Steve Yastrow

Show Me You Know Me

I spent last week at my favorite resort, Rancho La Puerta, and was inspired to write this newsletter, “Show Me You Know Me.” If you’ve ever been to “the Ranch,” you’ll have felt the deep level of personalized service. And your customers want the same experience! Read the newsletter for my thoughts on today’s key competitive advantage: differentiating your customers.

Read the newsletter: Show Me You Know Me

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Quiver in Your Boots

When was the last time your company made a daring, bold decision that turned out to be wildly successful? Not that recently? Not ever?

But how likely is it that your company’s boring, middle-of-the-road decisions will ever turn out to be wildly successful? Probably never.

Steve’s newsletter challenges you to “Quiver in Your Boots” from time to time– only risky moves have the chance for great reward!

Read the newsletter: “Quiver in Your Boots”

And here’s a link to Apple’s famous “1984″ ad referenced in the newsletter.

Posted in Creativity, Invent Your Future, Observations, Wisdom from everyday life | 2 Comments »

Steps to Doing Differentiation Differently

Today’s newsletter, How to Do Differentiation Differently, follows up on our last issue, offering steps to help you focus on a kind of differentiation that will mean something to your customers.

Please share your comments and experiences! How well does your organization show its individual customers that your recognize what makes each of them unique?

Read the newsletter here: How to Do Differentiation Differently

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Do Differentiation Differently

Today’s newsletter, Do Differentiation Differently, turns the tables on differentiation: If it’s so difficult to get customers to see why you’re different, why not focus on what your customer thinks is different: Himself.

I explore this concept in great detail and have some innovative exercises for you and your team, so go read the newsletter: Do Differentiation Differently!

Posted in Customer Encounters, Loyalty, Marketing | 5 Comments »

The Differentiation Ladder

We all want our customers to think, “I can’t get it anywhere else!” when they think of us.   How do we do this?  How do we differentiate our companies in our customers’ minds?

Consider four different ways of differentiating your company:

• The least effective way to differentiate your company is through advertising and other traditional marketing communications.  Ads are easily copied and more easily forgotten.  This is the main tool of differentiation employed by advertising and marketing agencies on behalf of their clients.
• The next way to differentiate your company is through price or price-related promotions.  These tools are generally more effective at driving sales than advertising, but are still weak differentiators, because they get your customer to focus on the wrong reasons for buying from you. (Unless you want your customers to focus on price, which, for most of you, is not the case.)
• Next, you can attempt to differentiate your company with superior products and services.  This is increasingly difficult, because your customers, no matter who they are and no matter what you make, are convinced they can buy similar products elsewhere.  Welcome to our land of plenty, where too many sellers are chasing buyers with limited spending power.
• The best way to differentiate your company in your customers’ minds is to help customers focus not on your advertising, your prices, your promotions, your products or your services, but on the relationship they have with you.

Relationships are, simply put, the most powerful differentiators.  Your competitors can copy just about everything you do, but they can not copy the private relationships you have with your customers.

In your mind, flip the four bullet points written above upside down, with advertising differentiation on the bottom and relationships at the top.  The higher you can climb on this ladder, i.e., the higher on this ladder are the reasons your customers buy from you, the more differentiated you will seem to your customers, and the more loyal they will be.

Posted in Marketing, We relationships | 2 Comments »

Unique is not enough

So what if you’re different? Does anyone care?

Yesterday, a friend and I were discussing one of his competitors. This company has a unique feature, and has built their entire brand story around that feature. The problem? The feature isn’t that important to many people. (My friend smiles at this competitor’s strategy)

There is a difference between being different and being differentiated. “Since 1984,” “The Largest” or “Unlike others, we use only the highest quality rivets” may all be true. But do they matter?

(Shortly after speaking with my friend, Stumble Upon brought me to this picture, at funnyharhar.com)

Posted in Brand Harmony, Marketing | 2 Comments »

Customer Relationships Create Competitive Advantage

I was eating lunch with an executive of a hotel company, in a restaurant located at one of his company’s hotels. He was talking about competitive threats, describing how companies in his category are constantly copying each other’s innovations. I said, “If I were your competitor, I could walk into this hotel and easily copy your physical product. I could study your service standards, and copy them too. What I could not copy are the personal relationships you have with your customers. Those relationships would be impenetrable to me.”

In an age of interchangeable products and easily duplicated services, customer relationships have become one of the most powerful competitive advantages available to a business. Do you agree?

What about your business? What is it that your customers “can’t get anywhere else?” Your products? Your services? Their unique relationship with you?

Posted in Customer Encounters, We relationships | 2 Comments »