One of the challenges of growing a successful business is exposed when owners answer this seemingly simple question: Why do people buy your product or service?
Take a minute and think about your answer.
Usually the answers I hear include something like these:
- Great customer service
- We always deliver on time
- Our price is the best
- We have what they want
- We have a great reputation.
While you may shake your head in agreement at the content of this list, the truth is all of those answers will some day disappoint you.
Don’t believe me? Think about these points.
Does everyone claim to have great customer service? Of course, they do.
Do other businesses in your market or area deliver on time, have the products or services your customers want and can offer competitive prices? Certainly, your competition will say they do.
Are there other businesses in your market or area that have great a reputation? Likely there is.
So you see, those “go to” answers about why your customers buy from you are pretty shallow. They all can be claimed by your competitor and used by them for promotion. Good luck trying to be heard when everyone is saying the same thing.
Not only is thinking this way tough from a competitive standpoint, but all of these responses don’t really answer the reason your customers buy.
So why do your ideal customers buy from you?
They aren’t buying your product or service. Your customers are buying your difference.
The product or service they buy may be purchased from many places. But your difference is uniquely yours.
I think the difference is seen it two areas.
First is your business’s differentiator. This is the aspect of your business that is uniquely your own and provides benefit to the customer.
This could be the way your deliver your services, a distinctive and unique process you use, the level of credentials your staff has, or deep industry or customers knowledge you can legitimately say only your business possesses.
Build your brand on one, or a few, of these. And keep in mind that your difference and your brand message must pass the test of these three questions: Is it real? Is it provable? Is it what your customers say?
The second is what I call “The Difference.” This is the difference you make in your ideal customer’s life or business.
The ideal customer is often buying the intangible benefits doing business with you brings to them. This gets to the heart of why they buy your products or services, versus buying from your competition.
When you concentrate on making a positive difference, you’ll impact your customer in a very meaningful way. This goes beyond “customer service” and price justifications of why they buy.
The differences you make shows up in emotional descriptions that include words like confidence, piece of mind, security, and well-being. When your business is attached to positive emotions, you’ll elevate your brand beyond the level of your competition and give your customers the reason to repeatedly buy from you and refer your business to others.
Bernadette Jiwa, in her book Difference, does a fantastic job of framing this concept. With the Difference Model and the Difference Map, she lays out the elements you can use to craft your unique and distinctive difference.
Spend some time to think about not only your differentiator but also your difference. These along with a definition of your ideal customer, your message, your channels, and your customer experience map will help you develop a strong marketing strategy that gets results and stops wasting your time and money on marketing.
Need some help figuring out your marketing strategy and how to get marketing results? Click here to schedule a personal marketing consultation with a Valens Point marketing professional. It’s a no-risk way to see what’s possible with your business.
