The number one question I’m asked is: “How can I create and own a unique position in the market?”
It’s an important question because when you know the answer a whole bunch of things fall into place like dominoes falling over each other. For instance, you can then easily determine:
And it all comes down to these two words: Know Thyself. In other words,
What Are You Really, Really Great At?
Let me give you an example based on a client conversation this week.
The client is a master at strategy and he works with large organisations to deliver this. And as he says, strategy is not planning and it’s not tactics. Strategy is about mapping a direction when you don’t know which way to go. Tactics and Planning come after this. Once you have your strategy you can plot tactics and you can create action plans.
So, what should he focus on? That’s right, strategy. What should he not focus on? That’s right, tactics and planning.
Next, who should he promote and sell his services to? People who are strategic. Not people who are tactical. A great target audience is therefore CEOs and people involved in big picture thinking. I’d suggest he avoid those managers at other levels who deal with tactics and planning.
Then, how should he be offering his services? When you deal with tactics and planning you can offer a bunch of tips and tricks that can be applied quickly and easily. However, when you deal with strategy, you need to shift to process. As a generalisation, this means he should be offering longer consulting projects to deliver his process. The quick fix is not in his repertoire.
And, this can be made even more specific. If he wanted to deliver keynote presentations to conferences the strategic position would be to talk about process with a handful of case studies. Whereas people who are focussed on tactics can talk about the five ways to… The trap is to think one is sexier than the other because the key to success is to be great at what you’re great at.
And, this is the key to creating and owning a unique market position. When you know your strengths you can play to them. And, mostly ignore the rest.
My Golden Rule: The better you know yourself, the better you can position yourself.
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