retain your customers — both internal and external? You’ll discover how when you join the Iconic Inner Circle. There’s zero risk — your first month is free and you can cancel anytime. Check it out: https://IconicInnercircle.com
No matter the size of the business, every entrepreneur seeks to build a foundation that will allow growth to happen. All entrepreneurs dream of success for themselves and their families, and hope to attract employees who will help them grow.
However, there are three common mistakes entrepreneurs make with their businesses. Certainly, all three can be corrected — if you know what those mistakes are. And the entrepreneur who understands these common mistakes will be ahead of the game — hopefully she or he will not make them in the first place!
First Mistake: Not building a solid foundation for growth
All entrepreneurs start small businesses and frequently use their personal credit cards and bank accounts to finance their operations in the beginning. But when capital begins to run low, the entrepreneur either must figure out how to raise more money — or cut back on their growth plans. Often, cash flow challenges are the entrepreneur’s worst nightmare.
Desperation is never something you want your customers or employees to perceive about your business. Businesses that are not capitalized correctly do not grow past the entrepreneur’s four walls. An entrepreneur who does not build a solid foundation early on is doomed to stay small — and often they merely hope to remain afloat.
Second Mistake: The entrepreneur’s attention is divided
When too many responsibilities are given to one person, there is no longer an entrepreneur at all! The entrepreneur can and should make the primary decisions. However, there are only so many hours in a day and only so much attention one entrepreneur can give to their business.
The entrepreneur must develop a team of professionals with strengths that complement his or her weaknesses. This doesn’t mean you must have a cadre of full-time employees!
Acquire people for your team who are better at the aspects where you need help. For some, that means you hire a part-time or freelance bookkeeper. For others, you may need accomplished sales professionals. Whatever it is for your individual situation, your business gets better when your team gets better. You cannot do it all.
Third Mistake: The entrepreneur is too isolated
Many times, entrepreneurs are guilty of not doing sufficient market research. This mistake often results in the entrepreneur starting a business with little or no customer interest — resulting in wasted time, money, and effort.
It is extremely important for entrepreneurs to have knowledge of their potential customers before they put substantial work into making their product or service available for purchase. It means you put people (customers and team members) ahead of products and services — and you listen to those who work for you and purchase from you.
It is vital to be flexible. There are few things more frustrating for consumers than the entrepreneur who refuses to adapt the product or service after receiving valid customer input. This may mean temporarily shelving a pet project that isn’t moving forward, or adjusting your business model so it better fits your customers’ needs. And remember, what people say matters to you and your business.
However, a word of warning here: the entrepreneur must be careful not to let a customer’s suggestion change a product or service into something it was never intended to be!
It is vital that entrepreneurs stay focused on what they are trying to accomplish, while also considering what their customers are saying. You should embrace constructive criticism from customers and employees.
However, be careful not to let it take the place of your original vision. There’s likely a compelling reason you chose to do what you’re doing. Most often, feedback helps us make mid-course corrections — but it usually shouldn’t move us to change our destination.
When you take care of these three mistakes, you are well on your way to entrepreneurial success — and creating distinction in a hyper-competitive marketplace!
We discuss this entrepreneurial success in detail – and provide specific strategies for you to enhance your ability to obtain and retain customers – in our Iconic Inner Circle.
No one wakes up in the morning and says, “Today, I will be a horrible boss!” Everyone, however, has a story that relates to a terrible experience with an inferior manager.
What makes a “bad” boss?
Asking this question on Quora.com, one user said, “a bad boss is someone who does not know how to lead, motivate and bring the best out of others.” Another person wrote, “A bad manager is one that doesn’t care about their team or company.” A third person recalled, “When I was in high school, my tennis coach would always yell at me for every little thing and put me down when things went wrong.”
My worst manager experience was in my teenage years when my boss came into the radio station and pointed a gun at me! (He was drunk at the time, which is an entirely different conversation!) He was so strict and controlling, I never knew when he would flip out about something. He wanted things done his way or not at all — which is simply an impossible standard to meet!
A poor manager can be one who micromanages every aspect of the workday; someone who doesn’t communicate in ways employees understand, or constantly going over their heads, or even someone with no respect for their subordinates whatsoever. Basically, a horrible boss is anyone who makes you dread going into work each day. (If this sounds familiar, it might be time to update your resume!)
What do all these have in common? They are terrible management experiences!
Let’s explore what makes a “bad” boss through examples from other people’s lives.
· So, what makes for a “bad boss”?
Is it someone who is “bossy” and “demanding”? Or, “stupid”, “arrogant”, or “boring?”
Many people think the first way to be a bad boss is by being a bad person. That’s not accurate! You don’t have to hate your employees to be considered a bad manager. There are many reasons why managers can fail — and many of them have nothing to do with personality!
· Let’s flip the script with this question: What makes an effective leader?
I believe there are three keys:
1. Communication
2. Motivation/reward systems
3. Satisfaction
When managers lack these skills, they display the qualities of a terrible boss, making their employees miserable (or worse!)
Communication: an essential characteristic of any good manager! When a manager is communicative and collaborative, employees have an opportunity to “speak up” when there are problems — rather than having them fester.
Motivation: this might be the most crucial part of being an effective leader; after all, who wants to work for someone that fails to inspire greater performance? If you treat your employees with respect and reward their hard work, they will feel valued — making them a happy team!
Satisfaction: when the team and the manager are satisfied, it leads to happier customers in the long run. Employee satisfaction and engagement should be the ultimate goal of any good manager.
Leadership skills will make or break how successful you are as a manager. Bad managers often lack these three critical traits because it’s not easy to manage people…but without these qualities, how can you expect outstanding results from your team?
These skills will also help create career opportunities for employees of all types, from entry to executive levels. This means you will attract top talent because they want to work for and with you because of what can happen for them down the road if they do!
What’s important is setting high expectations that show trust in individuals, while providing them clear direction about the goals they need to achieve. Empowering people requires hiring talented managers.
Remember — today’s employee typically does not quit on the organization…they quit on their manager!
In a time of great challenges in finding skilled prospective employees in a competitive hiring environment, it’s probably never been more critical to have superior managers in your company.
Superb management is about creating a culture where employees are happy and know what they’re supposed to do daily. When this happens, you have excellent teams who feel valued for all the efforts they put in on behalf of your organization. Productivity and profits improve — and you’re well on your way to creating distinction!
If you’d like more information on how to lead more productive teams, join our ICONIC Inner Circle. There is no risk — your first month to check it out is on me! Simply go to: https://IconicInnerCircle.com for all the information on how you can create distinction and become ICONIC!
No one would suggest that innovation isn’t important. Yet we often get so busy doing that we spend little time thinking. Here are six quick ideas on how to become more creative.
– Read a nonfiction book outside your usual genre.
It’s remarkable how a biography or autobiography of a successful person can not only provide examples, but also inspire creative and critical thinking. If all you’re reading is the latest business book, you might miss some insights of extraordinary value. Don’t get me wrong, you should be reading important business books — however, just as your diet should not consist of only one food, your reading consumption shouldn’t be exclusive to a single genre.
– Get out of your comfort zone.
One way to do this is to take a new route home from work that you’re not familiar with, or trying out a restaurant in an area where you wouldn’t normally go for lunch. This will expand your geographic horizons and improve your creative thinking skills.
– Take an improv class or go to the theater more often.
The paramount aspect of an improv class is that you are put on the spot and forced to do something creative in the moment. It’s superb training to learn how to think differently.
Being around creative people will inspire you to be more creative, too. It’s a natural phenomenon that happens when we are around people who have different ideas than us and take an interest in what they do.
– Meditate or practice mindfulness daily.
Studies show a strong correlation between creativity and meditation, because the process of mediation allows for greater focus, which eliminates the noise and distractions that surround us.
– Place a random object on your desk to see what connections you can make.
This is an idea from psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who said one way to use creativity is by deliberately seeking new connections and making unexpected combinations of objects–what he called “convergent thinking.” This helps because it forces us to create unique associations — something that can generate highly profitable ideas.
When I was a high school student preparing for a contest in impromptu speaking, I would stand in my bedroom, pick out an object (like a keychain or coat hanger) and discipline myself to deliver a five-minute speech on how that object was a metaphor for leadership. It was perhaps the greatest training for “convergent thinking” I could have practiced.
– Take a break.
I know how hard it can be to do this when you have deadlines and responsibilities but taking short breaks throughout the day is important for your creativity. I find that if I give myself an hour or two of downtime in the middle of my workday, things are so much easier to think through later!
While these ideas might not make you into Picasso overnight, they can help boost creativity and broaden your perspective in a rapidly changing world.
