I recently delivered an interactive presentation on creating opportunity in your market.
Topics and discussions covered a number of key areas, including determining who is your key target market in terms of demographics, location, etc., leveraging your professional network, and marketing strategies.
But one area of discussion that seemed to grab attention revolved around answering the question…why you and your business?
As much as we believe we are uniquely different, better, etc. than our competition, there is more to it than simply stating a few key call-outs that sound good to you.
Let’s explore this a bit.
The “why you and your business” conversation needs to matter to your target market, not just you. This is where many entrepreneurs get stuck. They believe their reasons should be enough. And as important it is to believe in your reasons and purpose behind why you do what you do, your market NEEDS to hear and understand why it matters to them.
What is it about your story that draws your clients in to do business with you?
Bottom line, in order to be successful at winning new customers, you need to be perceived as being different. You need that “something” that pushes them to choose you over others. Sounds simple, but truly determining well-crafted differentiation points can take some time.
You need to pull away from the crowded and noisy competitive environment. You need to determine what sets you apart and answers the following question from the prospects perspective: why should I do business with you?
There is tremendous power and profit in being perceived as unique, different and better.
Start by re-examining your messaging. Go through the exercise of answering some key questions, such as:
· Does our message create a competitive edge in the minds of our prospects?
· What are our most compelling benefits to do business with us?
· What do we offer that our competition cannot offer or does not offer?
· Why do customers choose us? And perhaps more importantly, why do customers come back to us for more?
Get started with these questions and add to the list where needed. Keeping in mind the most important aspect about these questions is to uncover what matters to your prospects and customers. You need to see it from their perspective.
One last note, do not simply rely on quality and price to create differentiation in your market. Buyers already expect quality for a fair exchange of fees…you won’t be in business long without them. Instead, you need to clearly delineate your edge, advantage and performance guarantee.
So invest the time to reflect on this vitally important aspect of your business strategy. And like many things in business, there is powerful leverage to include others. So ask your team, your best customers, your vendors, your advisors, and others for input.
In a world of sophisticated well-informed buyers, determining an edge of differentiation is critical to securing new customers.
Commenti