Collapse of Distinction: Stand out and move up while your competition fails (NelsonFree) (Hardcover)

~ Scott McKain (Author)

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Can your customers tell the difference between you and the competition?

It's not that we can't see the forest for the trees, it's just that these days, every tree looks exactly alike. From big box retail to fast food to insurance-no one stands out. Distinction has collapsed into beige uniformity. And in today's tough economic times, this copycat uniformity is resulting in the death of businesses in every industry, says author Scott McKain.

If a business is going to thrive, it has to rise above the fray. In The Collapse of Distinction, McKain will help you understand the reasons behind the current quagmire of stifling sameness, and will give you the tools your company needs to step away from the competition.

Endorsements

"In challenging economic times, this is the one book every business owner MUST read. Collapse of Distinction is further evidence that Scott McKain is the premiere business communicator of our time. Not only has Scott produced extraordinary results in his own businesses by adhering to these principles, but he makes it simple for you to do so as well. By following the easily applied concepts from Collapse of Distinction, you will set the standard of excellence for your industry and make your competition irrelevant." -- Joseph Michelli, PhD, speaker, consultant, and author of The Starbucks Experience, The New Gold Standard, and When Fish Fly

"Differentiation is not an option in business. In a world where the word 'commodity' has become the norm, Scott McKain clarifies the all-important (and all-profitable) strategy to become different, become distinct, and become dominant in your marketplace. Buy this book. Read it. And put it into practice." -- Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Little Red Book of Selling

"The primary need today is to constantly present ourselves as different from-and better than-those we compete with! Scott McKain's latest book, Collapse of Distinction, is a must-read for any professional or organization attempting to creatively differentiate from the competition. I predict this book will be a massive hit!" -- Don Hutson, co-author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The One Minute Entrepreneur, and CEO of U. S. Learning

"In these uncertain economic times, we need new and refreshing ideas about how to move forward. Scott McKain's Collapse of Distinction may just save our sanity and common sense with his positive approach to business and life itself." -- Joe Bonsall, thirty-five year member of legendary music group, The Oak Ridge Boys, and author of the best-selling book G.I. Joe and Lillie

"I could not stop reading…making notes…writing our staff and our suppliers…about the ideas I've learned! (And this was just by the end of Chapter One!) With superb style, storytelling, and rationale, Collapse of Distinction is a distinctive piece of business and personal literature."  --Ty Boyd, Founder and Chairman, Executive Learning Systems

"If I can't tell the difference between you and your competitor, why should I spend my money with you? The answer to that question is the key to your survival and success. Scott McKain's new book teaches how to answer that question-the right way!"  --Larry Winget, television personality and New York Times best-selling author of People Are Idiots and I Can Prove It

About the Author

Scott McKain formerly served as Vice Chairman of a dynamic holding company that was named one of the "fastest growing companies" in America. He is also the Co-founder and Principal of The Value Added Institute, a think-tank that examines the role of the customer experience in creating significant advances in the level of client loyalty. He has been honored with induction into the "Professional Speakers Hall of Fame" -- and is a member of the "Speakers Roundtable," an elite group of twenty business speakers considered by many to be among the best in the world. His client list for speeches, seminars and consulting is a "Who's Who" of corporations (such as GE, IBM, Phillips, and hundreds more). He has appeared on platforms in all fifty states of the US and fourteen countries. Scott also makes appearances on FOX News Channel and other major media outlets as an expert commentator. Scott, his wife, Tammy, and sons Corbin and Faron Byler live in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (March 31, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595551859
• ISBN-13: 978-1595551856
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #183,966 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to create a "business of distinction" by creating "ultimate experiences" for customers, April 25, 2009

By	Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (VINE VOICE)

Whenever I meet with a prospective consulting client in need of help with marketing, I always pose three basic questions that consumers tend to ask: Who are you? What do you do? Why should I care? The third question is the most important because one of the greatest challenges that organizations now face is to differentiate themselves and their products and services from competitors. In this volume, Scott McKain provides a wealth of information and counsel that can help decision-makers in almost any organization (regardless of size or nature) to "stand out and move up while [the] competition fails." In the introduction, he asks a basic question of his own: "Can your customers tell the difference between you and your competition?" In some instances, the answer is "no. "In other instances, the answer is "I have no idea." And in still other instances, the answer is "Yes, unfortunately." Whatever the response, the fact remains that - with rapidly increased commoditization and expanded globalization -- competition in almost every marketplace has become ferocious and is certain to become moreso. McKain provides a roadmap for understanding how the phenomenon of "sameness" happened and what to do in response to it. His function is to serve as a guide to assist his reader during efforts to make her or his business distinct in the marketplace. He outlines and discusses various strategies that, if executed effectively, can help to make a significant and (key word) sustainable difference to his reader's own customers and he succeeds brilliantly.

Distinction (or differentiation) initiatives must be based on a solid foundation. McCain identifies four and devotes a separate chapter to each: total Clarity about who and what the organization is...and isn't, exemplified by Starbucks; continuous Creativity that is nurtured and supported at all levels and in all areas of the enterprise, exemplified by Enterprise Rent-a-Car; effective Communication that makes maximum use of storytelling, exemplified by High Point University; and a razor-sharp Customer Experience Focus, as exemplified by Nordstrom and Ritz-Carlton. On average, most of us receive about 2,500 messages each day from various sources (e.g. print and electronic media as well as interaction with others) and experience what McCain characterizes as "The Ebert Effect," inspired by what film critic once observed: "When you are overwhelmed with such boring similarity, you begin to perceive that [begin italics] different is better! [end italics]" According to McCain, the Ebert Effect occurs when people, from their perspective, "are inundated with indistinguishable choices, they perceive a product, service, approach, or experience with a specific point of differentiation to be superior."

The comments just quoted really caught my eye because, if I fully understand their significance (and I may not), they indicate that it is possible to be crystal clear about who and what your organization, product, service, etc. is (and isn't) and not necessarily be distinctive. The same is true when using storytelling to communicate effectively. The "message" could come through loud and clear that, in fact, your organization, product, service, etc. is no different from any others in its category. With regard to being creative, obviously there are limits to how "creative" it is possible to be about anything inherently or by nature "commonplace." In that event, what to do?

According to McKain, "you need to create what I have been (for more than two decades) calling the `Ultimate Customer Experience' (UCE)."How to do that? Here's the process that McKain recommends. First, ask this question: "What would happen if [begin italics] everything [end italics] went exactly right?" Next, if at all possible and to the extent possible, involve your clients in the process of creating the UCE. Ask them "If you could describe the ultimate experience of doing business with an organization like ours, what would that be?" The additional steps as well as these are best discussed with the narrative, in context. The key point is, that almost any organization, product, service, and even individual can "stand out" (i.e. have distinction, be differentiated) if there is at least one of the four cornerstones (preferably more and ideally all) in place.

Scott McKain invites readers in need of additional resources to visit the Web site for this book at http://CreateDistinction.com. He also recommends a number of books to which I add his previously published ALL Business Is Show Business and What Customers REALLY Want as well as Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force co-authored by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba, Marty Neumeier's The Brand Gap: Expanded Edition and then Zag: The Number One Strategy of High-Performance Brands, and finally, Experiential Marketing: How to Get Customers to Sense, Feel, Think, Act, Relate co-authored by Bernd Schmitt and Alex Simonson.

* * *

I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Thomas Nelson for introducing its "Nelsonfree" products. Those who purchase this one or any other books in the series can go to www.thomasnelson.com/nelsonfree, provide a name, e-mail address, and an ISBN number (this book's ISBN-13: 978-1595551856), answer a simple security question, and download free content that includes an ebook and an audio version.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceeding Customers' Expectations, October 31, 2009

By	Larry Underwood "Author, 'Life Under the Corp... (Scottsdale, AZ) - See all my reviews

Enterprise Rent-a-Car Founding Father, Jack Taylor, created an empire by putting customer service above everything else. His philosophy was simple (but not necessarily "easy"): Always deliver more than you promise, and always strive to exceed customers' expectations. It worked; Enterprise grew from being a small start-up company in 1957 to become the largest and most profitable car rental company in the world by the early '90s.

Clearly, what Jack Taylor managed to accomplish is what the author, Scott McKain is advocating in this terrific book. To be a dominant force in the market place, a company needs to successfully stand out from its competitors; by aggressively providing real value for its customers and marketing that competitive advantage to leverage growth, success stories like Enterprise Rent-a-Car happen.

During tough economic times (such as these), the ability to stand out from the crowd is critical for long-term survival. Master the techniques McKain provides, and a company will not only survive; it will thrive.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Scott McKain's Collapse of Distinction, June 22, 2009

By	Annie Galvin Teich (Greensboro, NC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"People are craving, even coveting, distinction. Being different, standing out, getting noticed in a sea of sameness is vital to an organization's sustained growth and profitability...businesses that stand out `provide a service of perceived higher value to buyers."

This is the basic premise of Collapse of Distinction by Scott McKain. Each of us can list on one hand the times and companies that have delivered to us a customer experience that was memorable or distinctive. Why is that? The author argues that it is because businesses, for the most part, are focused on achieving their sales goals and not on creating value for the customer. "It is overwhelming how many companies focus on not losing to the competition rather than on delivering what customers really want."

In McKain's opinion, the truly successful companies are focused on providing value to the customer at every point of the relationship. There is a difference between customer service and creating the "ultimate customer experience." Even if you implement "customer-focused" strategies - "distinction is created by developing a customer experience focus. In other words, concentrating on customers is not enough if you want to become a true market leader. You must take it to an even higher level and focus on the creation of experiences for your clients and prospects."

Imagine a three-leveled pyramid with "sameness" at the bottom (the largest group); differentiation in the middle (a smaller group); and distinction at the top of the pyramid - the most select group. The author uses Apple and its line of MacBooks as an example of company who has achieved distinction. They have created their own category - separate and distinct from any other group. McKain calls this the `Ebert Effect' named after the film critic Roger Ebert.

"The Ebert Effect: When people, from their perspective, are inundated with indistinguishable choices, they perceive a product, service, approach, or experience with a specific point of differentiation to be superior."

McKain reminds us at several points that it doesn't matter what we believe about our product or service. The customer's perception is the only thing that matters.

"Product focused companies have diminished their value because their "customers focus less on the facts about the products and more on their customer experience and on how they feel about dealing with you."

There is not a lot to argue with in McKain's theory. It makes sense. It strikes a chord. It reminds us of those handful of times when we've had a unique and distinctive customer experience. Understanding it and delivering it are clearly two different things. There are so few companies that do it well. That's what makes it notable when it happens.

Creating a company of distinction must be an integral part of every action of the company. McKain reminds us that it must be embedded in the company from the vision to the execution. It is not a separate function. He challenges us to examine our people, our strategies, our processes and our abilities to create compelling relationships with our customers.

Because, here is the end goal: to create a business that delivers customer experiences that are so compelling that customer loyalty and profitability are guaranteed. Easier said than done, of course, but well worth the effort. Invest a little time in Collapse of Distinction. It will challenge your thinking about your own company.