I’ve learned not to be surprised. In fact, when I’m meeting with a group of executives or business development experts, the one thing I think that they should have mastered is rarely the case. This was certainly my experience when I was presenting to a group of legal professionals last week.
I decided to start my presentation in a way that would draw attention to a challenge that I felt needed their immediate attention. I passed out index cards and asked the audience members to write down what their unique advantage was? In other words, why should a potential client choose to work with their firm instead of their competition? What made them better?
It sounds so simple, right? Well, apparently, not so much. I got the group to pass their completed index cards back to me and I quickly read the answers. Remember, my instructions were to mention their UNIQUE advantage. Yet, within the first few cards, I was reading the same responses from different attendees. In some cases, it was word for word, from participants who were from competing organizations.
Do you see the problem? If you are saying the same thing as your competition, it is neither unique or advantageous. I have to say that the number one answer given was “our people.” You could implore, as these professionals did, that “our people are the difference.” Blah, blah, blah.
Unfortunately, to your potential clients, you are not setting yourself apart. In fact, you are probably leaving them confused and a bit cynical. If I talk to representatives from three competing companies and all three tell me something along the lines of “our people make the difference,” I know that your measurement is not only highly subjective, it’s likely incorrect. Let’s face it, how can you ALL have the “best” people?
The reality is that only 14% of companies are able to differentiate themselves from their competitors in a meaningful and relevant way according to their customers according to research by CEB. And yet one of the biggest trends and major business disruptors in today’s market is the lack of differentiation. In other words, businesses fail or remain mediocre by not setting themselves apart in a genuinely beneficial way.
So what truly sets you apart from your competition? Go ahead, take out an index card or any piece of paper and write it down? Does your answer pass the test? Or do you sound like everyone else that does what you do? At RefuseOrdinary, we call the answer to that question, your Unparalleled Value (UV), and we work with companies to clearly and concisely communicate their UV to open up doors and close deals.
We’ve learned to dig down and help them look at their businesses differently, in order to be different in a meaningful and relevant way. I need to make something very clear, before I continue. When I say “meaningful and relevant,” it means that what you offer has to be valued by your customers. That, in turn, means that we’re not talking about coming up with a bunch of marketing hype.
So how do you get started? Here’s the simplified version. The first step is to understand your competition. You can’t set yourself apart until you know what you offer compared to your competitors. Next, you have to recognize your own relative strengths and weaknesses. Once that’s done, you have to be able to translate your compelling strengths into real benefits that are valued by your customers.
A side-note is that you rarely can do this by being all things to all people. So part of the process is being very clear on who your perfect client is, what we call your Bull’s Eye Market, and understanding what they truly value. We then walk our clients through the B.I.G. process of identifying their Unparalleled Value. It starts with answering the right questions. (See Article)
Bottom-line, until you figure out and distinguish yourself in a meaningful way, you are just like everyone else that does what you do. And if you’re just like everyone else, you will never reach your full potential. Welcome to mediocrity.
Want to learn more about identifying your Unparalleled Value. Check out our upcoming e-Class.
