What is in your special sauce?

From Drew Greenblatt’s latest column in Inc. magazine about why businesses must define and focus on what they do better than anyone else:

... When McDonald’s popularized the term “special sauce” for its Big Mac some 40 years ago, the hamburger chain didn’t reveal what was in the sauce. No matter. That bit of lore--it wasn’t ketchup and mustard, like everyone else--helped differentiate their offer.

Similarly, the companies that regularly top the “most admired” lists often aren’t inventors of a business category. Instead, they invented a better way of doing their category: Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, FedEx, Whole Foods, Caterpillar, Toyota, the list goes on. For Steve Jobs and Apple, the design ethic became that differentiation; the products were more intuitive and better designed.

Many companies simply try to be the lowest priced. But I contend that that’s not enough--that companies still need a “special sauce.” What are they going to offer their client that blows away everyone else? They should put all their energy into improving what that something is. Read more about what is Quality Engineered Quick ...