MARKET EXPECTATIONS ARE UNMARKETABLE
I want you to do something for me. I want you to execute this link, look at the first three or four pages, follow a few of them to the web sites they point to, and then come back and we'll talk about it.

OK. What did you see?

You saw listings for companies that promise that their products increase the ROI of enterprise portals, didn't you? So many, in fact, that after a little bit the sites began to take on the profile of toothpaste commercials that promise whiter teeth and brighter smiles and fresher breath and more dates. And you saw that these were the biggest players in the industry: IBM, SAP, TIBCO and so on.

What did you end up thinking?

If you're like me, you ended up thinking that it's all a load of hogwash . . . no more relevant or meaningful to a purchasing decision than brighter teeth.

The first reason for this is an obvious one: if you try to take the "increase ROI" position, you're going to end up just one more elephant in an elephant herd. If the goal of positioning or market message is differentiation, "increase ROI" doesn't cut it.

But there's a second, far less obvious and far more important, reason that these claims are empty: increased ROI is not a benefit, not a selling point, not a value proposition—not to the marketplace.

Let me explain.

If you provide a service or product that improves efficiency, cuts cost, accelerates processes, and so forth, you're providing a return on investment by definition--whether it's ERP systems, new manufacturing machines, Six Sigma training--or whatever. You automate a process, replace a machine, buy new capital equipment, strengthen methodology: your customers are going to require a demonstrable return on investment.

And the keyword here is "require."

Let's lapse for a moment into a spasm of Business 101. In the case of these products, a Return on Investment is their reason for being. Portals, and the products that support ERP are intended to provide efficiencies of business process. Efficiencies of anything are intended to speed activities and reduce cost. And the only measure for that is a return on investment. In other words, ROI is the core measurement of whether the product does its job: it is the basic market requirement for the product.

Satisfying market requirements are conditions of entry, not enticements to purchase. Things your product must have in order to even be considered as a company who will be asked to the table. You cannot differentiate, you cannot position, you cannot create unique propositions by claiming to be able to accomplish the most fundamental function of your product category. Basic market requirements make for poor marketing messages.

You can of course, differentiate by claiming to do it better than the all the others. A Maserati goes forward faster than a Ford Escort. A Rolls Royce goes forward more smoothly than a Hummer. A Volvo goes forward more safely than a Porsche Boxter. And if you have developed a product that brings ROI in more quickly, or for a lesser investment, or streamlines more processes across the enterprise, or also provides increased efficiency for your customers' customers, you have an opportunity here. But here, you have to be able to objectively prove it. It's not enough to claim, you have to cite credible statistics—something that's not very easy to do.

I've focused in on ROI here, but there are a lot of other equally vacuous claims put out by significant market players. Claims that have as much credibility as "gets whites their whitest." Here's a quick list of a few of the big dogs:

1. Customer satisfaction

2. Customer loyalty

3. Total Cost of Ownership

4. Increased revenue

5. Decreased costs.

That's right—the most common claims are the most useless.

If you take any of these as a position, a USP or anything else that will translate into a marketing approach--without regard to the fact that it's true--you're going to be claiming your car drives forward.

Now if this is the case, why do these major companies do this?

Maybe they're lazy marketers. With such a convenient cliché so close at hand, why bother to dig deeper, broader, wider to find out what real value their product—and their company—brings to the marketplace.

Maybe they're inexperienced marketers. Having come up through the vendor ranks, they've never sat on the other side of the table, and listened to all that ROI palaver from the sales reps and marketing people. They've never walked the mile in their customers' business suits.

Or maybe they're just caught up in the need to do what everyone else is doing, only bigger faster harder. And perhaps simply afraid to stand up and say "wait a minute, the Emperor's ROI has no clothes."

The solution lies somewhere within your company. You do bring something unique to the table. Something that your competition doesn't, because they're bringing something else to the table that's unique and beneficial. Smarter pricing structures. More service centers. More regional, sponsored user communities. More customization capabilities. Stronger corporate balance sheet. Something that will make a difference to your customers.

Something beyond the ability to go forward.

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