marketing
On his blog “Stories that Sell” Jim O’Conner asked the question ‘How to sell when you have no USP?” I commented on Jim’s posting at the time, but thought the ideas below might help you think about how to develop differentiation (your USP) within your business. So here are seven ways to build and develop some differentiation:
1. Product Differentiation
How is what you are offering (product or service) different from or better than your competitors’? If you don’t have (or can’t invent) some valued and unique components, you are in danger of being perceived as just another commodity.
2. Price Differentiation
In my opinion, this is the worst approach in trying to build a viable long-term business. But, if your business is more ‘one-shot’ than ‘repeat’ and you get the volume required, it can work.
3. Relationship Differentiation
If there is a solid relationship between you and your clients based on trust, you have an inside track of tremendous value. This environment will make you the envy of your competitors, and your client may not even give your competitor a chance if the relationship is strong enough.
4. Process Differentiation
Many companies don’t attach enough significance to the processes that dictate the image of their business model. Get your best minds together and brainstorm better, more customer-friendly ways to do business. Remember every complaint or concern raised by a customer is an opportunity to review how things might be done better.
5. Technological Differentiation
This age of technology affords many opportunities to advance our ways of communicating. These new modes of communication encompass a wide variety of options, such as podcasts to update customers or to a blog (like this one) that provides a “voice” for your business and a way to “listen” to your customers. Cardinal rule: Make it easy for the customer to communicate with you – wherever they are.
6. Experiential Differentiation
Many people believe that we are in an “experience economy.” Can we provide customers with knock-your-socks-off service and experiences that are so memorable that they start telling their friends and colleagues? Customer service miracles are anything you can do to make a customer say “Wow!” Ask yourself, “How can I make doing business with me an irresistible experience?”
7. Advocate Differentiation
This level of differentiation builds on all of the above. It is the most powerful form of differentiation. This is where you develop customers into advocates for what you do. They tell their friends about you, they broadcast their experiences of dealing with you on social networks they even defend you if someone is critical. They are unpaid sales people who promote you and your products to their networks because the love what you do and how you do it.
So Jim, what do you think?
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You wouldn’t want an army fighting for you if their approach was to throw bullets? Nor, I guess if their guns fired blanks. But this is exactly how many companies let their sales & marketing departments work. Let me explain…
The marketing department are responsible for ammunition and defining the targets. For ammunition read sales collateral: the web site, brochure, direct mail item, case studies etc. For targets read market or sector: that is the customer profile or segment definition.
Surely, the better defined the target and the ammunition the more effective you would think the organisation should be? Wrong!
The sales department (and by this I pretty much anyone who has client contact) are responsible for using the ammunition generated by marketing at the appropriate targets. They need to understand at what point in the sales process a particular item is used and how. Does the full brochure go out after an initial email enquiry or is it better to use the “thank you” email with some additional qualification questions? During the first client meeting is it better to focus on the case studies leaflets or show the company presentation?
I’ve witnessed a poorly trained sales team stuff every piece of quality marketing collateral (product brochures, company profile, case studies, samples, technical literature, CD presentation and price list) into a single (bulging) envelope and send it off in response to a general enquiry. And this in a market where the sales cycle is 12-18 months long! I’ve also seen a pretty knowledgeable and competent sales organisation having to rely on a black and white A4 photocopy of a 2 page brochure to break into a £10K product into new market.
Clearly both sales and marketing need to have an understanding of each others role and how they best integrate to increase each other’s effectiveness. Sales need to be trained in the why, how and when of the sales collateral and marketing need to understand the sales process and customer journey to provide relevant material for sales to use at each key stage. If the marketing department are doing a great job, but not handing over their ammunition to sales in an informed way – sales may end up just “throwing the bullets” at the target. Sales need to be trained in how to properly use the ammunition.
Likewise if the sales department are great weapons experts, can aim at the target whilst doing a dozen other things, but marketing have provided poor collateral – sales end up “firing blanks” at the target. Marketing need to understand how to create effective ammunition.
Worst case of all is when both sales and marketing are doing a bad job. The end result is that blanks are thrown at the customer. Not very effective eh?
So, please ensure that sales and marketing are integrated within your organisation in order to get the biggest bang for your bullet.
This is the “other half” of the story mentioned in my last blog. Last time I blogged on “What Sales Want Marketing to Tell Them” which was half of the results of a session with the sales and marketing teams within my client’s organisation. The outcome was a set of questions that each group would like the other to answer – in respect of a planned product introduction.
After a morning in the workshop, the Sales group managed to whittle it down to 6 questions for the Marketing group. In parallel, Marketing were working on their questions for Sales and they followed the brief perfectly (as one would expect) and managed to consolidate their questions down to the top 5. (There was a question about why sales have commission and an expense account – and marketing don’t – but it was felt this was more a question for management – whew!). Anyway, here are those top 5 questions that Marketing wanted answers to from Sales:
- Where do the enquiries really come from?
- What are the main concerns from customers to the product proposition?
- How much are you “pushing” the product compared to how much the customer is “pulling” at the product?
- What is the profile of the people who are actually buying?
- What are the success stories of the clients who purchase the product?
Some interesting questions here – and perhaps some that you would have thought should have been answered before the product was developed and the marketing material written.
Please comment if you think there are more important questions that should be answered.
If you have separate sales and marketing departments in your organisation, I would strongly encourage you to have a similar session in your business. Everyone valued the exercise and some assumptions were shattered and an understanding of each department’s role improved.
You could probably facilitate this yourself – but if not – you know where to find me.