Becoming a Category of One: How Extraordinary Companies Transcend Commodity and Defy Comparison [Hardcover]

Price, product, and even quality don't cut it anymore when it comes to raising above the competition. So says brand consultant Calloway, who offers an energetic piece on branding, company culture, and customers. He looks at the likes of Harley-Davidson, Starbucks, and lesser knowns such as the Nashville-based Tractor Supply Company to show how they have differentiated themselves by creating their own categories. Calloway advises companies to begin by figuring out who they are and what their corporate culture is like. He continues with a discussion of branding, explaining how customer perception of the company actually creates the brand. He then urges companies to break away from the pack by connecting with customers better than the competition does. Calloway includes ample real-world examples from his clients, and the customer-service experiences he cites from his personal and professional lives ring especially true. With companies scrambling to survive in this dicey economy, the book is apropos for all business collections. —Carol J. Elsen, Univ. of Wisconsin Lib., Whitewater (Library Journal, August 2003)

In this no-nonsense guide to beating the competition, Calloway, a branding and competitive positioning consultant with clients like BMW and IBM, offers hope to companies confronting a constantly changing and increasingly competitive marketplace. Success, he says, lies in distinguishing yourself from others and forging emotional connections with customers. Before you do anything else, Calloway says, you must answer the question, "Who are You?" unambiguously and with fervor. It your response is vague and uninspiring, Calloway predicts failure, since a lame answer signals lack of vision, focus and commitment, elements he considers essential just to be in the running. An advocate of corporate language that reinforces company identity and motivates employees, Calloway shuns empty slogans and fashionable buzzwords. He snappily makes his point by asking what would have happened if Martin Luther King Jr. had proclaimed, "I Have a Strategic Plan" instead of "I Have a Dream." In no uncertain terms, he asserts companies must pay close attention to each customer and focus marketing on individuals, not abstract demographics. Anyone spacing out while Calloway exhorts innovation and hard work to connect with the customer base in ways that Starbucks, Southwest Airlines and others have will hop to when he has a hypothetical customer ask, "Why should I do business with you?" A company without a compelling answer, Calloway believes, will see the customer go elsewhere. But Calloway emphasizes triumph is possible with disciplined application and provides case studies, interviews and anecdotes illustrating successful approaches for earning customer loyalty and for setting businesses apart in their fields. (Aug.) (Publishers Weekly, June 23, 2003)