Checkpoint 9: Who’s the Enemy?

Everyone can’t be your friend. Rather than trying to please everyone at the risk of pleasing no one, step right up and pick a fight. Just make sure you take on the biggest, most successful competitor you can find. Why? Because it puts the RADICAL in radical differentiation. Brand history abounds with evidence that David can take on Goliath and win—Avis taking on Hertz, Apple taking on IBM, the tiny Mini taking on the giant SUVs. The goal is not to topple the big guys, but to employ the principle of contrast to throw your zag into sharp relief.

Sometimes the enemy is not a competing company but the old way of doing things. Point it out! Point out to doctors that in handling their own bookkeeping they may be losing ...

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