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Subject: Discovering New Points of Differentiation

Author:
Dennis S. Vogel

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Date Posted: 20:31:38 01/27/16 Wed

I'm posting what other authors have written since I have family, financial & legal issues to handle since my father died & my mother is declining.

This is almost a guest post because the content was written by Ian MacMillan & Rita McGrath & published in the Harvard Business Review.

I won't post their whole article because I won't violate the copyright.

"Discovering New Points of Differentiation" by Ian MacMillan & Rita McGrath
From the Harvard Business Review July-August 1997 Issue -
<https://hbr.org/1997/07/discovering-new-points-of-differentiation>
This article is longer than some of my posts. There's a lot of vital advice in it.

You should seriously consider your commitment to sustained success if it seems like too much hassle to use the advice in this article or what I've written before.

Victory in many situations is achieved by doing what competitors can't/won't do.

If you only do what competitors do, you'll lose a contest or just have a stalemate at best.

If you only do what you've always done before, you'll lose progress.

Ian MacMillan & Rita McGrath have designed a 2-part approach to help companies identify points of differentiation & generate successful differentiation strategies.
The 1st part, "Mapping the Consumption Chain," captures the customer's total experience with a product/service.
The 2nd, "Analyzing Your Customer's Experience," covers directed brainstorming about each step in the consumption chain.
Even the most mundane product/service can be differentiated.

Businesses can differentiate at each point of contact with customers - A: when consumers realize a need for a product or service; until B: disposing of it.
Ian MacMillan & Rita McGrath call it the Consumption Chain.

Business owners should be aware of customers' whole experience with a product or service even if it was purchased from a competitor.

Optimal success is possible because product or service offers can be positioned in new, relevant ways than would otherwise be possible.

Some examples apply to manufacturers more than retailers. You should use these examples as a guide to choosing suppliers.

There Are Some Things You've Got To Do To Succeed

My motivational message to you is similar to this partial quote from Sylvester Stallone's movie "Rocky Balboa". You should read the whole quote, you can get to it with this link - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479143/quotes

"It's about how hard you can get hit & keep moving forward. How much you can take & keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!
"Now if you know what you're worth then go out & get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits, & not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody!"

My paraphrased version is - What counts most is what you do now & in the future.
You've gotten to where you are by doing what you did before, but that's all over now.
To win, you need to do what may feel uncomfortable.

When something works imperfectly, refine it & move on.
If you do what doesn't work, move on. Do something else.
Be willing to take the hits & setbacks. Don't blame others for what you fail to do.

Find somebody who knows how to apply these concepts in "Discovering New Points of Differentiation".

Pay him/her a percentage of the sales revenue generated from his/her implementation.

Dennis S. Vogel
thrivingbusiness@email.com
Implementing optimal marketing strategies & tactics is a long-term task.
Optimal testing & assessing each particular option is a short-term task, but has long-term consequences.
http://www.voy.com/31049/

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