4 Easy Ways to Stand Out From The Crowd

by Rick White, President 180BIZ                                                    (Estimated Read Time 4 minutes)

In this episode, I will talk about one of the things that are keeping you from charging the appropriate labor rate that you could and should be charging to take care of your team, and take care of everything. It’s all about differentiation. You need to be able to answer this one question as a prospective client: “Why would I drive by three of your competitors to do business with you?”

The answer is simple: You need to make sure that each time a potential client comes in contact with your company or brand, they are able to understand why they would choose YOU over your competitors.

The first step is having a clear understanding of what sets you apart from the rest. What do your clients love about working with you? What is it that makes them want to keep coming back? What makes them want to share their experience with others? If you can’t figure out what it is that makes YOU different, then how can someone else?

The fact is, if you don't know what differentiates you from your competitors, then price is what's going to end up separating you. And if price is what separates you… well frankly it's just a race to the bottom. Everyone else wins (except for YOU).

In order to differentiate yourself from your competitors, it's important that you think about the four key areas that make up your business: your product, your process, your people, and your brand.

YOUR PRODUCT

Your product can be different than everyone else.

Let me explain what I mean.

Having a specialty shop where you only work on one kind of vehicle or a limited set of vehicles is a differentiation. And because of that differentiation, it infers that you are an expert. And because you are an expert, you can charge more for the services you provide.

Here are some other examples.

• You specialize in diagnostics.

• You specialize in air conditioning.

• You specialize in the type of vehicle (like diesel).

These are all specializations. And because of that, it allows you to give yourself some distance from everyone else—which is awesome!

YOUR PROCESS

Your PROCESS can also be different than everyone else's in your market. So let's think about this: If you do something intrinsically different than anyone else in your market (for example: doing DVIs), can that be a differentiator? Yes! Please hear me when I say this:

Your differentiator isn't in what you do; your differentiator is how you do it and how it benefits your client.

YOUR PEOPLE

The third way you can differentiate yourself is through your people. People are what make a company great.

Your employees are the face of your brand, and how they interact with customers makes all the difference.

A friendly attitude, for example, can be a completely differentiator if you're going up against other companies who just aren't as personable. If you're not sure how friendly your company is, call some of your competitors and ask them how easy it was to get in touch with someone at their company—and then compare it to how easy it was to get in touch with someone at yours.

It's also important to understand that not every aspect of differentiation needs to be perfect—you don't have to be perfect in one area, but just good enough that people notice and appreciate it!

The product, the process, or the people—all three are important.

I want you to understand that I'm okay with any of these three. Any one of these three I think are amazing or even a variation of these three. You can have more than one area.

Look at UPS. They just did a campaign about “Thank your driver day.” And how it just blew up the internet. That's amazing. That was a great differentiator. It made us think about the people, not the company. It made us think about the guy or gal delivering your packages every day. That's a big deal.

YOUR PRICE

Ikea, Walmart, and Dollar General are all successful companies that have been able to compete on price. But that doesn't mean you should follow their lead.

Price is a slippery slope—it's easy to get into a price war, but it's impossible to win one.

If your competitors are willing to sell at a lower cost than you can, then you're going to lose business. And if they aren't willing? You'll be stuck with customers who don't want to pay your prices and aren't buying from you anyway.

So what should you do instead? Offer something unique that no one else can match! If people have a problem that they need solved and they know only one place where they can go for the solution (you), then they're going to pay whatever you ask them to pay—even if it's more than what other companies charge for their products or services (which it probably won't be).

You might be asking yourself, “Why do I need to charge what I’m worth?”

Well, it’s simple. We live in a world where we are all competing for attention, for business, for opportunities. And the only way to set yourself apart from the crowd is to understand who you are and how you can deliver value to your customers in a way that no one else can match—and then charge accordingly.

If this message resonates with you, please share it.

Have fun, stay safe and go make some abundance!

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