Deciding Who You Aren't

Monday I wrote a post asking why customers should choose you instead of your competitors.  It lead to lots of great conversations, particularly one with Mike Klassen in the comments section of that post.  (Not a surprise considering a previous conversation I had with Mike lead to one of my more popular posts.) 

Anyway, the discussions here and in LinkedIn got me thinking about how many companies try to be everything to every customer.  It's a nice idea, but it doesn't work.  In order to find your place in the market you have to decide who you are, and more importantly who you aren't.

• Are you high quality or low price?  
• Are you the fastest or the most reliable?  
• Are you the sexiest or the safest?

Lots of companies do a variety of things reasonably well.  But if you do just one or two things incredibly well then you'll have a much easier time distinguishing yourself from the competition.  Then you'll find customers that appreciate you for who you aren't.