subject: Why Being Safe Kills Your Business [print this page] Let me tell you a quick story and while it may not appear so, it actually does tie into the topic of this article.
Has this ever happened to you? You go to a restaurant that you've never been to before. Place looks nice. Perhaps the menu is a bit more extensive than you thought, so you ask your waiter/waitress/waitperson, "What's really good?" What do you so often hear?
"Well, we serve a lot of the chicken."
That's an interesting answer but it's not the question we asked. However, according to restaurant consultant Michael Simmons, it is the answer that most people are happy with.
Michael explains: "What we find is that most people want to make the safe choice. Thus if the server tells someone that a restaurant sells a lot of chicken, the patron feels that they are making a good decision. Of course what is not really ever answered is whether the chicken is actually any good."
The point to this brief story is that this same sort of mentality is also found among business owners and consultants when it comes to marketing or promoting their business. In fact the first step that most owners take when embarking on a "let's get some new business" initiative is to visit the websites of companies who offer similar products or services.
That's actually not a bad first step. However, it's what takes place next that is the usually colossal mistake. Instead of looking at the competition and then doing something different, what is the far more typical reaction? They look at the competitor's site and then copy it. In marketing circles this is what is often referred to as "the mad rush to the middle."
"Hey Joe, I see that our competitors have a headline on their website, 'Will you have enough money for retirement'. Maybe we should be that too." And companies wonder why prospects have a hard time differentiating between them.
If you want to stand out in a crowded marketplace the solution isn't all that particularly difficult or complex. There are really only a few steps to the process.
First, create a unique signature sales story about who you are, the problems you solve and the benefits that clients get from working with you. The key word here is "unique". Make sure that it's a story that no one else is telling. How do you do that? One simple method is by having the characters in the story be you, your friends and associates. Another simple way to create uniqueness is to tell the story about why you're doing what you're doing. How did you get into the business? Why is this your passion, or at least a strong interest in you life? No one can tell that story but you.
The second step is placing the story somewhere so that people can get it. A simply one page website is the easiest way to do that. Basic one page websites with an opt-in form cost less than $300 to put up.
Now, here's a tip that's real important if you want to get lots more clients banging at your door and giving you their business. Make sure that you only tell part of the story on your website. Give them enough that they're hooked and want to learn more. Give them enough so that they say to themselves, "This is different from what I've read on the last 10 websites I've visited. I'd be interested in learning more."
Naturally in order to learn more and get the rest of the story they have to opt-in and become a subscriber. Now you've got permission to send them additional emails or newsletters that tell additional unique sales stories that build trust, credibility and eventually motivate large percentages of them to take action.
Once you've got this little teeny-tiny one page website set up, then it is simply a matter of getting the word out so that you get visitors coming to the page and reading your story. There are lots of ways to do that: social media, advertising, direct mail, videos, speaking, articles the list goes on and on.
But it all starts with the unique sales story. The one that only you can tell. The one that won't be found on your competitor's website.
So the next time you're in a restaurant and you hear, "We sell a lot of chicken." Don't accept hat answer (either for yourself or your business). Ask them again. "No what's really good?" And then take a look at your website and marketing materials. Are you communicating what's really good about you? What's unique?
