Recently, I had the pleasure of reading a book called Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. In a nutshell, the book shares how many companies (Southwest Airlines, Yellow Tail Wine..) have beaten their competition by creating “blue oceans” of uncontested markets. I think it applies very well to the business of selling IP telephony and convergence solutions and it really gives you a blueprint for differentiating your business from your competition. Anyone that is seeing declining margins, increased competition, and difficulty growing their business will appreciate BOS’s lessons in creating a new story. So here’s the question: are you swimming in blood red, shark infested waters where you compete with Cisco, Shoretel, and even other Avaya partners on price? Or have you found a blue ocean of uncontested waters where there are more opportunities and competition is irrelevant. You know the old saying, “fish where the other fisherman aren’t” (yeah, really milking the whole ocean/fishing metaphor).  Here’s a good test to see which waters you’re swimming in: http://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/about/test.html

How can we differentiate your business? Create a new set of ground rules which customers use to base their decisions? Let’s sit down and create what BOS calls a “value curve” for your business. This helps you reorient your focus from competitors to alternatives while shifting from customers to noncustomers.