Are you lying to yourself?


In the absence of value, price is the decider.

Are you giving your customers a better reason to buy from you than your competitors are?

Let’s start with your competitive advantage. From the list below which one of the following do you feel is your competitive advantage?
1. Quality
2. Service
3. Knowledgeable staff
4. Selection
5. Location/Hours
6. Reputation
7. Innovation
8. Trust

How many of your competitors are saying the same thing?

Believing that one of the above is a real competitive advantage is a lie many business owners tell themselves. Admitting you don’t know your company’s true competitive advantage is a big step. But the biggest step is investing the time to figure it out.

To determine your competitive advantage, answer this question:

What can you deliver better than your competitors on a consistent basis that matters to your customers?

Have you heard of a USP - Unique Selling Proposition? This is where you find something about your business that is unique to your business versus your competitors and you focus your selling and marketing message around this perceived advantage? It must be a benefit to your customers and not easily copied.

That’s no easy feat.

It’s very rare that I’ve seen this accomplished. Oprah did it, and then came Dr. Phil, Ellen etc. FedEx did it and then came UPS. McDonalds did it then came Wendy’s, Burger King etc.

You see many companies found something unique about them, but in the end they were all copied. So their USP was not so unique.

What you need to focus on is your SSP; Sustainable Selling Proposition. This is where you identify what you can deliver on a consistent basis that your competitors can’t. At the same time it must be something that is important to your customers when they buy what you sell. Then you build a customer experience that delivers around those reasons.

If you’d like some help discovering your competitive advantage call us.




To learn more, download our free eBook "Seat of your pants marketing - The 10 biggest mistakes small businesses make and what to do about it"



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