BE DiFFERENT or be dead: How to Distinguish Yourself in the Faceless Herd Fraser Valley Social Media Group - Sept 23, 2010

BE DiFFERENT Agenda How to … *** DISTINGUISH *** DOMINATE *** GROW *** SURVIVE

Its all about creating… UNIQUENESS DISTINCTION REMARKABILITY GASPWORTHINESS INDISPENSABILITY MEMORABILITY UNFORGETTABILITY DEVOTION

The Competitive Herd… The herd is growing at a breathless rate All seek the edge; advantage And yet… undifferentiation is happening Copying trumps uniqueness Product myopia: Incremental feature creep Benchmarking – shortfall gaps closed rather than differences created or enhanced

Distinguish & Dominate To stand-out from the Herd… If you cant deliver VALUE which is – RELEVANT (something people really care about), AND –UNIQUE (something that ONLY you provide) You are in serious trouble! In other words…..

Distinguish & Dominate If youre not ReMARKABLE, youre CoMMON, IgNORED and InVISIBLE If youre not DiFFERENT, youre DiSPENSABLE If youre not DiFFERENT, youre DEAD (or soon will be)

Distinguish & Dominate You dont become indispensable merely because you are different. But the only way to be indispensable is to be different – Seth Godin, Linchpin

BE DiFFERENT Practices Strategy Creation Marketing Serving Customers Sales

BE DiFFERENT - Strategy DISTINGUISH = EXECUTE Dumb down your Strategy and ACT! Answer 3 questions & you have your strategy –HOW BIG do you want to be? – Top Line $$ –WHO do you want to SERVE? –HOW will you compete and WIN? VALUE; RELEVANCE; UNIQUENESS

On Uniqueness… You dont want merely to be the best of the best. You want to be the ONLY ones who do what you do --- Jerry Garcia, The Grateful Dead

The ONLY Statement The Only Statement… We are the only ones that (offer, provide, serve, do) (value, an experience)...

The ONLY Statement MUG Solutions, Vancouver: We provide the ONLY solution that permanently stops people from depositing biohazard contaminants through manhole covers. CORUS Radio, Vancouver: AM 730, All Traffic All the Time. AM 730 Vancouvers Traffic Station is the ONLY station providing traffic twenty-four hours a day seven days a week.

BE DiFFERENT - Strategy Be ANAL about Execution –20% plan; 80% execute –Plan just about right; –Execute flawlessly –Bre Pettis on Done…

BE DiFFERENT - Strategy Cut the CRAP –Cut list/Keep list –Beware of custodians of the past –Eliminate the Grunge preventing progress –Customer Moments are untouchable

BE DiFFERENT - Strategy Focus. Focus. Focus –Roys Rule of 3 –Focus on the critical few Plan on the Run Learn and adjust your strategy as you go Be good at anticipating; great at reacting Plan, Execute, Learn, Adjust, Execute …

BE DiFFERENT - Strategy Beware of Benchmarking –Best of class = highest common denominator to BE DiFFERENT from –Baseline to Distinguish –Copying = enemy of BE DiFFERENT –Domination = distancing yourself from the herd –BM to Improve, Yes, but NOT to Distinguish

Marketing… Today –BORING –LAZY –UNDIFFERENTIATED; INVISIBLE –PRODUCT FEATURE CREEP –BENCHMARKING TO COPY –MASS MARKET MANIA –ROUND-THE-CORNERS FOCUS –TECHNO ADULATION –VALUE BLUR

BE DiFFERENT Marketing DISTINGUISH = IDENTIFY & FOCUS ON YOUR FANS The people who care about what you do, who are connected and will Sneeze you to others… Mavens Shed mass market thinking – the average customer doesnt exist Segmentation: Small-is-good; smaller-is- better

BE DiFFERENT Marketing The smaller the group, the more you know about each person in the group AND the more relevant you can become in what you provide them R (Individual) = 1/Size of Group the Rule of 150… a simple rule of thumb that distinguishes a group with real social authority from a group with little power at all – Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point

BE DiFFERENT Marketing Do you know your Top 10 FANS? Do you know your Sneezers Do you find ways to make it easier for them to communicate with you and among themselves? Objective: Create word-of-mouth epidemics

BE DiFFERENT Marketing Move from product marketing to VALUE CREATION… Create packages of VALUE… Targeted to the FANS you have chosen to SERVE Objective: PREMIUM Pricing DiFFERENT Brand

BE DiFFERENT Marketing Your FANS Mass Market Value Package Product

Offer – BC Ferries !!Think – CREATING EXPERIENCES/HAPINESS Valley Golf Adventure 2 Crown Island Resort Round trip on BC Ferries Morning round of golf, power cart, practice facilities $310 May – Sept 30

Offer – Fairmont Whistler Mountain Adventure Package: Nightly accommodation Daily buffet breakfast $100 credit per day towards a choice of popular mountain activities

BE DiFFERENT Marketing VALUE PACKAGES … Powered by –Customer Learning – continuous learning process –To discover the Secrets of the FANS you have chosen to SERVE –Core Competency –Source of Distinctiveness –Social Media tools useful

BE DiFFERENT Marketing VALUE PACKAGES … Powered by –Customer Secrets – Intimate, deep knowledge of the individual –Secrets discovery requires a trusted relationship –Your top FANS: how many Secrets do you know about them?

BD Serving Customers DISTINGUISH = SERVANT LEADERSHIP Serve customers dont service them Service cars not people! Its not about imposing service policy on them; its about serving them in a way that creates delightful experiences Allow the customer to control you

BD Serving Customers Serving = CORE SERVICE + … –What they GET from you –Satisfy em –Meet expectations 24X7X52 –You get Cs –If not, they will leave you in a HEARTBEAT –And SCREAM how BAD you are!

BD Serving Customers Serving = CORE SERVICE + SERVICE EXPERIENCE –How they FEEL –DAZZLE em with it –Make it GASPWORTHY –Leave em BREATHLESS –You get As –Loyalty, Raving Fans & Sneezers

How to Dazzle? VARY THE TREATMENT Vary how you treat people; BE Flexible Same treatment for all = mixed level of satisfaction Different treatment = constant level of satisfaction Each person is DiFFERENT I wont GASP if I am treated like the average

BD Serving Customers The Dazzle Factors … 1.Hire Human Being Lovers 2.Kill Dumb Rules 3.Be flexible: empower Frontline to bend rules and say yes 4.Provide Dazzling Recovery from your Service Blunders: Fix your screw-up and WOW em – do the unexpected (secrets)

BE DiFFERENT Sales Roys Report Card C Honest concern for people D Selling solutions; not products C- Problem solving C Follow-up C- Customer Advocacy on the inside F Secret gathering D Service Recovery C- Overall Relationship Building

BE DiFFERENT Sales DISTINGUISH = RELATIONSHIPS & INTIMACY –Sell Relationships NOT Products –Build intimate relationships with your FANS Long term success is about BONDING not flogging Compensate on RB behaviors

BE DiFFERENT - Sales Build compensation plan on Relationship – building behaviors –Start at 80% sales revenue; 20% RB –Increase RB component over time Get customers to rate sales people on RB competencies – Customer Report Card They will pay attention!

Distinguish & Dominate EXECUTE ONLY SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL PACKAGES of VALUE EXPERIENCES FANS & SNEEZERS SERVING & DAZZLE HUMAN BEING LOVERS SALES INTIMACY

Distinguish & Dominate DUMB RULES WORD-OF-MOUTH EPIDEMICS VARY THE TREATMENT ROYS RULE OF THREE PLAN ON THE RUN CUSTOMERIZE

The One and ONLY… Exclusive ½ - day Learning Experience on How to Distinguish your organization from the Faceless Herd Series begins in Vancouver and Toronto Fall 2010 Learning, Practical & Interactive Experience 15 people per session Personal copy of BE DiFFERENT or be dead

The One and ONLY… Series begins with a GIFT Session Sept 29 th Visit my web site or Blog Article for more details

bedifferentorbedead.com The One and ONLY Details BLOG BE DiFFERENT QUIZ EVENTS & SEMINARS CRITICAL PRAISE ON BOOK VIRTUAL CONSULTING SERVICE

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