Be Different or Be Dead Author Roy Osing Interviewed

My podcast next week will feature Roy Osing, the author of Be Different or Be Dead, Your Business Survival Guide. This is a little different, no pun attended, from my regular podcast but differentiation is a key term in my upcoming blogs so for me it was very appropriate and timely.

Lance Henderson of the The Bellingham Business Journal interviewed Roy this week. An excerpt is below. If you would like to read the entire interview, please click on the preceding link.

The Bellingham Business Journal: Why do you think being different is key to business survival?

Roy Osing: Right now, the marketplace is characterized by a ton of competitors, a whole bunch of communications clutter, multiple choices, the Internet, which empowers people to research who they want to do business with, and fickle customers, who will leave you in a heartbeat for a better offer. Given those dynamics, businesses need to create relevant, compelling and unique reasons why people should buy from them. If they can’t, they won’t and if they don’t buy from you, you’ll die. It’s as simple as that.

My thesis is to be relevant and understand the compelling needs of your customer, create unique value that only you provide and deliver it flawlessly. If you can do that, you’ll not only survive, you’ll thrive. Your top line will go through the roof and you won’t have to worry about survival because you will be so busy growing.

BBJ: Why is this message relevant in today’s economy?

Roy: This material wasn’t created because of the recession. It was created independent of any economic cycle. The reality is it has applications in every economic cycle because they are basic fundamental axioms to succeed. In these recessionary times, I say, ‘Guys, let’s take a step back and a deep breath and let’s renew our business. You have an opportunity here.’ I think of the recession as a friend, in a way, if it forces you to reflect on creating a “Be Different” strategy for your business. It is an opportunity to reform yourself and be successful and survive even in a recession.

When times are really good, you can hide a lot in a business. If your top line is healthy, you can hide a lot of inefficiencies, but in a recession, you stand raw naked to the world.

P.S. Check out the BE DiFFERENT Quiz on Roy’s website http://www.bedifferentorbedead.com/quiz/. This tool is a fun way of assessing whether an organization is living the BE DiFFERENT Practices or not. It tells you whether your organization is DiFFERENT or dead :) People have enjoyed this and it is a very popular section of his site.