Creating Competitive Advantage: Give Customers a Reason to Choose You Over Your Competitors [Hardcover]

Jaynie L. Smith (Author), William G. Flanagan (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 25, 2006

Why should I do business with you… and not your competitor?
Whether you are a retailer, manufacturer, distributor, or service provider – if you cannot answer this question, you are surely losing customers, clients and market share. This eye-opening book reveals how identifying your competitive advantages (and trumpeting them to the marketplace) is the most surefire way to close deals, retain clients, and stay miles ahead of the competition.

The five fatal flaws of most companies:

• They don’t have a competitive advantage but think they do
• They have a competitive advantage but don’t know what it is—so they lower prices instead
• They know what their competitive advantage is but neglect to tell clients about it
• They mistake “strengths” for competitive advantages
• They don’t concentrate on competitive advantages when making strategic and operational decisions

The good news is that you can overcome these costly mistakes – by identifying your competitive advantages and creating new ones. Consultant, public speaker, and competitive advantage expert Jaynie Smith will show you how scores of small and large companies substantially increased their sales by focusing on their competitive advantages. When advising a CEO frustrated by his salespeople’s inability to close deals, Smith discovered that his company stayed on schedule 95 percent of the time – an achievement no one else in his industry could claim. By touting this and other competitive advantages to customers, closing rates increased by 30 percent—and so did company revenues.

Jack Welch has said, “If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete.” This straight-to-the-point book is filled with insightful stories and specific steps on how to pinpoint your competitive advantages, develop new ones, and get the message out about them. 

Editorial Reviews

Review

"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 Neeleman, CEO, JetBlue Airways

"Jaynie Smith presents you with the most valuable marketing edge you can ever have -- and it won't cost you one cent… Just be sure that you unleash it before your competitors do… The sooner you read [Creating Competitive Advantage], the sooner you'll profit from it."
-- Jay Conrad Levinson, author of Guerrilla Marketing

"Any book that tells you how to be different from your competitors is worth reading. It's what good strategy is all about. Creating Competitive Advantage is just such a book."
-- Jack Trout, author of Trout on Strategy

“With engaging writing, telling insights, and inescapable logic, Jaynie Smith shows us how Creating Competitive Advantage is key to a successful business.”
-- Robert B. Cialdini, author of Influence: Science & Practice

“Creating Competitive Advantage is a weapon every business person needs in their arsenal to survive in today’s tough world.”
–Jack Stack, President & CEO, SRC Holdings Corp., author of The Great Game of Business

Jaynie Smith’s experience as an advisor to scores of CEO’s has been distilled in this comprehensive look at sound competitive strategies. It’s back to the basics, an exercise every business needs to revisit!”
-- Clark Johnson, former CEO, Pier I Imports

"Compelling! The clarity with which Jaynie Smith presents her message is particularly valuable because the concept is, among business leaders, frequently discussed but often understood only superficially.  Finding and using your advantage is the key to not only survival but more importantly, attractively profitable survival. Should be required reading for business leaders."
— Chuck Lillis, former CEO, MediaOne

About the Author

JAYNIE L. SMITH is the founder of ICS Marketing, and president of Smart Advantage, Inc., a management consultancy whose clients include hundreds of middle-market businesses. She also serves as the Florida chair for the Executive Committee (TEC), an international network of over 11,000 CEO. She resides in Hollywood, Florida. WILLIAM G. FLANAGAN has been a writer and editor at Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Esquire, and New York magazine. His last book was Dirty Rotten CEOs (Citadel).

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Crown Business (April 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385517092
• ISBN-13: 978-0385517096
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.9 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #231,194 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jaynie L. Smith is Founder and CEO of Smart Advantage, Inc., a marketing/management consultancy whose clients range from mid-sized companies to Fortune 500 companies. Her company has taught CEOs in over 400 industries how to uncover and use competitive advantage in their sales and marketing messaging. She consults nationally and internationally with many CEOs and C-suite level executives in helping businesses define their competitive advantages. Her 40,000 plus hours experience consulting CEOs & 17 Top Performer Awards for CEO coaching are visible in the results that her clients get.

Her clients experience double-digit growth within 6-12 months after implementing the Smart Advantage process. Once a company can answer the question, "What is your #1 Competitive Advantage?" they can effectively sell a truly significant value proposition.

She has served as a keynote speaker for numerous associations and is transforming businesses all over the world with her message of finding their competitive advantage. Her presentation is rich in content, focused on providing a new way to understand business, and delivers new tools to compete more effectively. She is personal, humorous, and uses real examples of well-known companies.

To learn more information about Smart Advantage's service please visit www.SmartAdvantage.com or call 954-763-5757.

For public workshops, lead by Jaynie L. Smith on competitive advantage, please visit www.competitiveadvantageworkshops.com

If you are looking to learn more about Jaynie L. Smith please visit www.JaynieSmith.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Threat Not Seen June 2, 2006

By Craig L. Howe VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Using telling case studies, Jaynie L. Smith reveals in "Creating Competitive Advantage" how to exploit your competitive advantages to keep your firm alive and growing.

In her research, the Florida chair for The Executive Committee, an international organization of more than 11,000 CEOs, claims to have found only two CEOs of more than 1,000 middle market companies that could succinctly and clearing articulate their firm's competitive advantage.

According to the author, the five fatal flaws of most companies:

1. They do not have a competitive advantage but think they do.

2. They have a competitive advantage but don't know what it is--so they opt to lower prices.

3. They know what their competitive advantage is but neglect to tell clients.

4. They mistake "strengths" for competitive advantages.

5. They ignore on competitive advantages when making strategic and operational decisions.

These flaws, the author states, need not be fatal. In ten short, yet thought provoking chapters, she guides the reader through a plan that identifies his or her competitive strengths and prepares an action plan to exploit them.

"Back to basics" is this simple, well-written book's message. Yet, it is a message business leaders will ignore at their firm's peril.

24 of 33 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Amaturish at best March 8, 2007

By well informed optimist

Format:Hardcover

A leader of a strategic sub group of a non-profit to which I belong requested that all participants read this book. So I bought it. I am surprised how I lasted as long as I did, to page 20. The number of mistakes, imprecise definitions and simply clueless concept manipulations has been staggering from the beginning.

This reminded me my first marketing class in the business school. After listening to a student proudly spewing buzz words, a professor (now at Harvard) said, "I do believe that you are ready for job interviews. Now can you tell me in your own words what exactly have you been trying to say?" Silence followed.

Examples? I'll use just one of many in the first 20 pages. In her example of JTECH on page 10, Ms. Smith states that at HER workshop, "JTACH executives set about determining exactly what the company's strongest competitive advantage was. It's service was great, it's equipment top of the line, it's costs competitive. But that what the competition said, too. JTECH needed a simple, strong, accurate, and convincing statement to differentiate itself from its competitors.

JTECH team brainstormed at the workshop and afterward to determine and articulate JTECH's best competitive advantage - in straightforward, quantifiable terms. They kicked it around among themselves, asked their customers, and finally nailed it down:

Of the fifty largest chains who used paging,
100 percent use JTECH."

Just a few pages later (not further than 20) the author differentiates competitive advantage from a statement.

Wait a minute, you just said that "Of the fifty largest chains who used paging,
100 percent use JTECH," was an advantage (not just any, THE STRONGEST ONE!...) or was it just a statement, or can a statement be a competitive advantage, or .... What exactly are you talking about, Ms. Author?

According to this example the biggest mistake that Detroit made is that it has not "nailed it crystal clear that, "100 percent of Americans buy cars from Detroit." Otherwise Toyota have had no chance. If only Detroit C-level executives attended your workshop! That by itself would be the strongest competitive advantage. Alas!

Competitive advantage is NOT something that you or your competition say or do not say. It's a value that you offer to your customers that none of your competition can match and, for which customers are willing to pay. As a result you are receiving profits above (hopefully significantly) your cost of capital on a sustainable basis.

None of the classic strategy text books on competitive advantage or economics of strategy would consider statement, "Of the fifty largest chains who used paging, 100 percent use JTECH," as a competitive advantage. None!

On page 16 the author states, " Competitive advantage goes by other names, as well: Unique selling proposition. Distinguishing features. Competitive edge. Discriminators. Differentiators."

Well, Ms. Author, you just passed a test for being ready for an entrance level marketing/strategy interview. However these are not synonyms.

The fact is that Unique selling proposition can be a competitive advantage or NOT. It can as well be a competitive disadvantage. Or neither if you wish. The decisive criteria would be does this Unique Selling Proposition produce a sustainable returns above costs of capital and above what "not-unique" selling proposition of a competitor produces.

Same goes with all other fancy-schmancy buzzwords that author used in the last example.

I would have given this book zero or negative number of stars, but that was not an option. To be constructive buy an old-good Porter's Competitive Advantage and begin to identify, develop, and preserve your competitive advantages and learn how to undermine ones of your competitors.

To all the positive reviewers I can only say, "Ignorance is a bliss." Read Porter then re-evaluate this book and be on your way to success. Read more ›

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Why do your customers buy from you? December 5, 2009

By Dave Kinnear

Format:Hardcover

Competitive Advantage - it is the stuff of every business owner's dreams. The problem is that Competitive Advantage is a moving target. Ms. Smith rightfully makes clear that there is a never ending need to evaluate and re-invent competitive advantage.

Smith's book is on point with her advice on how to put creating competitive advantage to work in your organization. At the end of each chapter is a summary of the major points and reminders of the lessons learned from the case studies.

Smith uses ample and interesting case studies to make her points. However, what would normally be a strength turns into a weakness as Smith repeatedly pounds home that these are "her clients." Unfortunately, I've seen this same problem with speakers. Often, in an attempt to build credibility, speakers will talk about "my client will . . . ," or "I have a client who . . . " or "one of my clients . . . " The difficulty is, this becomes a hard sell instead of simply building credibility. Smith's book suffers from this difficulty. What could have been an excellent work, and very timely for the present economic conditions, is diminished by what comes across as self-promotion.

One piece of advice Smith gives is "So brag a little." I'm uncomfortable with that advice. I understand that companies need to make sure the customer base knows of the advantages of dealing with them. However, especially in this market, I'm finding a real push back on a hard sell. So if you can brag a little without it being perceived as a hard sell, then perhaps that will work for you. In Smith's case, the perception of this reader is that she went much too far in "bragging a little."

Having said all that, I still recommend that you read this book and pull out the many good points Smith makes.... You may have to work to get by some of the self-promotion, but there is a still enough solid advice to make Smith's book worthwhile. Read more ›

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Prescription for Improving Your Advertising July 17, 2008

By Whitney S. Boyd

Format:Hardcover

If you are as tired as I am of being bombarded with advertisements and marketing that all say the same thing, and in the process, really says nothing, then this book is a revelation. Just as bad is dealing with sales reps who all say the same thing. As a consumer (personal and business), I'm constantly looking for ways in which a product/service can be distinguished. I want to buy on value because with few exceptions, I don't trust anything or anyone who is the low cost provider.

Every company executive, marketing, and sales professional should read this book. It cuts right to the point of why so much marketing and sales doesn't work. Better yet, the book makes it clear what does work. Making the link between Competitive Advantages and marketing/sales is brilliant. We aren't trained to think of Competitive Advantages as a sales differentiator. When someone talks about competitive advantage, it is often so esoteric and at a level where it has no real applicability. Creating Competitive Advantage takes the concepts to a level that is applicable to almost every business, and easy to understand.

Probably the best review you can give any book is to track its influence. Ever since I read the book, I am beginning to notice more and more companies using Competitive Advantages in their advertising. It's refreshing, and most importantly it works. Creating Competitive Advantage provides a framework for re-thinking how companies advertise, market, and sell. I got more value out of this than all the rah rah sales drivel that seems to sell by the millions. The book is approachable, written at a level that encourages you to take action, and includes numerous useful examples. On top of that, the book doesn't assume every reader works for Fortune 100 company.... Since the majority of executives and business leaders work for small to mid-size firms, this book speaks to that audience in a way most business books don't. Excellent! Read more ›