There are numerous reasons why it’s important to distinguish ourselves from our competitors. The obvious one is to close more business - but there are other reasons:  

• It allows us to compete on value versus price.

• It shortens sales cycles because the prospect clearly understands the differences between the available choices and can therefore make an informed decision.

• It forces us to continually innovate to keep one step ahead of competitors.

In order to distinguish yourself, you must develop a POSITIONING AND DIFFERENTIATION strategy that makes it clear you are in fact the best choice. This information must be conveyed in all forms of marketing communications, whether that happens to be in a chance meeting at a networking event, in advertising or in a sales presentation.

When we ask business people what makes them better or unique, they struggle to come up with an answer. They will invariably fall into their comfort zone, which is to talk about themselves - what they do, or a description of their product or service.

They may say something like “we build web sites that are based on the latest technology”. Does this make them unique? Does the average business person who wants a web site built even know what the latest technology means? Don’t we expect web developers to use the latest technology? Aren’t their competitors saying exactly the same thing?

And herein lies the problem. We can’t expect a prospect to know how to evaluate us if we have a weak Positioning and Differentiation strategy. And when we lose business to our competition, our typical reaction is to blame the prospect because “they just don’t get it”.

But whose fault is it?

As business owners and marketers, it’s our responsibility to make it easy for the prospect to buy from us, and in order to make this happen, we must have the right Positioning and Differentiation strategy.

What is a Positioning and Differentiation Strategy? It’s “the relative competitive comparison a product or service occupies in a target market. Positioning ultimately forms the prospect’s perception of the product or service offering versus all other choices, and affects their likelihood of buying”.

So it’s important to get it right.

The Positioning and Differentiation strategy must do two things:

1. Make it obvious you understand your prospect’s requirements, and convince them you’re able to satisfy these requirements.

2. Make it obvious you provide a unique or superior value versus competitors so prospects will easily come to the conclusion you’re the best choice.

Even though the Positioning and Differentiation strategy must do these things, it still must be simple. We like to say it needs to fit in the palm of your hand. Clear, concise, to the point – something the prospect can really relate to.

To develop a winning Positioning and Differentiation strategy, we must gain a clear understanding of our prospects – “see the world through their eyes” – and develop insight about our competition.

Research is the key. The reason: it’s about knowing versus guessing. When we understand our prospects and competitors better than anybody else does, we can develop Positioning and Differentiation strategies that hit the mark and clearly distinguish us against the other available choices.

Often times when we develop a Positioning and Differentiation strategy, the client will react by asking “is that it? It seems so simple.” The key is in its simplicity and the fact it’s based on the prospect and competitive analysis. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Don’t over-think it. The most important thing is for your prospect to get it.

So how do we develop a winning Positioning and Differentiation strategy? We’ll explain in our next newsletter.    

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