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Stand Out and Deliver

What is it about you and your business that stands out?

Most of us “know” that it is important to differentiate ourselves from the competition to create a competitive advantage- and yet in the activity of handling our day to day workload (and given the fact that we’re often “too close” to our own work to see it clearly), we often fail to really clarify, for ourselves and certainly our potential clients, what separates us from the pack. We fail to powerfully address the question, “Why work with/ buy from US (versus “them”)?”

Consider that there is a flow of resources, whether money, prospective clients or anything else. That is, picture what you want as being like a river, and what you want to build is a gate/ semi-dam structure that diverts some of that flow to you. Differentiation is that gate. What is it that would have potential clients flow naturally to you?

 

Differentiation can mean the difference between low-impact marketing and treading water on one hand, and easy interactions and extraordinary results on the other. And it’s really not that difficult to establish, but it does take some attention and effort.

First you clarify, then communicate, and then deliver with integrity.

To clarify and establish how you stand out, you can take it on in this simple, two-pronged approach:

  1. Whatever you do, that others do, do it better. All of us have aspects of what we provide customers that our competition is providing as well. Identify those areas, and outperform your competition. Do nothing less than excellent work; that alone will set you apart from the sea of ineffective and unpleasant-to-deal-with business out there. This is something that you can always be at work on, always improving and developing.
  2. Do something nobody else is doing. Create some service, product, approach, delivery method, etc. that is unique to you in your field.  Design and do something that is totally unique, aligned with your mission and that you can (and do) reliably deliver on.

To illustrate, I’ll share about a new project I’ve created with some colleagues, called The Envy Generator. The Envy Generator (TEG) is a coaching program/structure for small and micro-sized business owners and solo entrepreneurs. There are aspects of what we deliver that could be seen as being similar to other business coaching/consulting engagements, such as group coaching calls, workshops, and online-group interaction. And of course, these days there is no shortage of coaches and/or consultants in business or any other area, every one of which is working from some “proven” approach or set of principles.  So, in doing what others do, but better, we use highly experienced coaches that are grounded in and facile with our approach, and instead of providing any one of the service methods above, we provide them all (and then some).

What then sets us apart, makes TEG unique?

  • Fun. We are a somewhat irreverent bunch, and place high value on people enjoying themselves now while creatively building a business that will produce results over time. TEG is a NO-suffering/ melodrama zone, where we only work with and tolerate people who are out to have a crazy-good time. No BS, just work, results and fun.
  • Access. TEG is designed to be not so much a “program”, but a full environment. We include workshops, weekly  group calls, monthly group calls, game-storming calls, an interactive online environment and varying degrees of individual attention for those that want it. This isn’t just an engagement, it’s designed to be a real piece of the business structure- an environment you can immerse yourself in that will naturally bring out your best and support your performance, and not tolerate anything less than that.
  • Extreme Value. We promise, you will not find this level of high-impact coaching and consulting for what this program costs, anywhere. The whole point of TEG is to make an approach that’s already worked wonders in large and mid-sized companies available to everybody else, and therefore change how business is done.

And there it is. We set out to do what others do better than them, and mostly to create something new, fun and radically effective. And by being clear about what makes us stand out, we allow for those that want what we’ve got to recognize and approach us, and, just as important, those that don’t want it to move along in the flow. No struggle, no pretense, no disappointment.

Now, I recommend you take this on yourself. What sets you apart? And once you’ve clarified it, communicate it- share clearly in your conversations, networking, marketing materials and so on what makes you unique, then focus on delivering your mission, and those that are aligned will flow right in and your business will grow naturally and powerfully.

As always, please feel free to let us know how it’s going and what you got out of this. If you’re interested in finding out more about The Envy Generator, contact me here and I’ll get you the info. From now until we launch on October 1, all “In Communication” readers and friends of ALS Consulting are offered a discount of 10% off TEG startup fee.

Stand out, deliver your mission and have fun! Until next time…

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