Your business’s point of difference is what sets you apart from your competition. Consider it your competitive advantage. With many businesses selling similar products or services, identifying this unique selling point can be the key to success.
Here are 5 ways to define your point of difference.
What Keeps Customers Coming Back?
Rather than scratching your head wondering what makes your business special, talk to the folks who keep doing business with you.
Ask your clients:
- What do they appreciate about your business?
- Why do your long-term customers keep coming back?
- What is the perceived value of your product or service?
The best way to get feedback is by asking for reviews. Positive reviews can help identify what differentiates you, while negative reviews can show you where improvements need to be made. It’s truly a win-win.
Find a Problem, then Solve It
What are the common frustrations you hear from your clients? Often, finding a solution to a common problem or where there is a hole in the industry can be the point of difference you’re searching for.
Consider this:
Mike is a busy guy who likes to keep his house clean. He doesn’t have an issue keeping up with the vacuuming or dusting, but thanks to his dogs, the baseboards … well, they are always a mess. Unfortunately, he can’t find a cleaning service that will tackle the baseboards.
A cleaning service that offered extra deep cleaning, including baseboards and window wells would definitely get his business. And heck, he’d probably pay extra.
By identifying problems and evolving to solve them, your business can stand out against competitors stuck doing work the way it’s always been done.
Keep a Keen Eye on Your Competition
Being aware of your competition is key. Understanding their point of difference makes it so that you aren’t promoting the exact same thing as them. You need to find the angle that shows off how you are different.
More importantly, you should also be keeping an eye on what your competition isn’t doing to help determine your business’ competitive advantage.
As mentioned in the last section, keeping an eye on the market offerings and what your clients are asking for is a great way to identify opportunities to differentiate.
Identify Your Niche
It’s impossible to be everything to everyone. Rather, focus on a niche or an area where you can specialize.
By specializing in a specific customer niche, you can focus on the skills or services that uniquely benefit that customer. Being the best at delivering a specific solution to their unique situation enables you to maximize revenue and build stronger customer relationships.
Consider this:
Sarah’s hair needs a touch-up and this time she really wants to shake things up and dye her hair a nontraditional color. Lucky for Sarah, she’s found Kevin. Kevin specializes in trendy cuts and colors.
He’s identified his niche to be able to provide his clients an exceptional experience and dye-job that a stylist who focuses on traditional color may not be able to pull off. This is his point of difference and biggest selling point.
Make Doing Business with You Easy
One way to stand apart from your competition is by making it easy to do business with you. People like to follow the path of least resistance.
No matter how awesome a product or service is, your customers don’t want to feel like they are going through an obstacle course just to book an appointment.
Make it easy to book appointments online or leverage text messaging so they don’t have to pick up the phone to ask a question. Make payments a hassle-free process by accepting all forms of payments from credit cards to ACH.
Defining your unique point of difference might take a little time and some creativity, but once you’ve figured out what makes you special, you have a selling point that will help your business shine above the rest.
