Benchmarking involves looking at every element of what you offer and comparing it to the very best element of any of your competitors.
So your door handle is as good as the Audi’s, and your brake pedal is as good as the Volvo’s and…
It’s pretty tempting to do this. Who wants any element of what they do to be inferior to a competitor’s?
And yet…
That’s almost never what makes something remarkable (it’s worth noting that the Ford Taurus was the car that brought benchmarking to my attention… who wants a Ford Taurus?).
What makes something remarkable is a combination of its internal synergy—the parts work together as a coherent whole—and its imbalance. Something about it is worth talking about. Something about it is hard to find. Something about it helps us achieve our goals if we talk about it.
This uneven allocation of attention is the opposite of benchmarking. Find your edge and go over it.