Anecdotes, Blog, Insight 
No Comments Business and Beauty Pageants
Those were my initial days in Telecom Marketing. Times were exciting. We had a $2 mil budget lined up for our product launch campaign and the week was reserved for vendor finalization. Each one of them (we had five players in the fray) had lined up a four hour concept presentation which was to follow up with a session for financial closures.
The week went very fast. Our knowledge on vendor analytics was truly tested. My colleagues exhibited a range of responses – from disappointment to sheer exhilaration! For me, it was a role that I played as a ‘head jury’ for the ‘beauty pageant’.
It occurred to me that beauty was really only skin deep. Explore further and then you see the real character. So is true with all the professional firms who gave their ‘state-of-the-art’ presentations to us that week. All these firms used differentiation as a marketing approach, but for most of them it reflected simply as an exercise in image enhancement than the promise of delivering an effective marketplace advantage.
The events in the week had a ‘forever’ impact on my mind and prompted me to pursue better understanding of the topic over the next few years.
It is known that the most-used differentiators are not necessarily the most successful. For example strategies like developing a new positioning, repackaging current services, or using new techniques and tools to deliver services. The most successful differentiators over the time have been strategies like implementation and alignment of human resources, financial, change management, technology and training.
Ultimately, the most effective differentiation strategies are based on the foundation of the firm’s professional and cultural framework. This framework is unique to each firm. But beyond that, professional service firms do build differentiation strategies upon a number of parameters which go beyond participation in a ‘beauty pageant’. These include:
- a firm’s focus – market wise or region wise
- exclusive service offerings
- client needs and their addressable mechanism
- a project’s “point of entry”
- people and IPR
- service delivery
- value delivered (this goes much deeper than “price”)
- targets (qualitative and quantitative)
- delivery of a unique emotional “experience” to clients.
But how does one truly approach competitive differentiation? Experts suggest the following guidelines and methodology for developing a differentiation strategy that works best for firms and keeps them competitively preemptive in the marketplace.
Understanding the past track record on differentiation: What was the outcome? Very often, it’s just a broad statement put on a firm’s web site that expresses how your firm is different.
Having deep knowledge about differentiation: Does the firm something that can’t be copied; something that no other firm is, does or has? Does it understand that the terms “differentiation”, “positioning” and “branding” are different and not interchangeable?
Leadership take: How keenly do the firm’s leaders perceive the crucial role of differentiation in their corporate strategy? Is it viewed as a critical firm-wide strategy or as a sheer marketing communication initiative?
Understanding the metrics: How well does the firm’s leaders understand how to measure parameters like “value for clients”, “credibility”, “attractiveness”, “sustainability”, “narrow focus” etc.
Conviction: Many firm’s professionals are not convinced on the idea of real differentiation. They feel that it cannot be achieved. Thus they are not able to understand the elements or foundation of differentiation strategies. Are the firm’s leaders really convinced that the firm is different?
Key People Identification: Every firm has some side partners or directors or employees who have played vital role in differentiation in certain areas of the organization in the past. There is a need to recognize these champions and influencers and motivate them to work on a larger collaborative scale.
Knowledge, leadership and attitudes about differentiation will indicate how ready and willing the firm is to undertake the process. The differentiation champion can make inroads into the firm’s differentiation process and truly create a compelling competitive position in the marketplace.
Today; for every presentation I witness, I ask myself only one question.
Is this yet another participant of our world-wide ‘beauty pageant?’
Related posts: