It's not the pen, it's the clip

When I first started my business, I sat down with an old pro and we discussed sales and product differentiation.  He handed me a yellow pen with a pocket clip and a blue pen with no clip.  He said, "What's the difference?"   They both write in blue ink,  They both fit in the pocket, they both have clickers....

  It was the clip.  It was the differentiator.  It wasn't a big wow factor because nowaday we overlook the pen clip.  But someone invented it a long time ago and added a feature which no one ever thought of before.

To this day I have that yellow pen on my desk to remind me that I must differentiate my products and services from the competition.  Even a small differentiation can remove big obstacles!