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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• Presently one of the most influential books in the business world.

  BookJive.com

• Smith’s elegant little book should be mandatory reading for all entrepreneurs.

  Richard Pachter

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• Relevant Selling is cleverly practical and extraordinarily insightful. The straightforward style of Ms. Smith makes this invaluable book a must read for every business person.

  Seraina Maag

• 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

• 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

• Relevant Selling very effectively reveals that a company’s self-image can blind it to the realities of the marketplace, and that customers are attracted to (or repelled by) features that the company may not consider to be important. You need to look outside of yourself and make a proactive effort to learn what your marketplace demands, and respond to it. To me, a business book really resonates when its message goes beyond the narrow intention of the book. This one does.

  Thomas Hauck

• Relevant Selling is a solid business book that every company can benefit from. From the first chapter you will nod your head and say “yes” that is what we need to do in order to resonate with our customers! Jaynie’s writing style is a terrific combination of practical ideas and examples which are plentiful and meaningful. You will definitely use Relevant Selling as a reference book for decades to come as it forces every business to evaluate their point of differential which can only be a benefit in the current and future economic environment.

  Merrill Dubrow

• In Relevant Selling, the author clearly shows why it is very likely that there is much we do not know about our customers, and why what we do not know can quickly make our organizations irrelevant. Fortunately, she also provides many examples and strategies for how an organization can learn what truly is relevant to our customers and prospects, and how to retain that way. The leaders of any organization who want to do a better job selling their products or services can benefit from Smith’s (no relation) relevant insights.

  R. Bob Smith III

• 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

• If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete.

  Jack Welch