Ology July 08: Differentiation
Standing out from the crowd is, traditionally, essential to a successful marketing strategy; growth, profit and even survival depend on our ability to be different to our competitors in ways that have value and meaning to our clients, and particularly in the current credit crunched market place.
It’s a challenge that is particularly difficult for service based companies. How many surveyors, solicitors and accountants have truly unique selling points? Probably very few. Most would claim to offer quality, value and service as their points of differentiation… but so do their competitors. So when you’re providing a generic service, how do you stand out from the crowd?
The answer lies in understanding the purchase of professional services from a customer’s perspective:
- Should failure happen, the consequences are painful
- You don’t need the world’s greatest outcome. You just need a very good outcome
- Since you can’t sample a service like you might sample a tangible product, you have to rely on reputation, experience, and expertise as indicators of expected results
- Price is a factor, but you’d rather not skimp when the outcome is important
So what do clients really want? The following factors have all been identified as important, but the mix, weighting and emphasis will depend on the nature of the services being purchased and the precise circumstances.
- Reliability; do what you say you’ll do, every time. Meet your commitments and deadlines and develop a reputation for doing so.
- Accessibility; be there and available when you’re needed.
- Impact; help your customers buy the services which will have greatest impact on their businesses and make buying easier for them.
- Fit; be a good match for my needs or recommend someone who is and don’t oversell yourself if you’ll struggle to meet my needs.
- Importance; make your clients feel important to you and your team.
- Service; deliver great service as well as services.
- Prudence; be careful and do your homework before recommending a course of action.
- Research; stay on top in both your industry and mine.
- Listening; understand your clients’ businesses, teams and clients so you can come up with ideas relevant to them.
- Teaching; help your clients understand what you do, share knowledge and help your clients understand what’s new in your field so they can apply it in theirs.
- Business Management; run an efficient operation and constantly improve it.
- Relationship Management; be pleasant, fair and work with your clients through communication breakdowns at your end or theirs. Treat your clients like people, with respect.
For accountants or lawyers, efficiency will be more important, in more creative sectors such as product innovation, creativity, innovation and fit may be more relevant.
Whatever the mix of factors, the bottom line is that the very best way to stand out from the crowd is by being excellent at what you do. Focus on delivering the value you say you’ll deliver, do an excellent job and live your values.
About Ology Business Coaching
OLOGY BUSINESS COACHING FRANCHISE - PROVIDING BUSINESS COACHING AND PRACTICAL ADVICE TO DYNAMIC COMPANIES An Ology Business Coaching advisory Franchise enables you to benefit directly from your hard work, control your working hours and make plans for your future. You know that you want to change your working life for the better - to have the opportunity and influence to help those around you.
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