 |  |  |
| Newsletter Archive | | | Article Archive | | | Submit Article | | | Advertising Information | | | About Us | | | Contact |
|
 Tuesday, Nov 13, 2012 So, I've been preaching this one pretty hard for a bunch of years and see no end in sight, because it's just that important. Find a way to differentiate your business, one that matters to somebody, or you'll be forever doomed to compete on price. Get really, really clear about the single-minded point of difference that some narrowly defined ideal client cannot live without and you've got the secret to marketing success. Seems pretty simple, right – then why do people fight it so? I'll tell you why, because to be unique, you have to actually be different and that scares the heck out of most business owners. But let me tell you the most important lesson I've learned in all my years of owning a business – your customers and prospects want you to be different, they require you to be different. If you want to succeed in business you have one job – find a way to propose that you are completely different in a way that a market wants and values, exploit that difference in every word that you compose and watch your profits soar. This is the essence of the elusive marketing strategy so many companies long for. Okay, enough preaching let me teach you a simple process I've used for many years that often helps business owners nail the core difference and value proposition that matters most. Identify your ideal client The first step is to identify your ideal client. I wrote about The Secret to Finding Highly Profitable Clients here. You know you have an ideal client in mind when you can ponder how great life would be if you have a dozen or so more just like them. Create a list of six to eight of your current ideal clients and commit to sitting down with face to face or over the phone for about fifteen minutes. You are going to conduct an interview of sorts that may lead to some fabulous revelations. Ask them these questions Once you have your client's attention pose some variation of the following questions. A word of caution here, you're not looking for scientific data here, you're looking themes and stories that offer clues to what really does make your firm unique. In most cases you will need to use follow-up statements such as – "Okay, we provide great service, that's awesome, but tell me a story about a time we did."
Work with themes that matter From your interviews you should have some rich themes to work with. Don't underestimate the power of simple things. Quite often your clients value the little things you do that are special. Resist the temptation to dismiss them as unimportant enough to use as your core point of difference. I once worked with a remodeling contractor that felt their superior craftsmanship was the key and while their clients acknowledged this they admitted that it was an expectation because the company was also higher priced than most. What they didn't expect was how thoroughly their people cleaned up the job site every day. That idea was unique and using it in all of their marketing created a dramatic shift in strategy and sales. In the final part of our Finding Strategy Series we'll cover how to turn your point of difference into a core message, value proposition and something I all Your Talking Logo. Comments
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Newsletter Archive | | | Article Archive | | | Submit Article | | | Advertising Information | | | About Us | | | Contact |
Small Business Newz is an iEntry, Inc. ® publication - 1998-2012 All Rights Reserved Privacy Policy and Legal  All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy policy. Contact us. |
| --This email is a service of SmallBusinessNewz-- SmallBusinessNewz: Deactivate / For other inquiries: subscriber@authsend0.com |
0 komentar to How To Discover Your Perfect Value Proposition