Bad food
Bad Food – Anthony Bourdain Switch food with product, marketing, business, brand… What kind of food do you wanna make? PS- inspired by Dave Trott’s post.
Being Agnostics
If you become solution and supplier agnostic, you’re one step ahead. Why? Because while everyone else is trying to convince and talk others into whatever they’re selling, you’ll be picky, conscious, and cared for in what kind of people you’ll be working with. It’s not about what you can offer. It’s about what they can get. Maybe you’re not the right one for them, so you help them decide to go for another alternative.
Thought leadership
So, you’re a thought-leader. Says who? You’re a trusted advisor. Says who? If it’s not your customers who say that, there’s a gap to fill. Leadership and trust don’t come from within, they come from the outside. If they’re not the ones saying it, you need more work to do. 🙂
Clarity in the articulation
Ghostwriters, copywriters, marketers, content marketers, brand strategists… Other people can’t write “thought-leadership” for you. Neither will they turn you into a “thought-leader”. It’s not magic. And definitely not a linear, easy-to-reach process. Leadership comes from the outside. Thought-leadership comes from your market: rivals, business environment, customers. Thoughts come from you. To get there, others can help you. Yet the articulation (and the struggle to get there) needs to come…
How much does it cost?
A cost is not a price. Talking about price makes you think in different terms. When you see “Cost”, it usually makes you consider something a bit more, like if it’s more painful. On what you’re giving away. When you see “Price”, the focus shifts onto what’s the thing on the other side of this pain. It helps your customers see the potential. To assess the value of what they consider worth it. It changes the dynamics in a sales conversation and negotiations. It clears the air.
An invitation
If you’ve thought “how the hell do i productize my offerings?”, friend of the list and founder of Metahelm, Guillaume Wiatr, is running his monthly complimentary workshopProductized Services: A Shortcut to Authentic and Valuable Solutions on Thursday. His way of approaching consulting, selling, and showing up as you are, are top. Maybe that’s the tiny dip in the water to get you started. I know, if you take it, you’ll leave with something for your business.
The Opposite Test
What’s the best way to measure your differentiation strategy? Ask the opposite. If you say you “bring solutions to your customers”, ask “do the others say they bring problems to customers?”. If you say “I create value”, as “do the others say they destroy value”? If it sounds ridiculous and like it won’t be something anyone would do, it’s quite likely you’re not perceived as that different. The fix is simple: Look at what the others say, find the trend, find the gap, and claim it, in your own…
Is it that simple?
Is saying the opposite that simple? As Germans like to say: “Jein” (yes and no). Finding what everybody else is saying and see the trend is simple, but it takes research (time, effort, criteria, pattern-matching…). Saying the opposite to what everybody else is saying is in a certain way “contrarian”, yet the key is not to be “contrarian” for the sake of it. Saying the opposite is finding what’s your perspective. To make a comparison (sorry, “category creation”) in the category, so that you…
No-brainer
If sales are down because your competition is aggressive and price is the main driver, you don’t have a pricing problem, you have a framing problem. Framing who your customers are. Framing how they can get more from you. Framing why they should buy from you instead of the others. Framing what you’re offering. Framing what they’re buying. Because, if price would really be the decisive factor, going lower than your competition by 10 or 100 would make it a no-brainer and you’d be selling more….
The fear of saying No
“If the prospect is not a fit, you just say No.” His face changed. I could see the fear into saying No to a prospect. It was like reading his mind: Him – “Saying No? I’ll be losing business! I can’t say No.” Me – “If you try to get them to yes, to buy from you —even when they can’t afford you— you’ll put energy, resources, effort and hopes into a lost cause. Wouldn’t it be more efficient to focus on the ones who can afford you?” And then it hit him. Hard. The fear was gone (at least for now)…
