Why Differentiating Yourself From The Competition Is Key To Land Interviews

One of the most common questions I get is: 

"But how do I do that? How do I know what are my differentiators? And why is it important?"

Having heard over 1,000 introductions from Executives in the past year, here are 3 elements that you can get started with:

1. Strategy, Collaboration, Process Improvement... are not enough.

Your offering will be the same as the other 999 Executives. 

What do you bring to the table that is different? 

EBIDTA improvement? Crucial operational consolidation? Shifting from Local to Global Strategy? 

• Quantify your accomplishments: Instead of just listing duties, use stories and data to show your impact. Highlight wins, instances of executive leadership, and how you have solved complex business level problems to demonstrate your value and strong work ethic.

• Showcase your unique value proposition: Clearly articulate what makes you different. This could be a unique skill set, a specific combination of experiences, or a creative approach to challenges.

• Prepare and practice: The more you practice your introduction, the more confident you'll become. Prepare strong responses to common questions.

Focus on Business outcomes, not your single department ones, and for those of you in my field - not just Marketing.

2. Active Listening

Ok, you have now done the work to list down your impact and what makes you different. Now it's time to multiply your unique selling points. Get feedback from ex-colleagues (regardless of seniority) that have seen your work to identify additional differentiators.

• Identifies "Blind Spots": Feedback from trusted mentors, former colleagues, or even interviewers that expressed how they were impressed with your performance can reveal strengths and skills you might overlook or undervalue. What seems "normal" to you might be a significant differentiator to a hiring manager.

For example, in my case, I didn't know that I was very fast at driving change internationally within large global corporations. But someone who had only worked in that environment throughout her career mentioned that it was impressive to see someone lead the team and take action within two weeks from starting. Having worked in 5 startups prior to my role at PlayStation, I didn't think much of it.

But it turns out it is an important differentiator for Fortune 500 organizations.

*Take it a step further: Go beyond your circle. Attend round tables and share your experiences. You will identify even more differentiators that way.

• Ensures Relevance and Alignment: Your UVP should directly address an employer's needs. Feedback from people familiar with industry demands helps ensure that the value you emphasize is relevant to what companies are actively seeking, not just a list of generic skills.

• Provides Social Proof: Receiving consistent feedback from multiple sources about specific strengths gives you confidence in those claims. This "social proof" strengthens your narrative, making your value proposition stronger during interviews and in application materials (if needed). Always get LinkedIn recommendations.

Define your Career Path, your target companies, and ask for help - to understand how you can form a more differentiated profile that aligns with the opportunities that you'd like to pursue.

3. Be Concise

This is not new, we have all learnt throughout our careers that the shorter the better, and many of us can spend hours making sure that within those two sentences, we are making the right point. The data-driven point. The point that will land as it should to achieve our Goals.

• Creates a strong first impression: A concise introduction is informative yet brief, which can influence how people perceive you and the opportunities that may follow. By now you should have a very targeted introduction to enable the right connections.

• Shows confidence and expertise: By getting straight to the point, you signal that you are focused, organized, and have a clear understanding of what is most important. But it needs to sounds natural... otherwise, it feels like a transactional blurb. And many, including me, notice.

• Holds attention: A concise message is easier for the listener to process and digest, which helps you maintain their attention instead of losing them with unnecessary detail. Make sure that everything you include has a "wow" factor to it - you need to become memorable.

Start your introduction with who you are in 2 or 3 words. And then go into your differentiators. 

Here's mine:

I am a turnaround expert. 

I find the blind spots that are dragging your performance down, fix them, drive growth again, and build an engine that will continue delivering exponential revenue beyond my time:

• FIND → FIX: Performance Marketing applied to the full Marketing org, delivering tangible, measurable results at Business level.

 > I can add that I have transformed Brand Marketing teams into Performance driven units, how I optimized for margins, how I drove growth that helped a later acquisition, how I connect Marketing channels including offline <> online, etc.

• BUILD: Drive transformation with automation-first operations and developing global teams (up to C-Suite level) into a united, highly productive group while increasing top talent retention. 

 > I can mention I speak 6 languages, that I worked in 90% of AI agents technology 14+ years ago (intelligent scraping, data structuring and enrichment, etc) and have taught at Columbia, how I can increase eNPS by +20%...

• TURN AROUND: Consistent +20% YoY growth within 3-6 months across $50M-$20BN organizations (budget up to $100M/year).

 > I can include that I am a multi-business model expert across B2C/B2B and E-Commerce, Subscription, Retail, Marketplaces and more, how I built and led a Global GTM Planning Process for 200+ stakeholders in 6 months. 

Important note: The same way you need to identify gaps in your introduction, you also need to understand when your numbers may be "too surprising" and can cause trust challenges with your audience. In my case, 20% growth is the bare minimum I have delivered for most of the companies I have worked for. But the majority of Brands ever see this kind of growth and the previous average of 20-45% was not widely accepted or trusted as a figure. 

And when I explain how I have done it consistently, it makes complete sense to them, but I had to "normalize" it to avoid a first exaggerated impression. I am not going to lie, this has been difficult to do, but just like in Marketing - understanding your audience and barriers in the funnel is more important, in my opinion.

That's the power of feedback. The power of asking for help. I know it can be very hard depending on your current circumstances, but try to put them aside and give this a try. 

So what is your headline? In 3 words? Spend the time working on this one.

• And remember - it is easier to connect: Conciseness reduces the mental load for the listener and can lead to a more engaging, thought-provoking conversation, as it leaves room for the other person to share their own information and can be the start of great relationship.