How Do You Become Remarkable

I attended an interactive breakout session called Successful Business Growth Strategies for Easy and Effective Implementation at the CompTIA EMEA Conference this week, led by Susanne Dansey of Purple Cow Ideas Management, which included nine bars of chocolate and a room of business owners that was standing room only.


The company name stems from Seth Godin’s book about being “Remarkable” and always standing out in what you do, and Dansey certainly delivered a message in that vein. She opened by asking us if we wanted to be lions (chasing customers all day, one at a time), or crocodiles (build a watering hole and select your customers as they come to drink). An interesting analogy, it is also very much about the survival of the fittest, particularly as high-value partners these days can drive three times the market opportunity of other SMBs. The key however comes back to being unique – establish what it is your business is “remarkable” at, because in future it is only “great” that will keep your business turning in this period of economic malaise.


So what do customers want at this time? Dansey did a great job of walking us through the five needs: cost savings certainly, but also productivity improvements, business agility, business process change and business model change. She ran a great little exercise to identify who our “A1” customers are – the customers who are IDEAL for our business, and clearly those who we would want to visit our watering hole, per the analogy above.


Conclusions from the sessions were stark but on point: your competitors in future will not be who they are today; you must define your own role before you can decide who your ideal customers are; and success will come from addressing the opportunity professionally and with vigor – by standing out from the crowd and of course by being remarkable. I think these conclusions don’t just apply to the IT channel; I think they apply to us all.