Your Competition Looks Just Like You

How do you feel about your competitors?  I’ll bet you don’t like the way they go about their business, do you?  They could do a better job of pricing, instead of “giving it away” all the time.  Their sales approach is kind of sleazy, and it’s too bad customers can’t see through their exaggerations.  You often end up fixing problems they cause when their disgruntled customers come to you with something they did that didn’t go right.  They have some good people working there, but also one or two real losers.  How in the world do they even stay in business?

And why is it that customers don’t seem to be able to tell the difference between your competitors and your clearly superior business?  Let’s ponder that one for a minute.  With all the negative things you know or feel about your competition, what is it that makes you better?  Why is it so hard to stand out in the eyes of customers?

“Differentiation” is the marketing word most often used for the concept of standing out from the crowd.  It’s easy to understand what it means, but I’ve found that for most small business owners, it is incredibly difficult to actually identify, and then describe for customers what it is that makes us different, and better.  Our natural inclination is to describe our businesses in terms of what we do or sell.  So we talk about the products we provide.  We describe the services we offer.  We tout our incredible customer service.  We list our high quality reputation.  We glorify our amazingly effective employee team.  We offer deals, discounts, freebies, and specials.  But the thing is… SO DO THEY!

Take a close look at business ads, and notice the content of ads among competitive businesses.  When you strip away the picture and colors in the ads, they all say pretty much the same thing… “This is our product/service, this is what we do, here is our offer, please call us.”

So how is your prospective customer supposed to know that you are better… different?  This is where some deeper thinking has to take place if you want to attract more business.  Put yourself into your customers’ shoes and think about why current customers do business with you.  Why not ask them?  Why did they choose you over the other guys?  Did they simply throw a dart at a map and picked the one located closest?  Did they Google “Your product, Your city”, and you were at the top of the list?  Did a friend suggest your business to them?  All these are fine reasons to attract attention, but WHY then do they do business with you?  Because honestly, your competitors look just like you.

Do you want more business?  I suggest setting aside some time this month to do some thinking about what makes you different.  Think about what your customers really want when they seek your product or service.  Do they simply want to buy what you have?  No differentiation there.  Think instead about what they hope to get out of what you offer.  You may find it’s things like satisfaction, security, peace, pride, familiarity, and accomplishment.  Or it may be that they want to avoid certain things like pain, embarrassment, cost, effort, or fear.  Then figure out how you deliver these emotional wants and needs better than your competitor.  When you deliver that message to your marketplace, you will start to look different and more attractive than all of your look-alike competition.