Category: Education

Your Business Doesn’t Stand Out The Way You Think It Does

Posted on by Jason Vilon

Introduction

You’ve poured your blood, sweat, and tears into your business. You’re proud of it and you have a lot of great things to say about it. That’s why you tell people about it when they ask what you do for a living. But over time, you’ve realized that no one really responds to what you have to say. They nod politely, maybe ask a few questions about your industry or company, but ultimately move on with their lives without ever taking any action based on what you said.

Why does this happen? Because everyone thinks their business is unique, even though most aren’t. So how can you stand out from the crowd of businesses that are just like yours? I’m going to show you some techniques that will help make sure people remember who you are and what makes your business special!

The Hot Button Issue

A hot button issue is a topic that is of particular interest to your audience. It’s an idea or theme that they care about, and will be motivated to act on if you can help them solve their problem.

For example, let’s say you have a cleaning business. Your ideal customer for this type of service is someone who feels overwhelmed by the amount of work keeping their house clean requires. They might not be aware that there are great tools available to make cleaning easier, but if you can show them how much time it could save them (and how much less stressful it would feel), then they’ll probably want to try it out!

So what makes a hot button issue? Anytime someone cares about something so deeply that they’re willing to support people who share those beliefs—whether through buying products made by companies promoting those things or donating money directly toward causes—that’s considered a hot button issue for them at the moment; however long it lasts depends on whether there’s anything new happening with regard to those ideas/beliefs/practices etc.. Examples include: health care reform (now), animal rights activism (then), social justice movements like Black Lives Matter (now).

Benefits, Not Features

What is a benefit?

A benefit is the positive result that a customer receives from using your product or service. For example, if you sell high-end furniture, one of your benefits may be that it’s affordable for most middle class families. Another could be that it lasts longer than other brands on the market. A third might be that it looks great in any room of the house.

Benefits are often intangible (like peace of mind or better health) or hard to measure (like income growth). They’re also sometimes broader than features: although they do include elements related to what makes your business unique, such as specialized training or high-tech equipment, they don’t have much to do with what other businesses are doing at all—which makes them perfect ways to set yourself apart from the competition!

Unique Sales Position

A unique sales position is a compelling, distinctive way to tell your story. It’s what will compel people to buy from you, because they can’t get that same thing anywhere else. You’ve probably heard of the marketing concept of “unique selling proposition” (USP), and this is similar: the idea is to find your USP and use it as your primary marketing message.

But what does that actually mean? How do you define an USP for yourself? And how do you make sure people hear about it in the first place? Here are some tips for creating a unique sales position that sets you apart from the competition:

Market-Dominating Position

As you know, a market-dominating position is one that has the most value for customers and stakeholders. It offers more value than any competitor, so much so that people would rather buy from you than anyone else.

However, many businesses are unaware of their true market-dominating position because they don’t fully understand how to evaluate it. Instead of focusing on what makes their product or service unique and valuable to customers, they focus on what sets them apart from other companies in their industry.

This can be problematic if you aren’t actually different from competitors in meaningful ways—if your products or services aren’t inherently better than those offered by other businesses in your field (or if they’re not perceived as better). In this case, focusing solely on differentiation won’t help you create an advantage over the competition; instead it will just make them look like bad copies of you!

Stop thinking that your business is unique, and actually make it unique.

In the last post, we talked about how to overcome the belief that your business is unique when in reality it’s not. But even if you’ve come to terms with this idea, you may still find yourself wondering what it means for your marketing strategy.

The answer? Finding a unique sales position—a way of differentiating yourself from the competition in an authentic way.

Why? Because there are two main ways that brands can stand out: having better products or being more innovative than everyone else. The former is easier said than done; few companies ever achieve excellence across every aspect of their business (and some don’t even want to). That leaves innovation as our primary route forward.

Conclusion

If your company is going to stand out in a crowded market, you have to do more than just offer a product or service. You need to offer something that no one else can offer. That’s why it’s so important for businesses to make sure they have a unique sales position and market-dominating position in mind when they start working on their marketing strategy.

Educate Your Customers

Posted on by Jason Vilon

Educate them about what you may be thinking.

Well, consider this: many businesses focus solely on attracting new customers, but you NEED to spend a good chunk of your time keeping current and former customers. These are people you already know to be a good sales potential… they’ve already bought from you!

Take the time to market and sell new products to your old customers and less time trying to sell old products to new customers and you will see a drastic change in your sales, customer quality and branding position.

Here are a couple of key elements used to retain your current customers:

  1. Stay in contact: This means by phone, email, e-newsletter, in person – by pigeon if you have to!
  2. Post-Purchase Assurance: This means you need to follow up with customers. Your customers need to feel like they are being supported for their purchase and with the item they purchased. How many times have you purchased a product, then felt completely abandoned? Something as simple as a “Thank You” note with your contact or customer service information can go a long way in retaining a great customer.
  3. Deals & Guarantees: Always offer your current customers the best deals and guarantees you have. Show them you appreciate their business or even come up with a club specifically to reward loyal customers. You can also do this with a preferred pricing option.
  4. Integrity: Using good business practices and simply upholding integrity, dignity and honesty go along way with customers. Let’s face it, there’s a lot of swindling and crap out there and the safer and more confident you make your customers feel, the more they will trust you and that makes for an amazingly supportive and loyal customer.

There are three cornerstone ideas for a successful business:

  • Quality product/service
  • Offering useful products/services that solve a problem for or enhance the life of a customer
  • Offer subjects your customers find interesting

Use this approach of educating your customers and offering them actual information and insight, and they will reward you with loyalty and success.

Stop wasting all your time on new prospects while your current customers fall by the wayside!

As Jay Abraham says, “Your best prospects are your existing customers. If you’ve been putting all your marketing efforts into acquiring new customers, stop and divert some of your resources into reselling, upselling, cross-selling to those same customers. In every way possible – through package inserts, regular mailings, special offers – stay in touch with those customers and get them used to buying from you.”

So, there it is! Remember, we can help you put together the resources and tools to do exactly that. We can help you educate your customers and you can watch the benefits pay offer many-fold.