 Differentiate or Die by Jack Trout with Steve Rivkin Dedication to Rosser Reeves, the man who made the unique selling proposition famous. He was truly a man ahead of his time. Little did any of us realize just how competitive the world would become. Preface For what seems like several lifetimes, my partners and I have been preaching the importance of being different. In positioning, being different meant differentiating yourself in the mind of your prospect. In marketing warfare, being different meant using a differentiating idea to defend, attack, flank, or become a gorilla. In the twenty-two immutable laws of marketing, being different meant using a differentiating idea to build the brand. In the power of simplicity, being different meant using a strategy that was all about differentiation. Being different is at the heart of everything we've done for almost thirty years. You might assume that by now the message has been delivered. Everyone is busy building differentiation into their plans, and no one would leave home without his or her differentiating idea. Right? Wrong. What we tend to see are two types of organizations. One type still doesn't get it. They're out there doing battle with higher quality or good value or good old, better products. They feel that they are better than their competitors, and that truth will out. They surround themselves with gurus who talk about quality, empowerment, customer orientation, and various forms of leadership. Unfortunately, all their competitors are surrounded by the same cast of, You Can Get Better Gurus. Nothing different. The other type of organization understands the need to be different. But after some prodding they will admit that they just don't know how to do it. Their excuse, our product or sales force just isn't that much different from our competitors. They tend to get sucked in by the motivation crowd that promises peak performance, a winning attitude, and effective habits. Unfortunately, the same cast of characters is hanging around and motivating their competitors. Nothing different. And they don't get much help from the big name academics. Harvard's Michael Porter, for example, does talk about the need for a unique position, but he never offers much help on how to be unique. Instead he talks about strategic continuity, deepening strategic position, and minimizing trade-offs.