“You said this subject has implications outside of the marketing war room?” I continued the conversation with Jaynie Smith about her new book Creating Competitive Advantage.

“Often, when a company thinks about its competitive advantage, it gets stuck as an exercise for the marketing department. The most powerful part of this process occurs when competitive advantage gets driven into operations.

“Competitive advantage is not some double-speak marketing gimmick. For it to be effective, it has to be real, when its elements are designed into the product or service and become visible to the customer.

“I tell the story of Volvo. Its marketing talks about safety and its design includes whiplash protection, brake circuit redundancy, traction and spin control. Competitors cannot copy a slogan. They have to retool their product if they expect to win on the promise of safety.”

So, what is your competitive advantage? Not what your marketing says, but what is truly distinctive about your product or service? I would be interested to hear your thoughts. -TF

Jaynie Smith’s Creating Competitive Advantage is now available on Amazon.