Do you truly know what distinguishes your company from your competitors?

When I typically ask this question of my clients, I get pretty much the same answer from most people. They say, “Oh, it’s my great employees. And it’s our great product. And/or it’s our many years of service.”

I then respectively respond that all those things are wonderful, yet they aren’t true differentiators because any of their competitors will claim the same thing.

Let me peel it back by providing an example from a few years ago:

• I was working with a dirt excavation firm based in Oregon. When I asked them this question, it garnered a similar answer to my previous mention.

• I then advised them to hang in with me as I became deeply curious and began to ask them a variety of questions; many of which seemed elementary to them but may not have been to their client prospects. These questions included:

  1. Can you visibly see the difference between your kind of dirt (following your processing system) versus others’?

  2. Have you thought about showcasing the success of your company’s processes for achieving quality soil by targeting those companies which value it the most?

• I then reminded them that their company’s and clients’ geographic location is in a region especially focused on sustainability and technology. Therefore, understanding the drivers of their clients’ decisions and then targeting those clients may consist of:

  1. Demonstrating how the most successful building projects begin with the highest quality, strongest foundations poured on the most stable, environmentally sound terrain.

  2. Concurrently, the landscaping that accompanies those magnificent structures is also best maximized with the richest soil.

  3. Therefore, they should show up to meetings with visible proof to validate their service offering. Basically, their proof is in the pudding. So, showcase their dirt versus others.

• They told me that it seemed so obvious and why hadn’t they thought of that? I counseled that differentiation takes work. By truly exploring their clients’ drivers, along with identifying their internal resource value, then and only then can they define their uniqueness.

Now I ask you to rethink my question. What sets you apart? Are you aware?

If you aren’t, then how will your business development professionals and doer/seller technicians adequately establish you with prospective clients in your highly competitive market?

If you don’t know where to begin and would like help discovering your differentiation, please contact me at dlandry@authentizity.com.

— Dawn F. Landry