| As a luxury real estate marketing professional | | | | Sauternes wines are sweet wines balanced with |
| you must sharply differentiate yourself from you | | | | acidity. The most famous of them is Chateau |
| competitors, especially if market leadership is your | | | | D'Yquem, which Thomas Jefferson hailed as "the |
| quest. We say, "Stand out or Bow out!" Here is a | | | | best white wine of France". Aficionados still agree |
| powerful lesson in personal brand differentiation | | | | with that assessment when it comes to pairing it |
| from arguably the best-in-class dessert wine in | | | | with their foie gras. At an auction in London in |
| the world, Chateau D'Yquem, from the Bordeaux | | | | 2006, a 135-year "vertical" (containing every |
| region in France. | | | | vintage from 1860 to 2003) was sold for a |
| In the ever-growing worldwide marketplace of | | | | record price of $1.5 million. The estate next to |
| wines, the finest wines are distinguished not just | | | | Chateau D'Yquem also produces excellent |
| by price but also by their place of origin. This | | | | Sauternes wine. However, it is not as highly rated |
| principle of geographic differentiation is based on a | | | | as its neighbor, because its terroir is different. |
| French word, "terroir". The basic components of | | | | Terroir is at the core of brand differentiation in |
| terroir are climate, soil type and topography. Wine | | | | wines because it is the result of natural forces. |
| labels will often identify the estate on which that | | | | Your DNA, what makes you unique, is akin to the |
| wine was grown, or the particular section of the | | | | terroir of the great wines. To articulate your |
| vineyard because there can be micro-climates in | | | | personal brand, drill deep into the ground of your |
| each section. | | | | being. You will discover your personal core values, |
| The concept of geographic differentiation was in | | | | what you stand for and also what you love to do |
| practice by the ancient Greeks. As they poured | | | | the most in life. Do the same for your geographic |
| the wine into the amphoras, they would stamp | | | | marketplace by identifying what makes it unique, |
| the wine's region on the seal. It is said that the | | | | and also what you and others love the most |
| Benedictine monks went as far as tasting the soil | | | | about it. When you passionately express your |
| in the different parcels in which their wines grew, | | | | personal brand in terms of the terroir of your soul |
| because one could taste the variations in terroirs | | | | and the soul of your marketplace, you will |
| in the same wine. | | | | certainly stand out from your completion. |