Building a Focus Differentiated Company: Success Through Innovation

Pro-ficiency is a Focus Differentiated Company

 

Michael Porter, a Harvard Business Professor, analyzed 1000’s of successful companies and determined that the most successful companies were either a focus-differentiated or cost-differentiated company.  A good example of a cost-differentiated company would be Costco.  They have built their brand on price.  Costco’s mission is to “to continually provide members with quality goods and services at the lowest possible prices.”   Whole Foods would be an example of a focus-differentiated company.  They found a sizable niche of the consumer market interested in organic food products. Pro-ficiency is a focus-differentiated company.  We win today based upon the uniqueness of our offering and our performance.   We have defined and will continue to lead the clinical trial simulation-based training market segment.   We “help” create differentiation by positioning the creation of our simulation training experiences as analogous to making a movie.  Rather than Project Managers, a generic term from the clinical trial industry, we have Producers.  Apple did not name their support operations in their stores as the help desk, but rather the Genius Bar.  The Apple Store is now the world’s most lucrative per-foot-retailer based upon the anchor of the Genius Bar in their stores. Here is the back story on the Genius Bar at Apple.

Arguably the centerpiece of what became the Apple Store is the Genius Bar, one of Johnson’s ideas. Customers can take private lessons in how to use their new Apple products, or take existing products in for tech support and repairs.

Jobs hated the idea.

“I remember the day I came in and told Steve about the Genius Bar idea and he says, ‘That’s so idiotic! It’ll never work!’” Johnson said. “He said, ‘Ron, you might have the right idea, but here’s the big gap: I’ve never met someone who knows technology who knows how to connect with people. They’re all geeks! You can call it the Geek Bar.’”

“And I said, ‘Steve, kids who are in their 20s today grew up in a very different world. They all know technology, and that’s who’s going to work in the store.’”

The next day, Steve called Apple’s general counsel to trademark the phrase “Genius Bar.”

Pro-ficiency creates simulation experiences that clinical trial investigators rank as best in the world.  In a recent survey of 1352 site investigators, 85.5% rated Pro-ficiency as a superior on-line training experience with 87.2% indicating that the Pro-ficiency simulation experience helped them avoid a protocol deviation.  Think of us as your “Simulation Safety Net”.  While it may not be as clever as “Genius Bar”, we’re confident that our simulation approach is a genius way to approach investigative site training. Don’t settle for inferior education solutions.  Partner with the best.  Pro-ficiency.