Seagulls, Teenagers, Wal-Mart and Sports Fans
By Geoff Ashley, Director, Sales, SAP Business One

What do seagulls, teenagers, Wal-Mart, sports fans, and SAP Customers and Business Partners have in common? While it seems like a strange question, the answer is quite simple; they are all large groupings that at first glance appear to be the same, when in reality they are quite different.

Have you ever watched a flock of seagulls. When they fly in formation they seem to turn as one. They act and sound almost exactly the same in every situation. From the outside looking in, every seagull seems the same to me. The same is true of teenagers. They try so hard to assert their independence. You see it in their clothes, the color and style of their haircut, the piercing and tattoos, and even the attitudes. All these "statements" are meant to show their uniqueness and yet, they all look the same to me.

Did you hear that Wal-Mart is thinking about selling automobiles? Of course being Wal-Mart they wouldn't carry all makes or even all models from a single automaker. Being Wal-Mart they will make the choice for us. Only certain cars with certain features and certain options will be inventoried. And if that model doesn't sell, "off with its head." In short, Wal-Mart will focus on a certain kind of customer demographic. From the outside looking in, the cars and the customers would all look the same to me.

Consider a football game. You can look out at all the fans dressed in their team colors, similar shirts, painted faces, the never ending wave... From the outside looking in, all those fans look the same to me.

If I were to compare your company with the thousands (literally) of other organizations that "do what you do," would I see a difference? When is the last time you looked at your organization in this way? Do you look and act different from the rest of the flock? Is your difference more than superficial or are you just like a teenager – raging with hormones, confused about your place in the scheme of things, and trying just about anything to be accepted? Maybe you are like Wal-Mart, offering everyone a limited choice on a commoditized item at the "best price." Or some of you might be like the rowdy football fan. You rip off your clothes in below zero temperatures, paint your face red, and make a fool of yourself whenever you get into the "big game" only to lose the sale in the final seconds. That's a lot and time and energy to expend considering that you are only participating on the sidelines. And what really hurts is that the real players (customers and competition) don't notice your existence – except as one of the crowd.

This is what positioning is all about. This is what success is all about. This is what you should be all about. I can't think of anything more important to an organizations success than clearly defining who they are. The answer to these not-so-simple questions will drive everything else that you do, and everything else that you are. Are you different?

Consider the following questions:

1. What is your competitive advantage?
2. What are you good at?
3. How do you represent this to your prospects, customers, employees and partners?
4. When is the last time you updated your corporate elevator statement? Do you even have a corporate elevator statement? Do you know what a corporate elevator statement is?
5. When is the last time you re-invented your organization? Have you ever re-invented your organization? Are you really the same today as you were ten years ago? Even two years ago?
6. What do you, as an executive within your organization, spend your time doing? Are you working "on" your organization or "in" your organization? What is the context by which you measure yourself? Do you know what "Best-Run" businesses in your industry look like?
7. Did you spend your time today on issues that were really important? Did your organization become stronger as a result of your actions today?
8. When was the last time you validated that your employees understand your Vision, Mission or other strategic messages you want the market to understand about your organization?