"If your customers cannot differentiate you, then they will fall back upon the one point where they can always discover distinction – price!" --- Scott McKain, author of Collapse of Distinction

Distinction is in the Details

The only perception that matters is the customers'.

Price is the single worst point of differentiation for any organization in any industry. One of the great things about being a marketer is that I tend to walk around with a ‘marketer’s mindset’, looking at nearly everything through the eyes of marketing. Yes, I know, that’s limited, maybe shallow and not that exciting for many of you, but for me, it’s a blast. Last week held a special treat for me in that I made a first visit to a local restaurant that’s full of little points of distinction. In fact, I took several photos with the phone while we were there just to capture the little things that I thought were ‘distinct’. The owner clearly followed, whether by intent or by default, the laws of distinction.

In his book, Collapse of Distinction, McKain tells the story of why Roger Ebert, the film critic, gives such high marks to foreign films. Oddly enough, it’s not that they’re ‘better’ along the lines of film fundamentals that we might all judge a film on, rather, they’re simply ‘distinct enough’ from the traditional films so as to seem superior, if only for a moment. We call that “The Ebert Effect:”

“When people, from their perspectives, are inundated with indistinguishable choices, they perceive product, service, approach and experience with a specific point of differentiation to be superior.”

McKain's four cornerstones of distinction are simply:

1. Clarity (develop clarity in who you are)
2. Creativity
3. Communication
4. Customer Experience Focus

What does this cost? Better question...what's it costing you by NOT being as 'distinct as you can be? Come to think of it, I can’t tell you what our bill was (and I almost always remember) because I was so enamored with all of the distinctions that everything else faded away… Will we be back… You bet!

Q&A | QUESTIONS & ACTIONS

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to create small, solid points of distinction that are recognizable and important from the customers’ perspective…because customers perceive that different is better.

What are you doing today to be genuinely distinct in your business?

PLANNING AHEAD?

Each week, we look at what’s coming up a month from now in Chase’s 2010 Calendar of Events to help you plan your promotions in advance.

March 15-21 is National Act Happy Week! How can you not get behind this one? This week was formally developed for physicians to help their patients heal faster by feeling better using ‘happy/funny’ acting techniques. Do what you will with this one…and be happy!

 

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