An old-timer in my community made an interesting observation. “Scott,” he said as we reminisced, “it used to be that there were two restaurants here in Crothersville. Not only did the food taste different at Ted’s Restaurant than at Kern’s Grill, but they just felt different. Each was a reflection of the owner’s personality.”
I nodded in agreement. Ted’s was the spot where we always went after a ball game, took a date for a burger and fries, or simply hung out. Kern’s Grill was where the men of the community gathered for breakfast each morning in the late 1960s and 1970s.
During the lunch break at school, I sprinted there to join either Mom or Dad for a quick meal. (But never both at the same time. We owned the grocery store across the street, and one of my parents always had to stay to run our family business.)
For Ted Zollman, his restaurant was his stage, and we customers were his audience. His smile was as bright as his apron. His flashing blue eyes and natural charisma were as much a part of eating there as the cheeseburgers.
On the other hand, Ted’s local competitor, Alvie Kern, would sit in a booth or gruffly stand like a statue behind the counter, often with arms tightly crossed, seldom engaging in the ongoing conversation. He observed while his wife and daughter cared for the tables and customers. Kern’s Grill was a great place to grab a meal and go. Before you could exit the door, the white sack in which they had placed your order would display small and growing circles of grease. (It was a simpler time before we all knew our HDL and LDL numbers.)
Ted’s Restaurant, however, was where you would order a Cherry Coke, sit down, and relax, either because a friend was with you or because you knew that sooner or later, one was bound to come in and stay a while.
My old-timer friend continued, “Anymore, our fast food is the same as the fast food up the road. The McDonald’s in Seymour is the same as the McDonald’s in Scottsburg. They’re all the same from Portland, Oregon, to Portland, Maine. I guess consistency is a good thing, but haven’t we reached the point where we’ve gone overboard?
“The Walmart where we shop is the same as everywhere else . . . and that’s pretty much the same as Target or Meijer. And they all sell the same items anyway. How many places do you really need to be able to go buy your Tide detergent?”
He was on a roll: “My insurance agent sells the same stuff as yours, no matter what companies they work for. One has some screaming duck to represent it, and another has some caveman or lizard. I’m ‘in good hands’ in one place, another is ‘on my side,’ while another is ‘like a good neighbor.’ But the problem is, I can’t tell one from the next. I know the difference on my street between one of my neighbors and another. So how do I know why one company is a better neighbor or ‘on my side’ more than the other?”
These are great questions.
Can your customers tell the difference between you and your competition?
No matter your professional responsibilities—as CEO of a Fortune 500 company to a small business entrepreneur, someone at the home office sprinting up the corporate ladder, or a salesperson slogging it out in the trenches—this question should keep you tossing and turning at night: how can your customers distinguish you from your competition?
You should be asking this for one simple reason: The primary problem of your business is that you need more customers who will spend more with you and refer you to their colleagues and friends.
The criterion this senior citizen used to make his determination should terrify you. It should frighten all who are trying to grow our businesses and careers.
“It’s just price, I guess!” he deduced. “I sure don’t notice any difference between them with service. And I don’t know enough about insurance, for example, to really understand the differences between their products. These days, every tree in the forest seems to be exactly alike. It’s not just bland,” he said. “It’s all become the same!”
Every business, whether a global corporation or a small-town shop, grapples with this one fundamental problem: the need for more and better customers.
The solution lies in being chosen more frequently by your target audience. But how do you achieve this?
In today’s world, where products and services increasingly look alike, the secret to being chosen more often is creating distinction.
It’s not enough to be great; you must stand out. It is valid for any industry, from financial services to retail technology firms to local diners. When everything looks the same to customers, they make their choices based on price alone, and that’s a race to the bottom that no business can afford to win.
The path to attracting more and better customers begins with creating distinction. Your business deserves to be noticed and valued for what makes it unique. It’s time to step out of the sea of sameness and into a world where your business shines brightly.
Welcome to the journey of creating distinction.
Remember:
- No customer is loyal to a generic.
- We are chosen for our differences, not our similarities.
- The only points of differentiation that matter are the ones that are valuable to customers and prospects.
- Just being different is NOT better. But, being distinctive in a compelling way that attracts target customers and prospects is the key to disruptive success.
How can we help you achieve this? We have a myriad of services we provide to great organizations: keynote speeches, training programs, consulting, executive coaching, train-the-trainer packages, seminars/workshops, and more. The main thing is:
LET’S GET STARTED!
Call us at 800-838-6980 or visit https://ScottMcKain.com
