Leverage Your Distinctiveness to Produce Results For Customers
Author of The Gauntlet
rschultek@staging.elfin-bead.flywheelsites.com
One client recently asked me why her new products were not getting the attention she expected. As we discussed her situation, it became clear that she was promoting generic benefits intended to provoke consideration of her company’s new offering.
“What in your message compels your customers and prospects to consider your new products?” I asked. “Why are they so unique?”
It’s not enough anymore to promote generic benefits delivered by new products. There’s too much noise in the marketplace, and too many false claims. You can only compel attention when your customers and prospects hear a message describing how your products and business produce a quantifiable advantage for them. They are no longer willing to do the homework of converting your generic benefits into the specific dollar value you produce – you have to do this in your message or you won’t capture their attention.
How do you help increase their sales or productivity? How do you reduce their cost or inventory?
Strengthen the intensity of your Unique Promise, your distinctive offering, to more clearly communicate the results generated by your product or service. Start by clarifying your definition of Core Customer. This definition is more comprehensive than who is buying the most from you. A Core Customer has characteristics that align with your competencies and generates profit for you because they buy in sufficient quantity to benefit from those competencies. Why do they buy from you? How have you built an enduring relationship with them? Look deeper than “…we respond faster…” or “…we ship faster…” Think about how these attributes create value for your customers. You make money for them and they trust that you will continue to do so – that’s why they but from you.
Next, list all of your products & services. Delete redundant ones or those owned by competitors. What product/service clearly differentiates your company in the market? What makes your product or service unique? What portion of your served market do you own? The answer is your Unique Promise.
My client revised her message to communicate how her new products could strengthen her customers’ competitive advantage and increase their sales, and the leads began pouring in. To defy commoditization, promote how your Unique Promise produces results for your customers and prospects, and you will capture their attention.
How do your products/services make money for your customers?
How can you use this information to better promote your Unique Promise?
