“The secret of business, especially these days, is to focus relentlessly on your unfair advantage – the thing you do that others don’t.” — John Rollwagen, executive
This “unfair advantage” is another term for “competitive advantage.”
A competitive advantage is something that you and your business excels in. It is not easily copied by competitors and the profit margin is very high.
Examples of a competitive advantage are Microsoft’s operating systems, Apple’s iPhone, & Google’s search engine. Other companies compete, but are light years behind in function and marketing.
Ways to Determine You Unfair Advantage:
1. Ask yourself… [*]
What are my highest value activities?
What can my company do and only my company do if done well will make a real difference?
What is the most valuable use of my company’s time?
2. Apply the 80/20 rule:
What are the 20% of activities that provide my company 80% of its results?
Once you locate your competitive advantage, you need to consistently exploit it! Talk about it, have your staff promote it, put it on all your marketing materials, and advertise.
Reference:
* Tracy, B. (2007). Eat That Frog: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishing, Inc.
