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Becoming a Category of One—How Extraordinary Companies Transcend Commodity and Defy Comparison
By Joe Calloway
Don’t strive to be a leader in your category. We thought the best way to talk about this book was to use the following excerpt from Daniel’s book A First Serving of Milk & Cookies for Success, published in October 2004.
BRANDING But FIRST, I HAVE — no really, it is an obligation for me — to share Joe Calloway’s insight and wisdom with you. I had the great pleasure — OK, the experience — of participating in one of Joe’s break-out sessions at a National Speakers Association Convention three years ago. I became an instant fan of his — I’ve realized since that it’s a common phenomenon amongst his listeners. Then in the fall of 2003, I heard he had just released a book on branding — Becoming a Category of One. So I bought a copy, of course. The surprise was that it is WAY more than a book on branding; it is the blueprint for planning, starting, running, and growing a business. Any business. In any industry. I just talked about Mark LeBlanc’s ability to help you grow your business, and in Part Seven I’ll share with you a few words from Paul Hawken’s outstandynamite book Growing a Business. But, BEFORE you have a business to grow, you have to HAVE a business. And that’s where Joe will help. I think—sorry, I KNOW—that EVERYBODY who is thinking of starting a business—or is already in business up to his eyeballs—will benefit (here’s that benefit word again) greatly from investing $25 in the purchase of Joe’s book. And before you think I’m biased in my assessment, here’s what some very, very successful businesspeople had to say about it:
“This book inspires us to go for greatness, and to win by using our hearts as well as our minds.”
“If you want to be successful and you want a successful company, read Joe Calloway’s book. It’s as simple as that. It’s THE how-to manual that every manager and every employee should be required to read.”
“For anyone looking for the inspiration, the road map, or the reason to take their See? Now Joe’s book contains 215 pages packed with brilliant stuff. I had a real hard time selecting the gems you will read in the next six pages. Remember that those are but a few excerpts — if you want to learn how-to, or find out what comes next, you’ll have to buy the book. Without further ado, heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere’s Joe! And to justify our excitement and recommendation, here are two of our favorite excerpts:
SUCCESS MEANS YOU KNOW WHAT USED TO WORK
THE COMMODITY TRAP The marketplace has become “commoditized.” Customers see parity everywhere. They look at you or me or any other business out there and they believe that they can get pretty much the same thing, just as good, for a similar or lower price, from the competition. And the fact is that they’re exactly right. We are ALL commodities. We’re all like a pound of nails. There’s no difference in any of us except for price. No difference, that is, until we do something to change the customer’s perception of us. The great challenge for any business today is to transcend commodity. If customers see you as offering basically the same product and service as your competitors, the only way you can compete is with price. So either you choose to play the “we’re the cheapest,” low margin, lowest price game, or you change the game. To avoid the price war trap, you must change the customer’s basis of comparison. You must, in fact, transcend commodity and, if you’re really good, defy comparison.
“As the world cascades toward sameness, every innovative good created or How to order:Click on one of the links below to find out more about Becoming a Category of One or to order a copy (note: this book is available new and used from all three suppliers listed here):
The 10 Commandments of Business and How to Break Them
By William M. Fromm ISBN Again, we’re using an excerpt from Daniel’s book where he goes googoo gaga over a chapter of Mr. Fromm’s book. If you like what you read here, know that how he shows you to break the other nine commandments is just as mind-blowing and eye-opening. Now you’ve read stuff from some pretty big guns and gurus in the world of business in the last seven pages: Peter Urs Bender, Nido Qubein, Jay Conrad Levinson, Harry Beckwith, Herb Kelleher, Michael E. Gerber, Margot Franssen. But I have to tell you that the text that has caused me the biggest WOW! and Aha! was the one you are about to read overleaf. It’s from William M. Fromm’s marvelexcellent and illuminating book entitled The 10 Commandments of Business and How to Break Them. Make sure you won’t be distracted for the next 6 to 8 minutes. Read the text slowly and re-read it a few times if need be to really grasp the message Mr. Fromm is delivering in The Fifth Commandment of Business.
The Fifth Commandment: Thou Shalt Know What Thou Selleth
“Regardless of the business that you’re in, With that philosophy in mind, most companies work hard to ensure that they have a knowledgeable sales staff. When a customer enquires about a product, there should be a salesperson on the scene to extol its virtues. A lot of companies orchestrate extensive training programs and instruct their sales staff on even the minutest details of their product or service. And, so they should. The problem is that most companies are so wrapped up in what they’re selling, that they give little thought to what the customer is actually buying. Did you ever wonder why you’re flying United or PanAm, and not Santa Fe or Union Pacific airlines? After all, at the turn of the century, the railroads practically owned the transportation industry in the USA. The reason you’re not flying Santa Fe is that the railroads never understood what business they were in. They thought they were selling transportation by train. But what the customers were buying was an efficient way to move people and cargo. If the railroads had really known what business they were in, they’d probably own the airlines today. Too many businesses are focused on what they are trying to sell rather than what the customer is buying. Toy trains are another example. When I was a kid—35 years ago—every kid I knew wanted an electric train. More specifically, a Lionel® train. Things have changed in the last 35 years. Lionel® still makes trains. But most kids don’t want to buy them. Lionel® thought they were in the model train business instead of the toy business. And when kids wanted toys other than model trains, Lionel® got left at the station. Several years ago, Tonka® Toys introduced a new toy. Tonka® toys sold a complete line of vehicles—trucks, cars ambulances, etc. Their new toy was a vehicle that could be manipulated into a robot, and vise versa. Tonka® was the first company to come up with this concept, so they could have named it anything they wanted. But since their culture was trucks, and because these new toys were vehicles that became robots, they called them GoBots™. GoBots™ were an overnight success. When there’s a new idea in the toy industry, whoever comes out with it first usually wins. Because toys are introduced at the annual toy show, if you’re the second one to introduce a toy, you literally have to wait a whole year—until the next buying season. With a one-year head start, you’d think GoBots™ had it made. However, the following year, a similar toy was introduced by Hasbro®. Before they decided on a name, the people at Hasbro® spent some time finding out what kids were really buying when they asked for GoBots™. They watched kids play with the toys. They discovered that kids liked the process of changing the vehicle into a robot. Kids weren’t nearly as interested in the fact that it started out a vehicle and ended up a robot as they were in the process of changing it from one to the other. This late entry was appropriately named Transformers™. Its advertising was focused on what the customer was buying. And they literally knocked GoBots™ off the shelf. Figuring out what your customers are buying is VERY important. If you think you’re in the printing business, think again. Your customers want to buy attractive brochures, catalogs, and other pieces that are useful for their work. They don’t want to buy “printing,” that’s just the process. Same thing for being in the advertising business. You’re in the business of increasing their market share. No one wants to buy advertising. Companies wish they didn’t have to advertise to get business. But they DO want to increase their market share. And what about computers? Nobody wants to buy a computer; they want to buy what a computer will DO. Whether you’re the owner of the company or one salesperson on a staff of hundreds, understanding what the customer is buying is of tremendous importance. And one of the reasons it’s key is so you can figure out who your competitors are. For example, Rolex is not competing with Timex. Rolex is a status symbol that, by the way, tells the time. They compete with Mercedes-Benz. You’re not going to sell someone a Rolex if he’s just looking for a watch. Another example is Worlds of Fun, an amusement park. The owner of the one outside Kansas City understands that he’s in the entertainment business, NOT the amusement park business. So he competes with movie theatres, the KC Royals, the KC Chiefs, the zoo, miniature golf, swimming pools, and golf courses. He competes with almost anyone who offers a good time. If you understand your product in terms of what the customer is buying instead of what you’re trying to sell, you’re well on your way to developing a successful marketing strategy. Never forget that: “Marketing is about what people buy, NOT what you sell.” How to order:Click on one of the links below to find out more about The 10 Commandments of Business and How to Break Them or to order a copy (note: this book is available used only from all three suppliers listed here):
How To Succeed In Business By Breaking All The Rules
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by Roger von Oech ISBN 0-446-67455-9
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by Roger von Oech ISBN 0-060-96024-8
Yes, we know. There are two books listed here. If you pay attention, you will notice that these two book titles have one sentence in common: Be More Creative. And that is precisely what these two books will help you do. So think of them as ONE book in two parts (and we strsongly suggest you buy them both.
We are such big fans of Mr. von Oech, we will devote three pages to adapted excerpts highlighting his genius and his insight.
First though, let’s start with a couple exercises, courtesy of Roger von Oech. You will find the answer to the second one at the end of this eReport.
VII; this is the Roman numeral seven. By adding only a single line, turn it into an eight.
Okay, this is pretty easy; all you have to do is add a vertical line to the right of the VII
to create an eight; VIII. Want something a little more challenging? Here is a Roman
numeral nine; IX. By adding only a single line, turn it into a six.
Here’s the second exercise:
In the following line of letters, cross out six letters so that the remaining letters without
altering their sequence, will spell a familiar English word.
B S A I N X L E A T N T E A R S
CREATIVE THINKING
Copyright © Roger von Oech
Why be creative? I can think of two important reasons. The first is change. When new information comes into existence and circumstances change, it’s no longer possible to solve today’s problems with yesterday’s solutions. Over and over again, people are finding out that what worked two months ago won’t work next week. This gives them a choice. They can either bemoan the fact that things aren’t as easy as they used to be, or they can use their creative abilities to find new answers, new solutions, and new ideas.
A second reason for generating new ideas is that it’s a lot of fun. As a matter of fact, I like to think of creative thinking as the “sex of our mental lives.” Ideas, like organisms, have a life cycle. They are born, they develop, they reach maturity, and they die. So we need a way to generate new ideas. Creative thinking is that means, and like its biological counterpart, it is also pleasurable.
To avoid trying new things, some people develop attitudes about creative thinking that keep them safely stuck where they are. These attitudes are:
IT’S NOT IMPORTANT
I ALREADY HAVE THE ANSWER
I DON’T HAVE TIME
I’M NOT CREATIVE
These attitudes are dangerous because they can cause you to miss some important things.
For example, if you’re indifferent to creative thinking, then you’ve failed to see that generating
and implementing new ideas are crucial survival skills in a rapidly changing world.
“More people are limited by the size of their imagination and dreams
than by any other single reality.”
Peter Jensen, PhD
Whether or not you become the next Picasso, Einstein or Curie, you were born with the ability to probe the world in unique ways, and your challenge is to realize this potential.
During the past few years, I’ve had an opportunity to work with many creative people: software developers, managers, television producers, comedians, market strategists, journalists, scientists, and designers. Again and again, I’ve discovered a pattern in how they generate and implement new ideas. I’ve found that the hallmark of creative people is their mental flexibility. Like race-car drivers who shift in and out of different gears depending on where they are on the course, creative people are able to shift in and out of different types of thinking depending on the needs of the situation at hand.
Sometimes they’re open and probing, sometimes playful and off-the-wall. At other times, they’re critical and fault-finding. And finally, they’re doggedly persistent in striving to reach their goals. From this, I’ve concluded that the creative process consists of our adopting four main roles, each of which embodies a different type of thinking. Let’s take a closer look.
These roles are:
EXPLORER
ARTIST
JUDGE
WARRIOR
First off, you—as a creative thinker—need the raw materials from which new ideas are made: facts, concepts, experiences, knowledge, feelings, and whatever else you can find. You can look for these in the same old places. However, you’re much more likely to find something original if you venture off the beaten path. So you become an EXPLORER and look for the materials you’ll use to build your idea. During the course of your searching, you’ll poke around in unknown areas, pay attention to unusual patterns, and seek out a variety of different kinds of information. The ideas you gather will be like so many pieces of colored glass at the end of a kaleidoscope. They may form a pattern, but if you want something new and different, you’ll have to give them a twist or two. That’s when you shift roles and let the ARTIST in you come out. You experiment with a variety of approaches. You follow your intuition. You rearrange things, look at them backwards, and turn them upside down. After all of this you come up with a new idea.
“Balance the rigidity of intellect with the fluidity of intuition.”
Paramahansa Yogananda
“The artist is not a different kind of person,
but every person is a different kind of artist.”
Eric Gill
Now you ask yourself, “Is this idea any good? Is it worth pursuing? Will it give me the return I want? Do I have the resources to make it happen?” To help you make your decision, you adopt the mindset of a JUDGE. During your evaluation, you critically weigh the evidence. You look for drawbacks in the idea, and wonder if the timing is right. You run risk analyses, question your assumptions, and listen to your gut.
Ultimately, you make a decision.
Finally it’s time to implement your idea. You realize, however, that the world isn’t set up to accommodate every new idea that comes along. As a matter of fact, there’s a lot of competition out there. If you want your idea to succeed, you’ll have to take the offensive. So, you become a WARRIOR and take your idea into battle. As a warrior, you’re part general and part foot-soldier. You develop your strategy, and commit yourself to reaching your objective. You also have the discipline to slog it out in the trenches. You may have to overcome excuses, idea killers, temporary setbacks, and other obstacles. But you have the courage to do what’s necessary to make your idea a reality.
Viewed together, these four roles are your creative team for generating and implementing new ideas. Of course, the pattern for most of the things you create won’t always be this linear progression of explorer-to-artist-to-judge-to-warrior. Usually there’s a fair amount of shifting back and forth between the roles. For example, your judge may return an idea to your artist for further development. Your artist might come up with an idea and tell your explorer to go dig up some information that supports it. Your warrior will tell your judge what’s making it in the world and what’s not.
In addition, there’s no one right way to be creative. Indeed, each creative thinker has his own style. Given a concept to develop or a problem to solve, some people start as the artist and jump back and forth to the explorer and the judge until they reach their objective. Others do just the reverse. In general however, you’ll be using your explorer more in the early stages of the creative process, your artist and judge more in the middle, and your warrior toward the end.
Why are some people bubbling with innovative ideas and others just bumbling along? Let’s take a look at two of the main reasons for low creative performance: weak roles and bad timing. Imagine the consequences of having a weak role in your creative team.
If your explorer has his head in the sand, you won’t have any new information to draw upon. If your artist’s imagination is locked up, you’ll end up with run-of-the-mill work that lacks punch. If your judge’s critical faculties are faulty, then you may be saying “yes” to garbage and “no” to potentially good ideas. And if you’ve got a wimp for a warrior, then you won’t be getting too many ideas into action. Thus you have to make a deliberate effort to get—and keep—all of your roles in good shape. The maxim “use it or lose it” applies as much to creative thinking as it does to any other activity.
Equally important to knowing your creative roles is knowing when to use them—timing is paramount. Using a role at the wrong time—such as employing your judge to explore for information or your artist to implement your idea—is counter-productive. When your timing’s off, you won’t get much accomplished. Thus you need to pay attention to the type of thinking required for each situation and then shift into it.
Some people have trouble shifting because they get stuck in a particular role. This can have disastrous results on their creative performance. For example, if you get stuck in your explorer, you may never get around to assembling the information you’ve gathered into a new idea. If you get stuck in your artist, you may spend all of your time working and re-working your creation and not let go of it. If you get stuck in your judge, you’ll inhibit your artist and spend so long evaluating the idea that you’ll fail to make a timely decision. And, if you get stuck in your warrior, you’ll want to rush everything into action regardless of whether the other roles have done their job or not. To achieve high performance, develop your creative roles and make sure that you use them at the appropriate time. Roger von Oech
Wow! Wasn’t that excitincredible information? In the book A Kick In The Seat Of The Pants, Roger takes a look at each role and provides some tips and strategies to help you develop it. You’ll also have some fun to boot, we guarantee you that. We hope you get a kick out of those two books. But first you have to go get yourself a copy…
Click on one of the links below to find out more about A Whack on the Side of the Head or to order a copy (note: this book is available new and used from all three suppliers listed here):
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Click on one of the links below to find out more about A Kick in the Seat of the Pants or to order a copy (note: this book is available new and used from all three suppliers listed here):
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By Kevin & Jackie Freiberg
ISBN 0-7679-0184-3 (362 pages / softcover)
Ladies and gentlemen, here is our 5-word evaluation of this book:
This is a fantasterrific book!
Who else thinks this book is so?
Let’s start with Scott DeGarmo, the editor-in-chief and Publisher of Success magazine (at the time he wrote this):
“Required reading for every entrepreneur and aspiring entrepreneur! It’s the colorful, brash, exciting, often amazing story of how one of the country’s best managed businesses continues to be outrageously successful year after year while everyone from the top down has a blast.”
Then let’s hear from another head honcho, Phil Condit, President and CEO, The Boeing Company (at the time he wrote this):
"Operating a commercial airline is serious business, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. Herb Kelleher and his colleagues at Southwest Airlines have proven that it can be fun and profitable. In some very turbulent times for airlines around the world, Southwest has blazed its own trail to success. This people-friendly airline is worthy of study by any enterprise.”
We totally agree with Mr. Condit’s last statement. Really. It doesn’t matter if you are in the flower industry with a staff of 6, or an accountant in a business of one, you WILL get something out of reading this book. Heck, even a baseball player did!
Here’s Nolan Ryan:
“I’d like to make a power pitch for NUTS! It does a great job of telling the inside story of the best bigger-than-Texas success story I know. All of us can learn from Southwest’s fiercely competitive spirit and the way it treats employees and customers. Kevin and Jackie Freiberg have hit a homerun.”
Are you familiar with the story behind Southwest Airlines? No? Well, thirty-five years ago, Herb Kelleher reinvented air travel when he founded Southwest Airlines, where the planes are painted like killer whales, a typical company maxim is “Hire people with a sense of humor,” and in-flight meals are never served—just sixty million bags of peanuts a year.
By sidestepping “reengineering,” “total quality management,” and other management philosophies and employing its own brand of business success, Kelleher’s airline has turned a profit for thirty-four consecutive years and seen its stock soar 300 percent since 1990.
Today, Southwest is the safest airline in the world and ranks number one in the industry for service, on-time performance, and lowest employee turnover rate; and Fortune magazine has twice ranked Southwest one of the ten best companies to work for in America. How do they do it?
That’s what you’ll find out in NUTS! With unlimited access to the people and inside documents of Southwest Airlines, the authors share the secrets behind the greatest success story in commercial aviation. Read it and discover how to transfer Southwest inspiration to your own business and personal life.
Here are a few of our favorite quotations:
Chapter 19: Customers come second
While Southwest Airlines CEO Heb Kelleher gives customers a terrific deal on an airline seat, he makes it clear that his employees come first—even if it means dismissing customers. But aren’t customers always right? “No, they are not,” Kelleher snaps. “And I think that’s one of the biggest betrayals of employees a boss can possibly commit. The customer is sometimes wrong. We don’t carry those sorts of customers. We write to them and say, ‘Fly somebody else. Don’t abuse our people.’”
To a customer who had sent the customer relations office numerous letters to complain about everything from the color of the planes to the lack of a first class section, Herb sent a letter that simply said, ”Dear Mrs. Crabapple, we will miss you. Love, Herb.”
Chapter 20: Employees come first
“We are not an airline with great customer service. We are a great customer service organization that happens to be in the airline business.”
Chapter 22: Go nuts!
Southwest airlines is a legendary business today because its people dared to be different. It made room for the untried, the unpredictable, and the unexpected. When people who hit you differently hit you with a fresh idea that makes sense, go for it! If it bombs, learn from it. If it works, celebrate like crazy. But in either case, remember to keep looking for the new, the unconventional, the unfamiliar way of doing things. Not only is this a key to success in a world of change, it’s a lot less stressful and more exciting way to live. Daring to be unconventional certainly has its risks, but, as Southwest has learned, the financial and spiritual payoffs can be immense.
Click on one of the links below to find out more about NUTS! or to order a copy:
(note: this book is available new and used from all three suppliers listed here)
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By Wilson Harrell
ISBN 1-56414-193-4 (223 pages, soft cover)
From the back cover:
For Entrepreneurs Only is not a step-by-step guide to starting a business. There are no model business plans, lists of venture capital sources or suggestions for renting office space. Rather, Harrell shares a collection of confessions and insights that speak to and inspire the entrepreneur. He explores the many faces and phases of entrepreneurship. He rallies the entrepreneurial troops to make a stand for the freedom and justice they’ve rightfully earned. Indeed he offers a peek into the rollercoaster ride of the entrepreneur, that rare breed, who welcomes terror and uncertainty in order to make a dream come true.
That’s not a sales pitch. I’ve read this book cover to cover twice, and I can assure you every word in that text is true. I really, really like this book. And its author who regrettably passed away a few years ago.
Here are some of our favorite excerpts:
“Let me tell you what being an entrepreneur is all about. It’s just one word. Such a simple word: Freedom! Freedom to get your head above the crowd. Freedom to be your own person. Freedom to have an idea, and to turn that idea into a business, and that business into an empire, if you can. Freedom to seek excellence. Freedom to care about your product or service, your people, your customers. And, if it all works—freedom to tell bankers, ‘Get thee to Hell.’”
“When it’s time to raise money—which is a normal state of being for an entrepreneur—never, never agree to give up control. The best outside investor is always another successful entrepreneur. He or she’s been where you are; knows all about dreaming; understands control. Entrepreneurs also make the best directors. Take my word: Next to family, other entrepreneurs are your best shot.”
“In the beginning, during startup, I don’t think an entrepreneur should listen to anybody except his or her innermost self. Now that doesn’t mean that you don’t research the hell out of whatever project you’re working on, nor does it mean that you don’t discuss your idea with anyone who will listen. But in the final analysis, it’s your gut feeling that should have the final vote. That will be your introduction to ‘loneliness’. Get used to it. You’ll live with it all the days of your life.”
One of my favorite chapters is Chapter 5: Are You a Buccaneer or a Farmer? That’s where he explains that there are two kinds of entrepreneurs. He says in conclusion to that chapter that, “It doesn’t make any difference which kind of entrepreneur you are. But, it is vitally important that you truly know which one you are. Don’t try to fool Mother Nature.”
My other favorite is Chapter 6: Entrepreneurial Transition. Here he explains the four transitional phases an entrepreneur must go through to realize his dream—and how important it is to know where you are in order to be prepared for the next phase. The four phases are: Entrepreneurial Genius, Benevolent Dictator, Disassociated Director, and Visionary Leader.
More brilliant quotations from this Entrepreneur Extraordinaire:
“You don’t have to worry about competing with big companies for management talent: They don’t have the kind of people you need.
Owners of small companies, I have found, worry far too much about their ability to compete with large companies in hiring sales and management personnel. The truth is, there shouldn’t be any competition, because entrepreneurial companies should not even consider hiring the kind of people who are attracted to large companies.
Entrepreneurs need employees who are racehorses. We need chargers who can make things happen. We need people who are creative and innovative, and who don’t know what it means to say something can’t be done. It helps if they are workaholics with an excess of nervous energy, and—even better—if they never sleep. But, above all, they can’t be the kind of people who like to follow ‘proper procedures’, or who value security over the thrill of the chase.”
“I’m often criticized for claiming that entrepreneurship is the answer to all small business problems; that I am single-sighted. I confess to that sin. I believe, with every morsel of my being, that no business can long survive without creativity. And creativity cannot exist without freedom. And freedom is just another word for entrepreneurship. The inescapable conclusion therefore is: NO business or economy or country can long survive without freedom—and its offspring, entrepreneurship.”
“I know of no greater sin than for an entrepreneur to conclude that because he or she doesn’t have any experience in advertising, the answer is to go hire someone who does, and delegate that responsibility. It’s OK to let someone run the day-to-day activity, but never, never, let anyone but YOU make key decisions about advertising.”
“How is it possible for two groups of people who are so dependent on each other to distrust, even detest, the other so much? (He’s talking about entrepreneurs on one side, and bankers / venture capitalists / Wall Street on the other). The problem is mindset. Let’s take a moment to compare them: They, the money providers, believe with every morsel of their being that ‘growth’ and ‘profits’ are the same words; that ‘net revenue’ is the only barometer for success. The idea that a business person would pour every dime of potential profit back into growing a company is simply not acceptable.
On the other hand, entrepreneurs know that showing a profit and paying taxes is stupid during the fast-growth years of a company. The word ‘risk’ to the financial community is synonymous with Black Friday, AIDS, the Bubonic Plague and getting fired. To entrepreneurs, ‘risk’ is a way of life—we eat it for breakfast. To entrepreneurs, ‘security’ means the ‘company’, and its continued growth. To them, it means mortgages on homes, liens on everything that’s not nailed down and, above all, ‘personal guarantees. To them, ‘success’ means ‘pay back’. To entrepreneurs, it means footprints in the sands of time. On and on it goes. Mindsets from different worlds.”
Having had a few companies of our own, we say “Amen to that!”
Click on one of the links below to find out more about For Entrepreneurs Only or to order a copy:
(Note: this book is available used only from all three suppliers listed here)
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By Harry Beckwith
ISBN 0-446-52094-2 (252 pages soft cover)
We can’t remember the last time we gave a workshop, breakout session, or seminar when we did not pull out our worn out copy of Harry’s book to read one or two excerpts. And it doesn’t matter if we’re addressing a group of about-to-graduate university students, a firm of accountants or lawyers, or a diverse group of business people at a chamber of commerce breakfast. There’s something in this book for everybody.
We also quoted Mr. Beckwith in my book (A First Serving of Milk & Cookies for Success), in our eWorkbook (Why Should They Do Business With You?) and our most recent eBook (Introductory Class to the eCourse The Art & Science of TOP-networking… for BUSINE$$ SUCCE$$). We quote him everywhere, all the time. He’s that brilliant. Let’s demonstrate.
“It’s not a cold, hard world; it’s just a very busy one.
You know it firsthand: a dozen things compete for your attention, and you have only so much attention to give.
So you must know that your prospects have only so much attention to give, too.
Give them powerful reasons to listen to you, or they will give you only ear service.
They may listen, but they will not hear—and ACT!
Your greatest competition is not your competition. It is indifference.
Many service marketers know this, but few act on it.
Instead of speaking the prospect’s language they speak their own.
The prospect is thinking, “Me, me, me.” Unfortunately, the marketer is thinking that, too.
The two fail to connect.
Few people are particularly interested in what you have to say.
People are interested in themselves.
Until you realize that, you will be beaten badly by your first, and toughest, competitor: indifference.”
WHAT PEOPLE BUY! One Thing Most Experts Don’t Know
“Most companies in expert services—such as lawyers, doctors, and accountants—think that their clients are buying expertise. But most prospects for these complex services cannot evaluate expertise; they cannot tell a really good tax return, a clever motion, or a perceptive diagnosis. But they can tell if the relationship is good and if the phone calls are returned. Clients are experts at knowing if they feel valued.
In most professional services, you are not really selling expertise—because your expertise is assumed, and because your prospect cannot intelligently evaluate your expertise anyway. Instead, you are selling a relationship. And in most cases, that is where you need the most work.
In service marketing and selling, the logical reasons that you should win the business—your competence, your excellence, your talent—just pay the entry fees. Winning is a matter of feelings, and feelings are about personalities, and relationships.”
“Restaurants are NOT in the food business. Restaurants are in the people business, the entertainment business. People go to restaurants for the experience. They even go to great restaurants with great cuisine to see what all the fuss is about, to experience what others have, to see who might be there, and to dress up.
People in the fast-food business used to think they were selling food. Then McDonald’s came along and figured out that people weren’t buying hamburgers. People were buying an experience. Burger King’s brass were sure that McDonald’s was wrong. Knowing they made the flame-broiled burgers that more people preferred, Burger King executives decided to take that unique point of difference and pummel McDonald’s with it: ‘We’re flame-broiled, not fried.’ This pummeling accomplished nothing, because McDonald’s was right: fast-food hamburger restaurants are not in the hamburger business. That’s why it is wise to know what you are really selling, and sell people what they are wanting to buy.”
“Marketing is NOT a department; everyone in your company is responsible for marketing your company. Every employee should know that every act is a marketing act upon which your success depends. Marketing IS your business.”
“America’s great service successes are not the companies that did what others did, but a little better. They are the companies that decided to do things a whole lot differently. ‘Let’s look at what we did last year, and do at least 15 percent better.’ Fifteen percent better works fine—for a time. That time comes when another company comes along and does business 100 percent differently. Don’t just think better: Think different.
STUDY YOUR POINTS OF CONTACT
“To get started, study every point at which your company makes contact with a prospect. Usually you find only a few contact points. Your receptionist. Your business card. Your building/store/office. Your brochure. Your public appearances. A sales call or presentation. Just a few points of contact—the moments that decide whether or not you get the business.
Then, ask: What are we doing to make a phenomenal impression at every point?
Don’t squander one point of contact. It may be your only one. The points of contact continue once the person becomes a client. But again, the moments are surprisingly few. A call here and there. A meeting now and then. A few points of contact. Did you get everything possible from those points of contact? Did the client feel respected, amazed, impressed, delighted? Study each point of contact. Then improve each one—significantly.”
“People will trust their eyes far before they will ever trust your words.
Look at your business card. Your office. Your shoes. Your car.
What do your visibles say about the invisible thing you are trying to sell?
Watch what you show!”
Click on one of the links below to find out more Selling the Invisible about or to order a copy:
(Note: this book is available new and used from all three suppliers listed here)
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By Tom Peters
ISBN 0-375-40157-1 (518 pages Hardcover)
We’re certain by now (2006) everyone who is reading these lines knows of Tom Peters. Just in case, let us list his bestselling books:
Leadership (2005), Design (2005), Talent (2005), Trends (2005), Re-Imagine! (2003), The Project 50 (1999), The Professional Service Firm 50 (1999), The Brand You 50 (1999), Seuss-isms for Success (1999), The Circle of Innovation (1997), The Pursuit of WOW! (1994), The Tom Peters Seminar (1993), Liberation Management (1992), Thriving on Chaos (1988), A passion for Excellence (1985), In Search of Excellence (1982).
Any of these sound familiar? Many should. Particularly the two on Excellence.
Now, a few words about Tom Peters, and then we’ll get to the book. Here’s what’s been said about Mr. Peters recently (last 5 years):
“Tom Peters feels business in his gut. He moves when he sees opportunity. He hurts when he sees mediocrity. He exults when he sees innovation… Tom takes an idea and turns it into what others can’t.”
“In no small part, what American corporations have become is what Tom Peters has encouraged them to be.”
Now, about the book: first, the content. Here are the titles of the ___ chapters, and what they’re about.
Distance is Dead: We’re all next-door neighbors. Incrementalism is innovation’s worst enemy. Mid-to-long-term: Business is about augmenting the top line… not cost minimization.
Destruction Is Cool!: CDO… Chief Destruction Officer. It’s easier to KILL an organization—and repot it—than change it substantially. DESTRUCTION is job #1 (before the competition does it to you).
You Can’t Live Without an Eraser: Forgetting—not learning—is the highest art. Think: ORGANIZED forgetting. STRATEGIC forgetfulness. Ready. FIRE! Aim.
We Are All Michelangelos: Transform every ‘jobholder’ into a full-fledged businessperson. Convert every job into a BUSINESS. “Business” is a very different—and more encompassing—word than “empowerment”. Boss as… relentless architect of the possibilities of human beings.
Welcome to the White-collar Revolution: If you can’t say (SPECIFICALLY) why you make your company a better place… YOU ARE OUT! As of now, it’s ME, INC!/take immediate responsibility for change!/ YOU (me) ARE A BRAND. Time to perform a personal brand equity evaluation… now!
All Value Comes from the Professional Services: How to convert sluggish staff units into Vital Centers of Intellectual Capital Accumulation… rather than the prime sources of bureaucratic drag.
The Intermediary Is Doomed: (Big) organizations without employees. EVERY task your organization performs is performed BETTER (higher quality, faster, more imaginatively) by some hyper-fast specialist (somewhere) who lives / eats / sleeps / breathes the narrow task.
The System Is the Solution: How to build great systems—which go far beyond nuts and bolts.
Create Waves of Lust: Quality is no longer the automatic advantage it recently was. There is a pressing need to reverse the rising tide of product and service “commoditization”. Embrace WOW! / lusted-after products and services! The ultimate sin: When we do it “RIGHT”, it’s still pretty ORDINARY.
Tommy Hilfiger Knows: In a (very) crowded marketplace, branding is far more important then ever before. It IS the age of the brand! Anything can be branded (e.g., chicken, milk…).
Become a Connoisseur of Talent: Recruit diversity! Hire crazies! Make revolutionary renewal everyone’s (literal) Job No. 1.
It’s a Woman’s World: Women purchase / are purchasing agents for well over half of U.S. commercial and consumer goods. Almost no BigCo. “gets it”—financial services, healthcare, autos, business services, etc., etc. WHY??? It takes TOTAL TRANSFORMATION—not a “woman’s initiative”—to take advantage of this bizarrely neglected COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITY NO. 1.
Little Things Are the Only Things: As the Blight of Sameness encroaches on market after market, design is often the best tool in services or manufacturing for sustainable differentiation.
Love All, Serve All: Even today (WHY? WHY? WHY?) a ridiculously small number of sizable firms seek a sustainable edge through incredible service—Disney-or-Caterpillar-style. To get from (tawdry) here to (Olympian) there takes a wholesale commitment to nothing less than re-conceiving the way business is done in your market / niche.
We’re Here to Live Out Loud: Why transformational leaders of the future must have laser-like focus, tell the truth, and live on the lunatic fringe. Revolutionary times call for revolutionary zeal / leaders!
Is there a possibility you might find in these 15 ideas / chapters something of interest that could help you improve one or seven aspects of your business?
This book is energetic… and profound. It aims for the grain, the heart, and the soul. It can transform your organization, your career, yourself.
And we’re not saying anything about the design of the book, the full page illustrations, the use of capital letters and big, BIGGGGGGG font size! Remember the Olds ad that used to claim “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile”? Well, this is not your father’s business book! Not even close. Just make sure you get the hardcover edition for the full effect.
Click on one of the links below to find out more about The Circle of Innovation or to order a copy:
(Note: this book is available new and used from all three suppliers listed here)
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By Tom Peters
ISBN 0-7894-9647-X (352 Full-color pages Hardcover)
We saved this one for dessert. For one thing, it’s the ‘tastiest’, most entertaining, most beautiful of book of the lot. Probably the most spectacular business book ever produced. But then again, it’s from Tom Peters. He has the knowledge, the team, the finances. So why not put a book that rivals in colors and design the coffee-table books on painters, or the Rockies, or Museums of the World. It’s absolutely… spectacular! There’s no other word.
Let’s pause for a second while we check the definition of the word spectacular, just to make sure it’s the appropriate word; striking, amazing, lavish, wonderful, impressive, astonishing, astounding, dazzling, razzle-dazzle, remarkable, sensational, staggering, striking, stunning, stupendous. Yep, it’s the right word!
And those words just describe the look and feel of the book. We’ve not started to talk about the content yet.
And you know what? We won’t. We’ve been yapping for over 20 pages already. This book is beyond our capacity of description. So, to help you get an idea of how much a must-read this book is, we’ll get help from the four corners of the world. As you will read, Tom Peters is not a North American phenomenon.
Let’s start with Seth Godin, the author of bestsellers like Purple Cow, Permission Marketing, Free Prize Inside, and The Big Red Fez:
“Tom Peters is the father of everything we know about work. And this book is the ultimate expression of his selfless quest to get us to WAKE UP, to innovate, to see what's unseen and do what needs to be done. The book is noisy, busy, brilliant, loud, insightful... a visual and verbal riot that can't be read on just one shuttle flight. Sort of a cross between a coffee table book and a Freudian analysis session...
Hey—if traditional business books haven't been powerful enough, remarkable enough or in-our-face enough to have the right impact, this is the next tool of choice.
I love Tom. You will too.”
Next we’ll hear from Maninder Pal Singh of New Delhi, India:
“I was introduced to Tom Peters when I was in College (10 years back). I first read his book "Seminar". Thereafter I have never missed any of his books. These books have been very instrumental in my career.
Actually Tom Peters is just an observer, he observes & tell what has gone right & what has not with reasons. His books are not a management theory (unlike Drucker), he just gives you some food for thoughts. My recommendation is that if you are reading his book, don't read it more than 4-5 pages at a time then stop, take notes, think about how you can use it in your perspective.
The book "RE-IMAGINE" is a complete TOM PETERS Encyclopedia. It has some new things & some old writing from his books Pursuit of Wow, The Project 50, The Brand You 50, The Professional Service Firm50, The Circle of Innovation. If I were to name this book I would have named it as Best of Tom Peters.”
Let’s make a skip and a hop over to Gentofte, Denmark, and read what Allan Skovmand has to say:
“Tom is my favorite, especially when he’s mad! And mad he is. This book is far from academic but it has a good sarcastic and sometimes humoristic tone. I am sure that Tom (if he ever reads this) will deny EVER being humoristic in this book—but I choose to read it like this. I am a light-headed fellow. It has a very disturbing design—it reminds me of early web pages on the Internet. Structure and colour and yet no structure and what are those colours for? Reading it the 3rd time the design makes sense. You will see your favourite quotes pop out from the text and then it gets useful.
Tom says the same as he has said for quite some years now. He has become surer of himself as it seems he is often right in many of his predictions. He is a great source of inspiration but don't expect to get respect from your boss if he sees this book on your desk. Either he has read it himself and will make a joke about it—or he will be afraid what changes you will propose to his strategy and management style during the near future. Just for this one reason—go get a copy and learn how Al Qaida can inspire you in how to organize your company (Sorry Tom, I couldn't help it).”
Finally, we have a Mr. Rhodes from Sydney, Australia:
“As a budding entrepreneur I've read a lot of business books in the past 4 years. So I can't quite understand how it is that I've never read a Tom Peters’ book until now. This is an absolutely fantastic book that covers so much ground. Design, boomers, marketing to women, sales, Talent, branding and of course the future.
This is not only crammed full of content it is an absolute pleasure to read. The design of this book is wonderful—not at all what you'd expect for a 'business' book. Colour & loads of it, sidebars on every page linked to the main text, images that complement, and stories galore.
I normally read with a highlighter, you know `just the important stuff' to aid re-reading & wisdom-retention. That's the only bad thing about this book—you can't shorten it, summarize it or give the highlights. There's just so much on every page. Examples, stories, links to books or people or web pages.
The future is going to be vastly different than most of us have been preparing for—there aren't many better guides than Tom Peters (Seth Godin, Dan Sullivan & Ricardo Semlar would be my pick alongside Mr. Peters).
Read this book. Please!”
We’re not going to add to that. If you’re not convinced to go check this book out after hearing from fans from the four corners of the world, there’s not much we could say that’ll make you buy a copy. And that will be too bad.
Click on one of the links below to find out more about Re-Imagine! or to order a copy:
(note: this book is available new and used from all three suppliers listed here)
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Alright, you’ve been waiting long enough. Here are the solutions to the two exercises we mentioned previously.
“About the Roman numeral IX:
Some people put an horizontal line through the center, turn it upside down, and then cover the bottom. This gives you a Roman numeral VI. A more artistic solution might be to put ‘S’ in front of the IX to create ‘SIX’. What we’ve done here is take the IX out of the context of Roman numerals and put it in the context of ‘Arabic numerals spelled out in English.’ The thing that prevents some people from doing this is that even with only three examples of Roman numerals—VII, VIII, and IX—they get locked into the context of Roman numerals.
Another solution might be to add the line ‘6’ after the IX. Then you get IX6, or one times six. Here the ‘X’ no longer represents ‘10’ or the English letter ‘X’ but rather the multiplication sign. Everyone has a lot of knowledge; by shifting the contexts in which you think about it, you’ll discover new ideas.
And speaking of ‘shifting contexts’ and ‘getting ideas,’ how did you do with crossing out six letters?
Many people look at the problem and say, ‘Okay, here’s a string of 16 letters, and to solve this problem I should cross out 6 of them. That means I’m looking for a 10-letter word.’ And that’s what they spend their time looking for. One way to solve this problem is to interpret the instructions with an ambiguous attitude. What else could ‘cross out six letters’ mean? Perhaps, instead of crossing out 6 letters, you literally crossed out the ‘S’ and the ‘I’ and the ‘X’ and so on. If you try this approach, you’ll be left with the word: BANANA.
There is at least one other solution to this problem. If you choose six different letters—say B-S-A-I-N and X—and cross them out every time they appear, you would end up with the word: LETTER.”
We told you this was going to get your juices going. Wasn’t this just mind-boggling? We know we probably made this next suggestion a couple of times already, but GO GET THESE TWO BOOKS, N-O-W!
Good reading, and much success in all your personal and professional endeavors!
To BUSINE$$ SUCCE$$ for all!
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