Collapse of Distinction by Scott McKain (Book Review)

Scott McKain's book might be one of the most relevant books that I have read in the last year as far as business books are concerned. The main issue that Scott McKain addresses in the book is weather or not customers can tell the difference between you and your competition. He first addresses how individuals and companies got into the mess in the first place and then spends the rest of the time addressing the different avenues of differentiation. He also addresses the four cornerstones that every individual and company need to pay attention to.

The four cornerstones are :

1. Clarity
2. Creativity
3. Communication
4. Customer-Experience Focus
   

There are many great examples and stories in the book that get the point across. One of my favorite chapters in the book is "The Ebert Effect". The Ebert effect states that when people, from their perspectives, are inundates with indistinguishable choices, they perceive a product, service, approach, or experience with a specific point of differentiation to be superior. That point alone is worth the price of the book because it can help an individual and company to make some very important decisions based on that principal!

I also really liked the format of the book. At the end of every chapter is an executive summary and another section with action steps, questions and ideas. Both the sections are very helpful and at the end of each chapter.

The book is also a part of the Nelson Free program. With this program once you buy the book you get to download the audio version as an mp3 and an ebook version for FREE which is great value for your money!