by Paul Simister
on November 17, 2020
How do you differentiate your business?
You answer the 7 big questions of business success in a way that is distinctive:
- Who?
- What?
- How?
- Where?
- When?
- Why?
- How Much?
Is differentiating your business really that simple?
Yes and No.
These questions are an immensely powerful way to design your business to be different from your competitors.
But, while you have the ideas and answers, it’s not your opinion that matters in the end.
Your potential customers have the power to reward a well-designed and differentiated business.
And to get your reward, you need to motivate them by appealing to their self-interest.
You’ve probably seen the letters WIIFM before if you read business blogs.
They stand for “What’s In It For Me?”
It’s a question you must keep in your mind at all times because if you don’t, your market will ignore you.
You need to answer the 7 big questions of business success by looking through your customers eyes to make sure that what you are doing is adding value to them and strengthening your relationship.
by Paul Simister
on April 11, 2011
I love South Africa but hate the ten or eleven hour flight. We’d also love to visit Australia and New Zealand but that’s more than twice as bad.
I was interested to read that Air New Zealand have introduced a new way for economy class passengers to travel in economy class.
It’s called Skycoach and is available on the Boeing 777-300ER.
It turns the window, middle and aisle seats into a single space which the airline calls a couch designed for two. The armrests are stowed away and the leg-rests rise to fill the foot-wells to create what you might think of as a flat-bed (except that it’s a little narrower than the luxury beds at the front of the plane.)
It’s a tight squeeze for two people to cuddle up.
I’m not sure it’s right for me – I’m just too big (but it’s not the time for me to rant about size-ist policies).
But I do think it’s a creative solution to an irritating problem and I wish Air New Zealand well with it.
I’d say that this is differentiation by how.
You’re still flying from A to B and arriving at the same time so the basic service is the same. But how you are doing it is that bit different and hopefully more comfortable.
