What’s Your True Competitive Advantage? Try Again

Jim McElgunn, writer ProfitGuide.com, September 24, 2012
Chances are you’re marketing benefits your customers don’t really care about. Here’s how to define your true competitive differentiator

Competitive-advantage specialist Jaynie Smith has a blunt message for business owners: whatever your sales messages focus on, it’s almost certainly not what your customers care most about.

Smith, president of Smart Advantage Inc., a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based consultancy, was speaking at the annual PROFIT 200 CEO Summit. She told the audience of chief executives from Canada’s Fastest-Growng Companies that 95% of sellers don’t address the factors that customers consider the most important in their buying decisions. “There’s a dangerous disparity between what companies think their customers value and what their customers actually value,” she says. If you don’t focus on what most matters to customers, they’ll be far more likely to buy based on price. Read More