The Blue Ocean Strategy - A Review and Summary

This book truly gives a powerful lesson about creating a company that's in a class of its own. Imagine selling your products or services in a new untapped market with huge demand and an opportunity for a very profitable growth. Every business would salivate at the mere thought of it. The subject is heavy. You have to really give a deep thought into each step to bring your organization closer to the deep blue ocean. If it is easy, everyone would have done it already right!

To start with, you can use this Four Actions Framework.


One of the case study shared in the book is about Cirque De Soleil that repositions its offering in a new market that is not quite circus and not quite theatre. Alas, a new market is created. It didn't have to go head on with competitors and compete to win the shrinking market. Using the Four Action Framework, look at the strategy below.

Eliminate
- Star performers
- Animal shows
- Aisle concession sales
- Multiple show arenas

Reduce
- Fun and humor
- Thrill and danger

Raise
- Unique venue

Create
- Theme
- Refined environment
- Multiple productions
- Artistic music and dance

The book also use Southwest Airlines as it example but in our local context, I can't help but think of AirAsia.


Instead of competing with other airline companies, Southwest Airlines targets the land transport users with its offering. They stripped off all the fancy trimmings and offered a no-nonsense Point A to Point B speedier travel at a price of traveling by car. For other airlines that compete on best business travel, best first class, best meal on flight and so on, there's no way for them to take all that fancy trimmings away and started competing with Southwest.

To find your own blue ocean and reconstruct your own market boundaries, you can use the 6 Paths laid out in the book. In drawing out your strategy canvas, you have to look beyond the numbers and stare at the big picture. Charts and statistics can be manipulated to present a rosy picture. Get all the top executives to survey their own market. Do not outsource this task as many are doing right now because a famous artist did not draw a masterpiece based on another person's description. A very apt way of describing it.

I started my book summary from one interesting point to another and without realizing it, I can make a book from my own summary after the slides grow to 55 :) Find my full book summary here. You can also see a preview of the book here.

How To Connect In Business In 90 Seconds Or Less

I managed to quickly browse through this book today. I like the fact that the book is thin but packed with important points. While the points are nothing new really. But sometimes, we human tend to forget the simple rules in building relationship and communication.

Many new sales people would sell to family and friends. However, they can't survive just by relying on the small pool of people they already know. This is where the book can be useful. How do you approach a stranger and make them feel as if you're their long lost friend? How do you approach a stranger and make them feel as if they can trust you? The rules are simple really. Here they are:-

Rule #1 - When you meet someone, look them in the eye and smile
Rule #2 - When you want them to feel like they already know you, be a chameleon
Rule #3 - Capture the imagination and you capture the heart.

How many times have we heard the phrase, "Smile and the world smiles with you!" How many of you feel smiling, especially to strangers, is the most difficult thing to do? Fake it till you have it :) There must be something worth remembering in your life that day before you meet this particular client, so think of that memory and smile.

The power of persuasion is extremely crucial in business relationship. It gets others to want to do what you want them to do. To be able to persuade effectively, you must have these three ingredients:-

1. Have a trusting first impression - can be from your job title, credentials or reputation
2. Use an indisputable logic - something that make sense
3. Tug at the emotions

In the book, the example given to appeal to the emotion is when an advertising manager for the largest-circulating weekly magazine in the UK (this was way back in the sixties) met one of his potential client, he dumped over 2000 envelopes in-front of his client to show how by advertising with his magazine, the client can get similar response his competitor is currently getting. The client's imagination was triggered and the advertising manager walked away with 26 weeks advertising contract.

Make people feel as if, "I can trust you, you make sense and you move me".

In business, the measures of effective communication lies in the response it gets. If the response you get is not what you want, you can try again or change tactics. Futility is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result. So to get a different response, change what you do. The three aspects of successful communication:-

1. K - Know what you want
2. F - Find out what you're getting
3. C - Change what you do until you get what you want

Notice 3 small concrete things you don't like or don't want to happen at work place. Then, imagine it as positive desire. For example, instead of thinking you don't want a confrontation, focus on you want collaboration. Once you know what you want, be creative, flexible and try out possible solutions.

Tell me if you don't know any one of the points mentioned above. Tell me also if you have been using all those rules and ingredients all your life. From what I know about people, many do not practice these simple rules hoping for a more complex solution that can help them. Probably also expecting to put the blame on the complex solution when they did not succeed in their sales and communication.

The book is a simple read that can be a guide to young sales people and as a refresher for the more veteran sales person. So happy connecting and start practicing all the simple rules to connect in business.