The road to WOW is paved with innovation, creativity, thinking out of the box, and passion — among other things.

Even in the case of commodities, one can find unique characteristics among the products. Since no two companies or products exhibit exactly same characteristics or uniqueness there is obviously a difference and a competitive edge to be exploited. Differentiating these companies and products in an interesting, informative and dramatic manner often gets a potential customer's attention. Throw in a little passion, that is, really believe in what you are saying and doing and make the customer feel and share that passion, and you are on your way to WOW.

Other contributing elements might include:

• exceeding customer expectations, going beyond the norm to illustrate your overwhelming commitment not only to making a better product, but making the user's life a little easier.

• using powerful, and dramatic graphics that grab the reader's attention and take their breath away.

• coming at it the presentation from an entirely new direction than what has preceded it rather than just tweaking the existing product or presentation.

When reading your paper, magazine, or browsing the internet, seeing a movie, or anything else you do in the course of your everyday life, see how many things you can really say are WOW. Don't be surprised if you do not find a lot.

It is not easy to get to WOW, but it is a great place to be!