How I work – Differentiation

Differentiation in business is what makes one company more attractive than another.

The simplest differentiation is price, but it is also the weakest, because nobody wins in a price war.

A media company client of mine was losing business to a more established, well known brand. I had the owner do an exercise to describe what it would mean to be part of his (fictional) loyalty club. Understanding how he served clients better than the others boosted his confidence and at his next trade show he closed 3 new deals by day 2, a rare occurrence for his 6-month high value sales cycle. Indeed his competitors closed zero.

See: when something goes wrong panicking is an option, it’s just not a good one.

I can help the media company manager who wants his clients to call him with all their problems, but then he always ends up offering discounts. Ask how he uses new business targets to mitigate risk, and then have him call me to discuss some solutions.