Stand Out From Your Competition: Be Different

Last night I had the opportunity to sponsor the monthly NARI NEO dinner. What a wonderful collection of remodeling experts! A fun group but also clearly a talented collection of professionals.

One of the two speakers for the evening was Jeff Nischwitz of Think Again Coaching. He talked about being focused in your marketing message to a targeted audience.  One of his strategies was finding a niche message.  Certainly this is a common thought process – going big isn’t always the answer as we can’t be all to everyone.  But Jeff had a memorable way of viewing our niche.

He asked us to raise our hands if we thought we were the best at what we did.  Many in the room raised their hands.  Including me.

“So then how many of you are just average at what you do?”  No one responded.

“And how many of you truly stink at what you do?”  We chuckled.

His point was – we view ourselves as being the best at what we do or at some component of what we do.  If we don’t then we are either in the wrong line of work or just don’t care.  His follow-up question got us to thinking:

“So if you tell me you are the best at what you do:  prove it.” 

Unless we are in possession of an award that labels us as the BEST DARN WIDGET MAKER then it is really just our word and if the prospect hasn’t had dealings with us, they have no reason to trust what we say.

“You can’t prove you are the best, but you can prove you are different.”  Hmmm. 

He suggested that we find something we can do or that we are that is different from the competition.  He even suggested that it didn’t have to do with our product or service.  For example, one of my Pearle Vision locations had an employee that spoke Portuguese.  It didn’t have anything to do with eye exams or selling glasses, but it was different and in that community their difference had value.

Although we’d like to please everyone, that is impossible.  I can’t even please both my kids at the same time.  But we can find a small segment of the market place that requires our services delivered in our unique manner.  For example, as a freelance writer, I specialize in website content.  However, I don’t write all kinds of content; I specialize in retail, business-to-consumer content, written in a conversational tone. 

So if you want technical writing…that’s not me.

If you want Harvard Law Review content…that’s not me.

If you want boring writing…again, not me.

Here’s the beauty of Jeff’s advice:

• If you identify what makes you different and clearly communicate that message to the people who care (your target prospect), you’ll be more inclined to find a customer
• If you understand the value of your difference and communicate that message to the population at large (networking events, in line at the grocery store, in church or at the ball park) people will have a clearer understanding of what you do and who you do it to so they can refer you to potential prospects.

So what makes you different?  Is it what you do?  Is it how you do it?  Is it your background? 

Another example:  most freelance writers are journalists or have communication degrees.  Not me.  I come from the corporate world.  It wasn’t until I spent almost 25 years climbing the corporate ladder that I started my writing business which means I understand the corporate environment.  It helps me communicate on a peer-to-peer level with “C” level executives. 

How about you?  What makes you different? 

Once you figure that out, the next step will be to start telling people.