Iconic: How Organizations and Leaders Attain, Sustain, and Regain the Highest Level of Distinction

Scott McKain, award-winning speaker and author, explains how to move beyond being distinctive and to take your brand and business to the next level, to become iconic by knowing your customer and audience and providing the Ultimate Customer Experience every time. 

Twenty years ago, being distinctive in the marketplace was the pinnacle of success. In the current global market place the mountain has gotten a lot bigger. And with the explosion of social media, the competition for attention and customers is more intense than ever before. Being distinctive has gotten a lot harder and has less of an impact on sustained growth. To be a lasting company or brand on a positive trajectory today, one must become iconic.

In ICONIC Scott McKain examines what an iconic organization or leader is and helps you achieve and retain iconic status. If your company has slipped in its standing—think Sears and Nokia—McKain teaches you how you can regain that status, sometimes though unconventional ideas such as

•     Go negative for greater success.

•     Do not over-deliver

•     Stop selling your products and services.

Full of practical advice and helpful examples, ICONIC teaches that there are four levels of all business: sameness, differentiation, distinction, and iconic. If you aren’t distinctive locally, you can’t become iconic. You will discover the four cornerstones of distinction and how to implement them in your own organization. McKain explains how a company cannot become iconic without have clarity of vision, marketing creativity, good communication, and offering an outstanding customer experience. Many companies proclaim they stand out from the competition, but what they evidently fail to recognize is that the marketplace decides that—not them.

The goal of this book is to is to help you or your organization achieve iconic status through sound insights and practical wisdom. Each chapter includes study questions to be used in company-wide or departmental focus group to help you improve your mission. After reading ICONIC, you will be ready to take your business to the next level.