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One of the golden rules of differentiating yourself from your competition is to purposefully address (in your marketing efforts) stereotypical objections people have to doing business with your industry.
For example:
- Have you noticed the recent trend in residential real estate where the listing agent offers to buy your home if it does not sell in a pre-determined period of time? That removes the fear of the house never selling.
- Online retailers offer free shipping to alleviate the concern that some consumers have over the inability to touch and feel the product.
- Infomercials are famous for their money-back guarantees. Why? Because they must get consumers over their “It’s-too-good-to-be-true” skepticism.
I recently worked with a general contractor whose entire business model is based on purposefully addressing the stereotypes of his industry. Below are a few examples how he accomplishes this:
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Industry Stereotype
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Overcome Stereotype
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| Mark-up material costs |
No mark-ups |
| Lack of transparency on cost to build |
Upfront cost estimate. No deviations once contract is signed |
| Lack of transparency of payments |
Weekly payments by customer to insure accountability of GC |
| Poor subcontractors |
Long-serving, well-regarded subcontractors |
| Cost overruns and change orders |
None allowed unless agreed to in writing by both parties |
| Lack of communication after contract is signed |
All calls, emails and text messages are returned immediately |
| Contractor does not deliver what is promised |
Customer may dismiss or fire this GC for any reason they wish |
| Lack of engagement from owner after contract is signed |
The company owner is the superintendent on the job |
| No contact after project completion |
Life-long customers |
Take some time this week and jot down the objections people have to buying from your industry in general. Then determine how you can alleviate those objections in your marketing message and business practices.
www.Clarity-Coaching.biz | www.TheTermiteEffect.com
Have you ever wondered what happens when you put a customer on hold?
A friend of mine shared the following story about a recent shopping experience that may prompt you to think differently about putting customers on hold.
For many months, he had contemplated jumping back into a neglected hobby but he failed to clear the time on his calendar. Finally, he decided to make it a priority and found a workshop at a local hobby store in which to enroll. He called to make his reservation and was put on hold as the person was dealing with another customer in the store. In his words, “in the less than three minutes that I was on hold, I talked myself out of spending the $125 on the workshop and I hung up.”
How many sales have you lost due to carelessness, complacency or by accident? When you think about how hard you work to gain new clients or customers, the thought of losing one due to negligence or inattention should make you sick. Hopefully it will motivate you to practice diligence in your customer-facing activities – do not put people on hold, promptly answer voicemail and email messages, be deliberate in approaching contacts at networking events rather than hanging back in the shadows, etc.
Don’t give prospects (or current customers) any excuses to go elsewhere or talk themselves out of buying from you.
In addition to conveying an Overt Benefit and giving prospects a Real Reason to Believe, your marketing message must also be different from the competition – DRAMATICALLY different!
If your product or service is similar to your competitors, it is a commodity. Commodities are primarily purchased based on price.
If your product or service is different from your competitors, then the decision will come down to applicability to their situation and value. Therefore being DRAMATICALLY different usually means that you can charge more!
There are a number of methods to differentiate. Below are a few examples:
LEVEL OF SERVICE – Certain customer segments require different levels of service. Think about a CPA versus H&R Block.
TARGET MARKET SERVED – You can specialize based on age, gender, interests, income level, ethnicity, and religion – almost anything!
PRODUCT LINE OFFERED – Some businesses specialize on a narrow product offering while others huge product lines. Think about your neighborhood bicycle shop versus WalMart!
LOCATION – Your business may exclusively serve a particular region or neighborhood. Or think about the corner drugstore or gas station. Locations can make or break them.
PORTABILITY/EASE OF USE – If you can make it easier for your customer to use your product or service, there are endless opportunities to differentiate. Think about e-books versus regular books. Think about mobile devices and their apps. Think about delivery options.
PERSONAL ATTENTION – Some people want to be waited on extensively, while others just want it fast. Opportunities lie in both areas. Think fast food versus any sit-down restaurant. Think Nordstroms versus Target.
As you formulate your marketing message, remember to convey your OVERT BENEFIT, give your customers a REAL REASON TO BELIEVE that your message is true and articulate how your product or service is DRAMATICALLY DIFFERENT from your competition.
Happy New Year and happy marketing!
If you are interested in Doug Hall’s book, Jumpstart Your Business Brain, click here for a link to Amazon.com.
www.TheTermiteEffect.com | www.Clarity-Coaching.biz
In my previous post, I discussed the first part of author Doug Hall’s three part formula for an effective marketing message – Overt Benefit. Today, I will review the second part – Real Reason to Believe (RRB).
Once you communicate the overt benefits of your product or service, the next step is to communicate why the prospect should believe your claims. In other words, you must demonstrate CREDIBILITY.
There are a number of ways to build up your credibility in the marketplace. Below are a few examples:
Your Pedigree – Company history. Longevity. “Locally-owned”. “Award winning”. Highlighting anniversaries. Trademarks, copyrights and patents. Become a published author.
Testimonials – Prior customer testimonials. From experts or celebrities. Media reports – press releases.
Personal Experience – Samples and demonstrations. Sensory feedback – the smell of a florist shop or a bakery, the feeling you get from great customer service.
Guarantees – Think about what people hate about buying from your industry and build a guarantee around it. You probably offer latent guarantees now without publicizing it (i.e. almost all restaurants will comp a meal from a dissatisfied customer).
Kitchen Table Logic –Explain your service in a plain-spoken, direct and common sense manner.
Expressing your Overt Benefit and giving your prospects a Real Reason to Believe are important, but the cherry on to explain why you are “Dramatically Different” from your competition, which will be addressed in my next post.
One of my favorite business books is Doug Hall’s JumpStart Your Business Brain. The book chronicles Hall’s comprehensive study of the effectiveness of marketing messages. He studied thousands of client groups, collected tens of thousands of data points and evaluated over a million customer reactions.
He concluded that the most effective marketing messages have three common characteristics:
- They convey an overt benefit
- They give the buyer a real reason to believe
- They display a dramatic difference from the competition.
In today’s post, we will explore the Overt Benefit.
Because we are inundated with advertisements every day, marketers must rise above the fray and stand out. According to Hall, marketing messages that convey an overt benefit are three times more effective than other similar messages.
What is an Overt Benefit?
Marketing 101 teaches us to avoid selling features but, instead, focus on benefits. Hall takes this advice one step further; don’t sell features, don’t sell benefits, sell OVERT benefits!
An overt benefit is one that solicits an emotion, is brash, bold and sometimes blunt. Strong overt benefits are measurable or quantifiable.
Below are some examples:
- Dominoes Pizza – If you are 30 or older, you may remember when Dominos Pizza first started delivering pizza in 30 minutes or less or the pizza was free. That was crazy! Notice the progression from feature to benefit to overt benefit: Pizza – Delivered – In 30 minutes or free!
- Exterminator – One of my friends owns an extermination company. One day he mentioned his mosquito yard treatment. He said, “It’s safe for pets! You can let your dogs out in the backyard as soon as I treat the yard.” Progression: Pest Control – Kill mosquitoes – Safe for pets!
- Shoeshine – If you work in a busy corporate area or are a frequent flyers, you may come across old-fashioned shoeshine stands. I remember seeing a sign on a stand that read, “2-minute or less!” Progression: Shoeshine – Clean, shining shoes – Done quickly!
- Business Coaching – In my coaching practice, I help business owners get organized, gain clarity, prioritize, get motivated, better manage their time and offer accountability. Ultimately, I offer peace of mind and, hopefully, improved profitability. Progression: Coaching – Get organized and motivated – Peace of mind!
If you find yourself currently selling features or generic benefits and want to take it to the next level, spend some time converting your features to benefits and your benefits to overt benefits. This can be accomplished by asking yourself questions like, why should the customer care? Why is the feature important? Why is the feature necessary? How will the customer/client feel after using your product or service? What is unique about my product or service? Then look for ways to apply bold, brash, blunt and measurable descriptors to your message.
Stay tuned for Part II – Real Reason to Believe
www.Clarity-Coaching.biz | www.TheTermiteEffect.com
I have subscribed to Andy Stanley’s monthly Leadership podcast for several years now. Below are his Five Inescapable Truths of Culture.
- Leaders are responsible for and shape their organization’s culture whether they mean to or not.
- “Time in” erodes “awareness of”. The longer you are in the position of leadership, the less aware you are of what’s going on within the culture.
- A healthy culture attracts and keeps healthy people. Unhealthy people will be repelled by the culture because they will not be tolerated.
- The culture of an organization impacts the long-term productivity of an organization. Expect lower productivity from companies with unhealthy cultures and vice versa.
- Unhealthy cultures are slow to adapt to change.
Check out Andy Stanley’s Leadership Podcast here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/AndyStanleyLeadershipPodcast
In Dale Carnegie’s How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, he references a poem called “Just for Today” by Sybil F. Partridge that had a profound impact on his life. I thought I would share it with you:
Just for today I will be happy. This assumes what Abraham Lincoln said is true: ‘Most folks are about as happy as they make their mind up to be.’ Happiness comes from within; it is not a matter of externals.
Just for today I will try to adjust myself to what is; not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my family, my business, and my luck as they come and fit myself to them.
Just for today I will take care of my body. I will exercise it, care for it, nourish it, not abuse or neglect it, so that it will be a perfect machine for my bidding.
Just for today I will try to strengthen my mind. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought, and concentration.
Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways: I will do someone a good turn and not get found out. I will do at least two chores I don’t want to do, as William James suggests, just for exercise.
Just for today I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, speak diplomatically, act courteously, be liberal with praise, criticize not at all, nor find fault with anything, and not try to regulate or improve anyone.
Just for today I will try to live through this day only, not tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do things for twelve hours that would appall me if I had to keep them up for a lifetime.
Just for today I will have a program. I will write down what I expect to do every hour. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. It will eliminate two pests: hurrying and indecision.
Just for today I will have a quiet half hour by myself and relax. In this half hour sometimes I will think of God, so as to get a little more perspective into my life.
Just for today I will be unafraid. Particularly, I will be unafraid to be happy; to enjoy what is beautiful; to love; and to believe that those I love, love me.
— Copyright © Sybil Partridge
I recently conducted a workshop called Marketing 101: A Shot of Espresso. It is designed to help business owners and entrepreneurs reevaluate their marketing efforts and provide them with ideas that they can implement for their business.
During this particular session, I told the group that each day I make two, value-added posts to both of my Twitter and Facebook accounts (Clarity Coaching and my book, The Termite Effect). A woman in the front of the room said, “that’s a lot!” My reply to her was “who says that’s a lot?”
I told her that, based on her response, she had already talked herself out of social media as part of her marketing plan. She agreed.
What I witnessed that morning was a perfect example of self-sabotage or self-limiting beliefs. How many of you talk yourself out of stuff before you even get started? It’s sad when you think about it. How many dreams or ideas have you let go by the wayside simply because you thought it would be too difficult?
Honestly, there is enough negativity in the world to keep most of us down as it is. Why would you allow yourself to be another barrier or obstacle to doing something new and exciting?
Next time that little voice inside your head says, “that will be hard” or “you can’t do that” stop what you are doing and say out loud, “WHO SAYS I CAN’T DO THAT?” Warning: You must say this out loud or it does not work!
Just like when you are dealing with a bully, once someone shows their willingness to stand up for themselves, they usually back down. Push back on the self-sabotage and self-limiting bully.
Try this technique for a few weeks and let me know how it goes.
www.Clarity-Coaching.biz | www.TheTermiteEffect.com
Can the old “How-to-Eat-an-Elephant” adage be applied to achieving your goals? The answer is “absolutely yes“. The elephant adage advises one bite at a time. To reach your goals, I suggest that you focus on hitting singles.
What do all great home run hitters have in common? They strike out a lot! That’s what happens when you swing for the fences every time you step up to the plate. The analogy that I like to draw is that your goals are like scoring a run in baseball. One way to score in baseball is to hit a home run. Another strategy is called “small ball” whereby you do whatever you can to get on base and focus on moving the runner ahead of you around the bases. This includes walking, bunting, hitting a single or a double, stealing a base, getting hit by a pitch or focusing on making contact.
Some of the greatest hitters in Major League Baseball history hit less than 200 career home runs.
- Pete Rose, the all-time hits leader, had over 14,000 at-bats, 4,256 hits and only 160 home runs.
- Tony Gwynn, #17 on the all-time hit list, had over 9,200 at-bats, 3,141 hits and only 135 home runs.
- Rod Carew, #21 on the all-time hit list, had 9,315 at-bats, 3,053 hits BUT only 92 home runs.
The idea I want to convey to you is that one of the secrets to attaining your goals is to start with the end in mind, create a plan to step-by-step, day-by-day, make progress toward the goal and then execute the plan by focusing on hitting singles day in and day out (one bite at a time).
Too many of us keep our focus only on the achievement of the ultimate goal. I want to caution you not to fall into this trap. Try to celebrate your progress (your singles) along the way to your goal. Below are some examples:
- If your goal is to run a marathon – celebrate your progress training.
- If you want to pay off debt – celebrate the dwindling balances and interest payments.
- Starting a business? Celebrate each step along the journey to get the venture off the ground.
- Going on vacation? Celebrate the countdown until you go.
- Trying to lose weight? Celebrate each lost pound.
Try hitting singles. Let me know how it works out for you.
www.Clarity-Coaching.biz | www.TheTermiteEffect.com
A fellow coach and friend, Kevin Thomas, recently posed a powerful question that I want to expand on. He asked, “Are you a passion booster or a passion buster?”
When you look at your sphere of influence, which one describes you?
- Do you build people up or tear them down? Discourage or encourage?
- Do you point out the negative or the downside to their ideas and dreams or do you help them think bigger?
- Are you more likely to say “You can’t do that!” or “Wow! Tell me more!”?
- Do you try to pull people down to your level or encourage them to strive for greatness?
- When you first meet someone, do you initially think the worst or the best of them?
What does this have to do with running a business?
EVERYTHING!
Look at your hiring practices: Do you hire people who are smarter than you? Happier than you? More innovative than you? Or do you hire people that make you feel good about yourself; those that you feel superior to?
Look at your customer service practices: Do you look at customer complaints as a nuisance or an opportunity to grow and get better?
Look at your sales practices: Are you an authentic listener or do you dominate conversations? Are you interested or interesting?
Look at your human resources management practices: Do you manage by intimidation? Do you encourage your employees to innovate, think outside-the-box and allow them to fail? Or do you build walls around their responsibilities and make the ramifications of failure so punitive that they operate like robots? Are your employees frustrated or energized? Do you encourage your employees to pursue their dreams even if that means they leave your company?
Dr. Wayne Dyer once said, “Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change.”
If you are a passion buster, try changing the way you look at things and perhaps you can convert to being a passion booster.
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