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Work Smarter not Harder

Add Value by Differentiating Yourself

Everybody that I am talking to these days is searching for more new business.

If you think about it, just a few years ago, there was so much low-hanging fruit, so much businesses, that it really didn't take much effort to really make a sale. But in today's business climate, just "showing up" really doesn't cut it anymore. Businesses that are marketing and selling as they did in the past are finding that more and more pressure is on them to sell on price. Successful entrepreneurs really know that though price is a main factor and that price is important, they have realized that value is even more important.

One way to add value to your products and services is by differentiating yourself. Not just your product and your service, but you yourself. When it comes right down to it, the biggest difference between you and your competition, is yourself.

Are you a commodity or are you something unique? In the eyes of your customers and your prospects, are you seen as this commodity or something that is of unique value to them?

The difference between selling your product or service based on price or value is your ability to be able to create a niche for yourself. At ActionCOACH, our definition of a niche has no price competition. You just have to remember that people will pay for products and services that they feel that they will absolutely need or really have a strong desire to have. More importantly, something that will solve a problem that they currently have.

To be able to position yourself and your company as a business that your customer must work with, you must first determine what is it that your market truly desire. Create a system that will allow you to deliver that desire or that solution in a truly exceptional way. You need to make sure that your clients and prospects can really relate to you differently than that of your competitors.

In ActionCOACH, we use a system to coach our clients through this process. It's a process to help them create their USP or their unique selling proposition.

You can begin by asking yourself these six questions.

1) What makes you special?
2) How are you different from your competition?
3) What are the things that make you stand out?
4) Can you explain it to your customers in a way that they understand how it would benefit them?
5) Does your prospect know why they should even buy from you as opposed to your competition?
6) What makes it easier for them to do business with you?

Begin to identify what things you do better than your competition especially compared to the areas where your competitor is not so strong. If you can identify these areas, it will help you to differentiate yourself.

Now, how is your competition better than you? In every aspect of your business, it'll never be perfect. But that doesn't mean that your competition isn't awful either. There's going to be certain areas and certain things that they do better than you. So what you need to do is really understand what those strengths are and then look for ways to compete in these areas. They don't really come across as important to your prospects.

Finally, ask yourself what is your written guarantee or promise that you will perform as expected? How do you guarantee that you're going to perform what you do?

Think about these things that we've talked about and hopefully they are going to make sense to you and apply it to your business.