Show Me the Money!
Welcome to the Why to Wow newsletter, which is all about the Power of Differentiation in our world of AI and commoditization. I thank our power readers who find our messages worthwhile. It’s inspiring to see that thousands are reading and recommending Why to Wow! I ask you to continue sharing this newsletter with friends, family, and associates to help change our world for the better.
“I already know our differentiation.”
That’s exactly what an executive told me over dinner. He was a brilliant, Mensa-level leader of a multi-billion-dollar company. My business life has revolved around that one word—differentiation—so I was eager to hear how he defined his company’s uniqueness. What he told me was not what I anticipated.
His company’s differentiation.
He said, “I’ve figured it out. Here’s what makes us special in the market: 1) we are the best, 2) our customers like us better than the competition, and 3) our employees are happy.” I was deflated. He led an exceptional business that had invested tens of millions in state-of-the-art technology and facilities, attracted widely respected industry experts, and captured significant market share. However, his description dramatically undershot the organization’s true value. It was generic, something any competent competitor might say. I thanked him and asked, “Don’t you think your competition claims the same things?” He replied, “Oh, they do, but they’re not telling the truth. We are the best.”
Too close.
Why would such a brilliant leader think this way? Because he was too close to his company’s strengths and distinctiveness to recognize its real magic. After years of investing millions in infrastructure and technology, it was too easy to focus on the spend and miss the real story. You forget to pause and ask, “Why are we doing this?” The answer is almost always the same: to deliver a superior offering to customers.
In this case, his organization had numerous locations, each featuring extraordinary products and services.
Show me the money.
I decided to approach it another way and asked for examples of areas where his team spent more resources, time, or money than the competition to produce a product or service, and why. He immediately lit up. He rattled off several examples, and as he did, his energy changed. He shifted from vague claims (“We’re the best”) to sharing proud details about specific technologies and products that were, to my ears, pure genius.
Where real differentiation lives.
As you describe what makes your company or product unique, be specific. Go to the heart of why you chose to invest more, work harder, or take a more difficult path to produce something unique. Most likely, your competition cannot come close to saying the same. You’ve already gone to extra lengths to do something special; reap the benefit by bringing it to life and sharing it with the world.
Difference-Maker #1: Don’t start with marketing.
I was recently a guest on Edward Cotton’s podcast, Inspiring Futures. Ed, a renowned brand strategist, told me that in his days working with some of the world’s most iconic brands, the marketing department was usually not the best place to begin a search for differentiation. It was wiser to huddle with the engineers, product designers, or technologists because they understood the real uniqueness of what was being built.
Ed is right. Differentiation is an enterprise-wide truth about how your brand stands out—and it often starts deep inside your design and operations, not in your tagline.
Difference-Maker #2: Use skepticism to smoke out the truth.
I hate skeptics, but it’s smart to model one when defining what makes your business distinct. Ask, “Could our competitors say this, and would it be believable?” If the answer is yes, you have not yet found or clearly conveyed your differentiation.
Challenge yourself to drill down further. Instead of “great service,” is it “live human support in under 10 seconds, 24/7, with authority to solve the problem on the first call?” If you’re a manufacturer and your team performs a complex weld that ensures the highest product integrity, tell that story in detail (far beyond saying “We weld well!”). The more specific you get, the more likely you are to land on a place you truly own and the competitors cannot easily claim.
Difference-Maker #3: If you’re not clear on where you stand out, follow your investments.
Where do you consistently spend the most money, time, and energy? If it’s on the customer experience, that might be your strength. If it’s in your facilities, technology, or training, your differentiation may be right in front of you.
Over the years of touring our clients’ operations, we’ve seen answers everywhere and in plain sight—from a bakery that spends more on a key ingredient to elevate the flavor and texture of their bread to a port truck design that makes maintenance radically easier and faster. In both cases, these companies spent extra to accomplish something special that competitors did not offer, and they deserved (and needed) to tell that story boldly.
Here’s where differentiation lives.
If your differentiation sounds like something anyone in your industry could say, you haven’t found it yet; you may just have marketing-speak. The next time you’re tempted to say, “We’re the best,” stop and ask a better question: “Where are we already spending more, caring more, or trying harder than anyone else, and what story does that tell?” That’s your Why to Wow. If you want to discuss your differentiation journey with me, reach out.
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