To help you develop points of difference you might like to take the exercise of writing a list of 21 benefits of doing business with you. These should include such areas as your people, experience, location, products, services, brands and remember a benefit is an advantage to the customer.
If you create a feature or what is known as a fact e.g. you have 11 different colours – that is not a benefit to the customer, so what you do is you use the “So what” test which is you take a feature of 11 colours and then you say in your mind So what does this mean to a customer and that means that will then give you the benefit answer. E.g. in this case gives them colours to choose from, colours to match a particular design need, gives them the ability to meet a particular colour perception that they have.
Generally there will be more benefits from one feature than just one simply because when you use the “So what” test it is easy to identify benefits according to the customers knowledge base.
Once you have established your 21 benefits list, and why 21, it is because all of us seem to think that 21 was a magic birthday for us, so it is a nice magic number, you can then start communicating this to your customers either by attaching it the back of a quotation, by putting it up on your website, communicating in your enews, or perhaps even taking 3 or 4 a week and putting them on to the bottom of your email signature or communicating it to staff in the form of signage or the vision message for the week.
In addition to your list of benefits you may have a “USP” this is a unique selling proposition one line description of the benefits of doing business with you.
This is not to be confused with an elevator speech where you have 30seconds and approximately 30 words to get across your opportunity, this is a unique point of difference, e.g. The Warehouse’s “Where everyone gets a bargain” there are a variety of ways to create one of these and it starts from examining the benefits, and then picking out key words that in your customers perception will help them understand in one sentence or 3 or 4 words exactly what it is that is uniquely different about you.
To say that you are great at supplying services for car washing is not enough, an example of a USP would be “For great looking clean cars” in those few words we have a very simple vision for the staff, customers and for everybody to agree to that the end result of you car washing service is that you get a great looking clean car.
The USP that you have created can then be put on the bottom of your email signature, it can be put in your advertising, attached to your brand name, can be put in your advertising and promotion and marketing, it can also be put on name badges, uniforms, building signage anywhere where a customer is likely to come into contact to help them understand the difference between you and another supplier in the market place.
Even if you have the lowest prices in town you can say that is a USP “The lowest prices in town” as long as you can justify it and it does not come into a problem with the Fair Trading Act of willingly misleading the customer.
One of the most important ways of marketing your point of difference is to promote the experience of your people, many customers want to know that you have skilled and experienced executives and management and members of your staff so that there will be less opportunity for quality problems.
By promoting the experience of your staff it is generally done by a photographic display of the staff head & shoulders with the number of years experience or the particular specialties that they have if you are promoting services and then for further details you might promote that on the website, in a printed brochure, and certainly include with your quotes, tenders & submitting for new customers and new business.
It is also a good idea to communicate to existing customers what other customers say about you in the form of excerpts from testimonials, these can be displayed on your website, put in brochures, put in a email, but it gives people the confidence that you are still continuously delivering your point of difference.
Remember it is more important to quote what others say about you than what you say about yourself – it works, it is valuable and it builds understanding.
Of course to get testimonials you have to ask for them and sometimes you have to promote the customer in what would be a good thing for them to say, you can then choose whether you want to reveal who the customer was or just use initials so that as long as you know where they are and you have a record of it but you are not going to get your customer plagued by lots of people ringing up to check up the references.
An ideal coffee table book is a testimonial book, so that customers who are waiting can see what other clients have said about you.
Marketing your point of difference is about communicating, the more frequently you communicate the point of difference the more your staff will consistently deliver it and the more your customers will understand it and cease going to others for quotations.
This article contributed by Richard P Gee, Marketing Strategy Consultant, Conference Speaker and Interactive Author. More details about Richard check out his website www.geewiz.co.nz
MARKETING YOUR POINT OF Difference - To learn more about this author, visit Richard Gee's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 |
Related Articles |
|
 Clarity is the New Creativity.
|
| |
In the language of clarity:
Can your product be differentiated?
Can you point out that difference quickly?
Can you explain why the difference matters?
This is effective marketing.
|
|
So You Think You’re Different?
|
| |
 Being different, or more accurately, having a point of differentiation that matters to a market, is one of the most critical marketing strategies for the small business.
|
|
Be the Red Leaf
|
| |
So I come back from my chilly morning run and am greeted by the site of one lone red leaf popping out of a sea of green ivy and decaying brown leaves - and I can’t help but take notice.
|
|
Marketing and Advertising
|
| |
We hear about them all the time, and people tell us they are good – no, essential – for our company, but what are they really? What is the difference between marketing and advertising? Is there even a difference? We...
|
|
How One Ordinary Salesperson Could Get Extraordinary Sales Results
|
| |
You’d be very surprised if you knew the difference between you and the top producers. If you’re an average or above average producer it isn’t as if there are huge differences between the way you do things, and the ...
|
 |
Related Businesses - Evan Elite Authors |
|
Kim Castle
With nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation.
BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them?
If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
|
Vwodek Wojczynski
Business Coach and Consultant Vwodek Wojczynski (pronounced Voy-chin-ski) brings fun, awareness, accountability and fresh perspectives based on his diverse experiences in life and business.
Born in Poland and educated in Greece and Canada, he is trilingual with 8 years experience in business development with clients in Canada, USA, Switzerland and Poland.
His approach is systematic and process-driven. He fuses the know-how of proven business methods with his commitment that entrepreneurs experience satisfaction and joy based on their values, motivations and strengths. He believes that businesses succeed based on their ability to generate value by providing what’s needed and wanted.
Ultimately, he trains executives and true business owners - people who work less, produce more, own businesses that run automatically after a while and make a difference globally.
His current research focus is the development of intelligent business systems and the application of emerging artificial intelligence technologies in business.
He is also an avid traveler, spoken word performer and visual artist. He resides in Toronto, Canada. - Visit Vwodek Wojczynski's Website |
|
Dave Kurlan
Dave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development.
Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit.
He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine.
He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball.
He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
|
Accessible Business Consultants
Dave Turkin, President, of Accessible Business Consultants is a full service business consultant that has over 32 years of experience working with small-medium size businesses. Dave has designed and implemented numerous business and marketing plans, designed internal programs for accounting and operational procedures. He has analyzed businesses and prepared strategic plans setting budgets for growth, expansion and business restructuring.
He currently sits on the Board of Directors of various corporations as an advisor. For many years he has been the Business Coach to many executives offering advice and guidance from old and established companies as well as new companies just getting started.
Dave has the ability to analyze a business quickly and get a strong indication as to the necessary steps to improve operations, productivity and profitability. - Visit Accessible Business Consultants's Website |
|
Anne Barr
Anne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations,
networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business
ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
|
The Evan Elite Authors program is currently in beta phase. For details please contact us.
|
|
|
|
![[Get Copyright Permissions]](http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.gif){kind=small}
