JUST ONE THING
Four Areas that Make You Different From Your Competitors
Episode 88
With Rick White, 180BIZ
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?”
That's a great question! I will tell you straight up as I've been doing this for 20 years. I've had less than 2% of the shops that have ever asked that question to be able to answer it. Most shop owners, especially face-to-face, look at the ground, shuffle their feet, then look up at me and say, “I don't know.”
If you don't know what differentiates you from the rest of the pack, from your competitors, then you can only compete on price. And this is what's keeping your labor rate down. This is what is keeping you second-guessing and doubting yourself. This is a big deal. Each one of you is a unique individual because of the uniqueness of your team, or something else. There is something special and different about you.
There are four key areas where you can differentiate. Three of them I'm cool with, but one of them, not so much. So let's start with the first one.
1. Your PRODUCT. Your product can be different than everyone else. Let me explain what I mean. Having a specialty store where you only work on one kind of vehicle or a limited set of vehicles. For example, you only specialize in Mercedes. That 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. What else could be a different product? 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.
2. Your PROCESS. If you do something intrinsically different than anyone else in your market. That can be a differentiator. So, let's think about that. If you are the only one doing DVIs, can that be a differentiator? Yes, it absolutely can. Please hear me when I say this. The differentiator isn't in what you do. The differentiator is how you do that process. It’s that thing that you do differently, and how does that benefit your client? Don't just say that you do DVIs. Talk about transparency, talk about pictures, talk about validity, talk about credibility, talk about peace of mind. Those are important to your client. Don't talk about the DVI.
3. The third way to differentiate yourself is your PEOPLE. Your people can make a difference. If you have the best if you have the most caring, the friendliest, that makes a difference. When did you ever think being friendly was going to be a differentiator? But if you call 5 or 10 of your competitors just in the way you answer the phone and engage someone can be a complete differentiator. The way you treat them can be a differentiator.
Understanding the value that you bring to the table can be a part of any one of these. The product, the process, or the people. This all makes a difference. And I want you to understand that I am 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.
4. The last differentiator is PRICE. This one makes me nervous because there are very few businesses built on price that are successful. The only one that is really successful is Walmart. IKEA does a pretty good job too. As far as the furniture market goes. They have quite the in with the younger generations. I know my kids love Ikea and Walmart. They beat their vendors up mercilessly so that they can get the pricing that they want. Understand that price. Even Dollar General, they're so close to going bankrupt most of the time that they're having a really hard time making it work. So price is a slippery slope. And typically when you start competing on price, there's someone who will always beat you on price. Price is a race to the bottom. Stay away from price.
My point is that you must understand how you are different, unique, and special to your marketplace so that you can charge what you are worth. That's part of it. Understand what makes you special, what makes you different.
If this message resonates with you, please share it. Take care.
