Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition [Kindle Edition]

Trout makes the case with customary panache and his easy-reading opinionated style is both entertaining and informative. In the first third of the book he wades through a hate-list of things that are not differentiating ideas. Top of his "not" chart lies his bête noire, "quality and customer orientation". Reward schemes, better service and customer satisfaction are all dismissed with a casual side-swipe as either counterproductive or merely the basic minimum requirement of being in business. "You can indeed use this [service as a differentiator] as a strategy. But only if your competition is stupid enough to let you", carps Trout. The same goes for creativity--boy does he hate "creativity", price and "breadth of line". He then spends most of the rest of the book offering fertile ground upon which businesses can differentiate themselves. These include being first, attributing ownership, leadership, heritage, speciality, manufacture and topicality. Finally he concludes with an awful warning on the need to maintain absolute focus--your difference should be expressed in just one word--and the danger of growth, which is that it destroys differentiation.

Trout is contentious, provocative and almost certainly right in everything he says about the need for differentiation to lie at the heart of corporate strategy. Differentiate or Die is a must read for all non-marketers in business and a useful refresher for those who think they already know it. --Alex Benady

A disciple of the marketing guru Rosser Reeves, who introduced the concept of the "unique selling proposition," Trout relays his vision of what can help you differentiate in blunt, tell-it-like-it-is prose. First he breaks the bad news that product quality, advertising creativity, price advantage, and breadth of product line are rarely successful ways to differentiate your business. Consumers expect the best quality, he says; they don't think it's a bonus. In the same vein, your competitor can slash prices just as quickly as you. After dismissing these common marketing techniques as futile, Trout concentrates on which differentiating ideas will set you apart from the pack: Being first (and staying there), owning a discernible attribute, having a heritage, becoming the preference of a particular consumer group, or even being the most recent arrival in a product arena are just some of these useful differentiates. Though the book's fast and quippy narrative style may leave some readers looking for more substance behind his adamant assertions, Trout's recommendations act as inspirational spurts of energy. A slim manual packed with punchy points, Differentiate or Die won't take you long to read but could make a lasting--you guessed it--difference to the success of your business. --S. Ketchum