Book Reviews

Creating Competitive Advantage By Jaynie L. Smith

Creating Competitive Advantage was published in April 2006 by Doubleday and hit Amazon’s best-sellers list within two months of being released. Jaynie Smith’s first book is in its 13th printing and still receives commendable reviews and praise. Select reviews are listed below.

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  • Compelling! The clarity in which Jaynie presents her message is particularly valuable. Finding and using your competitive advantage is the key to not only survival but more importantly, profitable survival.

    Chuck Lillis
  • In a world where most and I mean MOST selling is irrelevant selling, Jaynie Smith’s Relevant Selling can mean the difference to you between profit and loss. My head is spinning with the wisdom in her book.

    Jay Conrad Levinson
  • As an attendee of Jaynie’s Smith’s keynote speech during Chemcraft’s national distributor meeting in Ft. Lauderdale early this year, I enthusiastically endorse and recommend Jaynie as a speaker. A key reason for my Chemcraft meeting attendance was to hear Jaynie speak and learn more about the Smart Advantage research approach. Her content was widely interesting to attendees, who were owners or leaders of their respective businesses. I found Jaynie’s content to be informative, innovative and entertaining. Hearing Jaynie speak cemented E.B. Bradley Company’s interest in engaging her Firm in a project to identify competitive advantages and execute against those findings. I highly recommend Jaynie as a speaker.

    Mike Scallon, Director of Marketing, E.B. Bradley Co. – Chemcraft/Akzonobel
  • Jaynie’s presentation was one of the top-rated presentations at our meeting, both in terms of content value and presentation effectiveness.

    Kate Seward; Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe 2014 Marketing Leadership Conference
  • Relevant Selling is a playbook for all times, all geographies, and all products and services. It is universal in its wisdom and makes that wisdom crystal clear.

    Richard A. D’Aveni
  • So many companies think that differentiation is the key to success. It isn’t. The key is knowing how to articulate what’s different or better about your product. Creating Competitive Advantage is a must-have for any CEO’s library.

    David Neelemas
  • Outstanding! Jaynie L. Smith provided a memorable speech to the graduate business students by sharing her unique views on creating a competitive advantage, as well as her real industry experience. Ms. Smith encouraged students to relate to the topic by focusing on how they can create a competitive advantage for themselves when starting their careers. The students really appreciated her time and have come to understand the value in creating a competitive advantage!

    Catalina Victoria, President, Graduate Business Student Association Nova Southeastern University
  • I found Jaynie Smith’s book to be very informative and practical. It inspired me to DO something, rather than just contemplate theory. That is why I called her to engage an activity for our company. We so often talk about what we do right – why we are special – but it is generally from our own internal perspective. This activity forced us to realize that what our customers think is truly our ‘reality’ – and we need to meet their expectations regardless of whether we agree with them or not. I have found this exercise to be incredibly helpful in explaining a ‘marketing’ concept to the rest of my company. I am very pleased with the tremendous support and effort I have seen from all departments and leadership toward making changes based on the results of Jaynie’s work.

    Mary Ann Tournoux
  • Throughout my ‘athletic’ sales career, I have held positions with companies like Nike, Stride Rite and Sketchers before making my move to Puma. In all that time, I was never exposed to a training session like [Jaynie Smith] conducted for us on Friday. In that short time, your presentation truly made me think about how I pursued my business and through your suggestions and exercises, made me rethink/revise my ‘old ways’ of attacking / maintaining my customer base – Thank you!

    Brian Stark, Director of Sales – Computer Design and Integration, LLC
  • In this highly readable book, Jaynie Smith makes a compelling case for why you’re almost certainly mistaken if you think that your company’s sales and marketing pitches are relevant to customers.

    Jim McElgunn
  • A relevant competitive advantage gives buyers a reason to choose you over your competition.

    Jaynie L. Smith
  • Jaynie Smith’s Relevant Selling is the perfect complement to her first book, Creating Competitive Advantage. She challenges you to think like your customer.

    Matthew R. Dionne
  • Ninety percent of the information used in organizations is internally focused and only ten percent is about the outside environment. This is exactly backwards.

    Peter Drucker
  • You helped out 34 people who were at the event in more ways than you can imagine. We all became better people that day. We all listened intently and are making great strides to change our marketing approaches. I even have my advertising company working with me now to create a questionnaire and get that in the hands of my clients… so that we do not become the commodity you clearly got through our brains.

    Susan V. Daywitt, CEO SLM Facility Solutions Nationwide
  • Smith’s elegant little book should be mandatory reading for all entrepreneurs.

    Richard Pachter