Strategic Planning - the power of uniqueness

This is the third in a series of short articles about how to increase the power of your strategic planning

3. Be different

On the surface, it's obvious that you want your company to be different. But look at your company with a more objective eye - just how differently do your customers see you? One of the interesting things we've discovered from years of doing strategic planning with companies in many different industries is that being truly different is usually more important than being better. This is because everyone claims to be better - but few companies have the courage to be truly different.

Using the strategic competency tools in the Simplified Strategic Planning process, you should be able to identify some ways that you can distinguish your company from the competition. My challenge to you is to ask this simple question: What would happen if we turned this up a notch? Or even, how far could we turn this up? Can we expand upon our difference to the point that our competitors simply walk away, shaking their heads? I always like to ask this question, because - and this is the important part - if you can get your competitors to walk away, then you will not have any competition.

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