If you think a competitor sucks, say so. When you do that, you'll find that others who agree with you will rally to your side. Being the anti-_______ is a great way to differentiate yourself and attract followers.
For examoke, Dunkin Donuts likes to position itself as the anti-Starbucks. Its ads mock Starbucks for using "Fritalian" terms instead of small, medium and large. Another Dunin campaign is centered on a taste test in which it beat Starbucks.
Audi is another example. It’s been taking on the old guard of car manufacturers. It puts “old luxury” brands like Rolls-Royce and Mercedes “on notice” in ads touting Audi as the fresh luxury alternative. Audi takes on Lexus’s automatic parking systems with ads that say Audi drivers know how to park their own cars. Another ad gives a side-by-side comparison of BMW and Audi owners: The BMW owner uses the rearview mirror to adjust his hair while the Audi driver uses the mirror to see what's behind him.
Apple jabs at Microsoft with ads that compare Mac and PC owners, and 7UP bills itself as the Uncola. Under Armour positions itself as Nike for a new generation.
Who do you want to take a shot at?
Having an enemy gives you a great story to tell customers, too. Taking a stand always stands out. People get stoked by conflict. They take sides. Passions are ignited. And that's a good way to get people to take notice.
Underdo your competition
Conventional wisdom says that to beat your competitors, you need to one-up them. If they have four features, you need five (or fifteen, or twenty-five). If they’re spending $20,000, you need to spend $30,000. If they have fifty employees, you need a hundred.
Defensive companies can't think ahead; they can only think behind. They don't lead; they follow.
So what do you do instead? Do less than your competitors to beat them. Solve the simple problems and leave the hairy, difficult, nasty problems to the competition. Instead of one-upping, try one-downing. Instead of outdoing, try underdoing.
Don’t shy away from the fact that your product or service does less. Highlight it. Be proud of it. Sell it as aggressively as competitors sell their extensive feature lists.
Who cares what they’re doing?
In the end, it’s not worth paying much attention to the competition anyway. Why not? Because worrying about the competition quickly turns into an obsession. What are they doing right now? Where are they going next? How should we react?
Your competitor tomorrow may be completely different from your competitor today. It’s out of your control. What’s the point of worrying about things you can’t control?
Focus on yourself instead. What’s going on in here is way more important than what’s going on out there. When you spend time worrying about someone else, you can’t spend that time improving yourself.
If you’re planning to build “the iPod killer” or “the next Pokemon,” you’re already dead. You’re allowing the competition to set the parameters.
You’re not going to out-Apple Apple. They’re defining the rules of the game. And you can’t beat someone who’s making the rules. You need to redefine the rules, not just build something slightly better.
If you’re just going to be like everyone else, why are you even doing this? If you merely replicate competitors, there’s no point to your existence.
Even if you wind up losing, it’s better to go down fighting for what you believe in instead of just imitating others.
Say no by default
If I’d listened to customers, I’d have given them a faster horse. —HENRY FORD
Start getting into the habit of saying no—even to many of your best ideas. Use the power of no to get your priorities straight. You rarely regret saying no. But you often wind up regretting saying yes.
Making a few vocal customers happy isn’t worth it if it ruins the product for everyone else.
ING Direct has built the fastest-growing bank in America by saying no. When customers ask for a credit card, the answer is no. When they ask for an online brokerage, the answer is no. When they ask if they can open an account with a million dollars in it, the answer is no (the bank has a strict deposit maximum). ING wants to keep things simple. That’s why the bank offers just a few savings accounts, certificates of deposit, and mutual funds—and that’s it.
Don’t be a jerk about saying no, though. Just be honest. If you’re not willing to yield to a customer request, be polite and explain why. People are surprisingly understanding when you take the time to explain your point of view. You may even win them over to your way of thinking. If not, recommend a competitor if you think there’s a better solution out there.
It’s better to have people be happy using someone else’s product than disgruntled using yours.
Your goal is to make sure your product stays right for you. You’re the one who has to believe in it most. That way, you can say, “I think you’ll love it because I love it.”
Let your customers outgrow you
Scaring away new customers is worse than losing old customers. When you let customers outgrow you, you’ll most likely wind up with a product that’s basic—and that’s fine.
Small, simple, basic needs are constant. There’s an endless supply of customers who need exactly that.
And there are always more people who are not using your product than people who are. Make sure you make it easy for these people to get on board. That’s where your continued growth potential lies.
People and situations change. You can’t be everything to everyone. Companies need to be true to a type of customer more than a specific individual customer with changing needs.
Don’t confuse enthusiasm with priority
Coming up with a great idea gives you a rush. You start imagining the possibilities and the benefits. And of course, you want all that right away. So you drop everything else you’re working on and begin pursuing your latest, greatest idea. Bad move.
The enthusiasm you have for a new idea is not an accurate indicator of its true worth. What seems like a sure-fire hit right now often gets downgraded to just a “nice to have” by morning. And “nice to have” isn’t worth putting everything else on hold.
So let your latest grand ideas cool off for a while first. By all means, have as many great ideas as you can. Get excited about them. Just don’t act in the heat of the moment. Write them down and park them for a few days. Then, evaluate their actual priority with a calm mind.
Be at-home good
It should work better than expected. Exceed expectations
Being great at a few things often doesn’t look all that flashy from afar. That’s OK. You’re aiming for a long-term relationship, not a one-night stand.
You can’t paint over a bad experience with good advertising or marketing.
Don’t write it down
The requests that really matter are the ones you’ll hear over and over. After a while, you won’t be able to forget them. Your customers will be your memory. They’ll keep reminding you. They’ll show you which things you truly need to worry about.
If there’s a request that you keep forgetting, that’s a sign that it isn’t very important. The really important stuff doesn’t go away.
Welcome obscurity
NO ONE KNOWS who you are right now. And that’s just fine. Being obscure is a great position to be in. Be happy you’re in the shadows.
Use this time to make mistakes without the whole world hearing about them. Keep tweaking. Work out the kinks. Test random ideas. Try new things. No one knows you, so it’s no big deal if you mess up. Obscurity helps protect your ego and preserve your confidence.
Retailers experiment with test markets all the time for this reason. When Dunkin’ Donuts thought about selling pizza, hot dogs, and other hot sandwiches, it test-marketed the products at just ten select locations.
Broadway shows also provide a great example of testing ideas on a small stage first. They routinely do a trial run in a smaller city before coming to New York.
Would you want the whole world to watch you the first time you do anything? It makes no sense to tell everyone to look at you if you're not ready to be looked at yet.
And keep in mind that once you do get bigger and more popular, you’re inevitably going to take fewer risks. When you’re a success, the pressure to maintain predictability and consistency builds. That's when change becomes difficult.
Build an audience
All companies have customers. Lucky companies have fans. But the most fortunate companies have audiences.
A lot of businesses still spend big bucks to reach people. Instead of going out to reach people, you want people to come to you. An audience returns often—on its own—to see what you have to say.
Over the past ten years, we’ve built an audience of more than a hundred thousand daily readers for our Signal vs Noise blog. We may talk about design or business or software or psychology or usability or our industry at large. And if they like what we have to say, they’ll probably also like what we have to sell.
When you build an audience, you don’t have to buy people’s attention—they give it to you. That is a huge advantage.
So build an audience. Speak, write, blog, tweet, make videos—whatever. Share information that’s valuable and you’ll slowly but surely build a loyal audience. Then when you need to get the word out, the right people will already be listening.
Out-tech your competition You can advertise. You can hire salespeople. You can sponsor events. But your competitors are doing the same things. How does that help you stand out?
Instead of trying to outspend, outsell, or outsponsor competitors, try to out-teach them. Teaching probably isn’t something your competitors are even thinking about. Most businesses focus on selling or servicing, but teaching never even occurs to them.
Buying people’s attention with a magazine or online banner ad is one thing. Earning their loyalty by teaching them forms a whole different connection. They’ll trust you more. They’ll respect you more. Even if they don’t use your product, they can still be your fans.
Emulate chefs
They share everything they know. They put their recipes in cookbooks and show their techniques on cooking shows.
As a business owner, you should share everything you know too. This is anathema to most in the business world. Businesses are usually paranoid and secretive.
They think they have proprietary this and competitive advantage that. Maybe a rare few do, but most don’t. And those that don’t should stop acting like those that do. Don’t be afraid of sharing.
What can you tell the world about how you operate that’s informative, educational, and promotional? This book is our cookbook. What’s yours?
Go behind the scenes
Imagine that someone wanted to make a reality show about your business. What would they share? Now stop waiting for someone else and do it yourself.
Think no one will care? Think again. Even seemingly boring jobs can be fascinating when presented right.
People are curious about how things are made. It’s why they like factory tours or behind-the-scenes footage on DVDs. They want to know how and why other people make decisions.
Letting people behind the curtain changes your relationship with them. They’ll feel a bond with you and see you as human beings instead of a faceless company. They’ll see the sweat and effort that goes into what you sell. They’ll develop a deeper level of understanding and appreciation for what you do.
Nobody likes plastic flowers
Don’t be afraid to show your flaws. Imperfections are real and people respond to real. It’s why we like real flowers that wilt, not perfect plastic ones that never change.
Don’t worry about how you’re supposed to sound and how you’re supposed to act. Show the world what you’re really like, warts and all.
There’s a beauty to imperfection.
This is the essence of the Japanese principle of wabi-sabi. Wabi-sabi values character and uniqueness over a shiny facade.
Pare down to the essence, but don’t remove the poetry. Keep things clean and unencumbered but don’t sterilize.
Leave the poetry in what you make. When something becomes too polished, it loses its soul. It seems robotic.
So talk like you really talk. Reveal things that others are unwilling to discuss.
Be upfront about your shortcomings. Show the latest version of what you’re working on, even if you’re not done yet. It’s OK if it’s not perfect. You might not seem as professional, but you will seem a lot more genuine.
Drug dealers get it right
Drug dealers are astute businesspeople. They know their product is so good they’re willing to give a little away for free upfront. They know you’ll be back for more—with money.
Emulate drug dealers. Make your product so good, so addictive, so “can’t miss” that giving customers a small, free taste makes them come back with cash in hand. This gives people a way to try it without investing any money or a lot of time.
Bakeries, restaurants, and ice cream shops have done this successfully for years. Car dealers let you test-drive cars before buying them. Software firms are also getting on board, with free trials or limited-use versions. How many other industries could benefit from the drug-dealer model?
Marketing is something everyone in your company is doing 24/7/365
Just as you cannot not communicate, you cannot not market: Every time you answer the phone, it’s marketing. Every time you send an e-mail, it’s marketing. Every time someone uses your product, it’s marketing. Every word you write on your Web site is marketing. If you build software, every error message is marketing.
If you’re in the restaurant business, the after-dinner mint is marketing. If you’re in the retail business, the checkout counter is marketing. If you’re in a service business, your invoice is marketing.
The myth of the overnight sensation
Trade the dream of overnight success for slow, measured growth. It’s hard, but you have to be patient. You have to grind it out. You have to do it for a long time before the right people notice.
Start building your audience today. Start getting people interested in what you have to say. And then keep at it. In a few years, you too will get to chuckle when people discuss your “overnight” success.
Resumés are ridiculous
We all know resumés are a joke. They’re exaggerations. They’re filled with “action verbs” that don’t mean anything. They list job titles and responsibilities that are vaguely accurate at best. And there’s no way to verify most of what’s on there. The whole thing is a farce.
You want a specific candidate who cares specifically about your company, your products, your customers, and your job.
So how do you find these candidates? First step: Check the cover letter. In a cover letter, you get actual communication instead of a list of skills, verbs, and years of irrelevance. You hear someone’s actual voice and are able recognize if it’s in tune with you and your company.
Trust your gut reaction.
Years of irrelevance We’ve all seen job ads that say, “Five years of experience required.” That may give you a number, but it tells you nothing.
Forget about formal education
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. —MARK TWAIN
There are plenty of intelligent people who don’t excel in the classroom. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you need someone from one of the “best” schools in order to get results.
Ninety percent of CEOs currently heading the top five hundred American companies did not receive undergraduate degrees from Ivy League colleges.
Hire managers of one
Managers of one are people who come up with their own goals and execute them.
They don’t need heavy direction. They don’t need daily check-ins. They do what a manager would do—set the tone, assign items, determine what needs to get done, etc.—but they do it by themselves and for themselves.
These people free you from oversight. They set their own direction. When you leave them alone, they surprise you with how much they’ve gotten done. They don’t need a lot of hand-holding or supervision.
How can you spot these people? Look at their backgrounds. They have set the tone for how they’ve worked at other jobs. They’ve run something on their own or launched some kind of project.
You want someone who’s capable of building something from scratch and seeing it through. Finding these people frees the rest of your team to work more and manage less.
Hire great writers
If you are trying to decide among a few people to fill a position, hire the best writer. It doesn’t matter if that person is a marketer, salesperson, designer, programmer, or whatever; their writing skills will pay off.
That’s because being a good writer is about more than writing. Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking. Great writers know how to communicate. They make things easy to understand. They can put themselves in someone else’s shoes. They know what to omit. And those are qualities you want in any candidate.
Meet in person once in a while
You should see each other at least every few months. We make sure our whole team gets together a few times a year. These are great times to review progress, discuss what’s going right or wrong, plan for the future, and get reacquainted with one another on a personal level.
Geography just doesn’t matter anymore
Hire the best talent, regardless of where it is.
Test-drive employees
Interviews are only worth so much. Some people sound like pros but don’t work like pros. You need to evaluate the work they can do now, not the work they say they did in the past.
The best way to do that is to actually see them work. Hire them for a miniproject, even if it’s for just twenty or forty hours. You’ll see how they make decisions. You’ll see if you get along. You’ll see what kind of questions they ask. You’ll get to judge them by their actions instead of just their words.
You can even make up a fake project. In a factory in South Carolina, BMW built a simulated assembly line where job candidates get ninety minutes to perform a variety of work-related tasks.
Cessna, the airplane manufacturer, has a role-playing exercise for prospective managers that simulates the day of an executive. Candidates work through memos, deal with (phony) irate customers, and handle other problems. Cessna has hired more than a hundred people using this simulation.
These companies have realized that when you get into a real work environment, the truth comes out. It’s one thing to look at a portfolio, read a resumé, or conduct an interview. It’s another to actually work with someone.
Own your bad news
WHEN SOMETHING GOES wrong, someone is going to tell the story. You’ll be better off if it’s you. Otherwise, you create an opportunity for rumors, hearsay, and false information to spread.
Here are some tips on how you can own the story: The message should come from the top. The highest-ranking person available should take control in a forceful way.
Spread the message far and wide. Use whatever megaphone you have. Don’t try to sweep it under the rug. “No comment” is not an option.
Apologize the way a real person would and explain what happened in detail. Honestly be concerned about the fate of your customers—then prove it.
Speed changes everything
Getting back to people quickly is probably the most important thing you can do when it comes to customer service.
Once you answer quickly, they shift 180 degrees. They light up. They become extra polite. Often they thank you profusely.
It’s especially true if you offer a personal response. Customers are so used to canned answers, you can really differentiate yourself by answering thoughtfully and showing that you’re listening.
And even if you don’t have a perfect answer, say something. “Let me do some research and get back to you” can work wonders.
Craigslist founder Craig Newmark still answers support e-mails today (often within minutes).
How to say you’re sorry
A good apology accepts responsibility. It has no conditional if phrase attached. It shows people that the buck stops with you.