In today’s world, it isn’t enough to simply be different. If you’re not innovative in a manner that has importance for your customers, you won’t stand out from the crowd.
Innovative strategies will help you gain advantages over your competition by leveraging uniqueness and creativity.
The first step is to identify your goals and objectives. It’s important that you know what you want to achieve, as innovation will amplify those results.
The second action is identifying opportunities for differentiation from competitors. In today’s market, where everyone has their own take on how to deliver for customers, developing an approach that is unique from your competition provides you with an advantage in the marketplace.
Once you’ve identified your goals and the opportunities for differentiation, it’s time to develop your plan.
One way is to tap into creative approaches from other industries. As yourself, “Why and how do they do it that way?” There are examples from all around the world – easily discovered with some basic research on the Internet — that share a common interest in being a distinctive force in the marketplace. By tapping into these different perspectives, leaders can broaden their thinking about how they can provide solutions, while also leveraging diverse viewpoints. This means more creativity and innovation on how best to serve customers — without compromising what you already stand for in your industry.
Lastly, once you’ve created something distinctive that makes sense for your company and meets your objectives, make sure everyone knows about it!
Creative marketing strategies will help build awareness, as well as raise credibility among this increasingly discerning customer base. Tell customers and prospects a story about why they should choose you over the myriad of alternatives available in today’s marketplace.
(And don’t forget – every employee needs to know the story as well!)
Remember:
To create distinction, use innovative strategies for a competitive edge.
Leaders need to broaden their thinking about how they can provide solutions, while also leveraging diverse viewpoints to be distinctive and creative.
Distinctive marketing strategies through stories help build awareness as well as raise credibility among this increasingly discerning customer base.
You must enhance your perspective to distinguish yourself from others who think similarly. Break away from conventional wisdom — it isn’t enough to merely be “different” in today’s world.
It’s not enough to be great at what you do — virtuosos are plentiful in every field. It takes something beyond that. What’s critical for your success is creating distinction. If these insights resonated with you, please share it on your social media! And learn more about our Iconic Inner Circle membership program. (https://IconicInnerCircle.com) We’re ready to help you create a plan for success that will help drive you to meet your goals and create a competitive edge for you and your business!
IBM just released an interesting study that surveyed 14,000 people in nine countries. It revealed that more than 70% of people are now more likely to work for – or continue their employment with – a company with a good record or reputation on the environment. It also said 55% of people are now more willing to pay more to purchase from a company that represents itself as “sustainable and environmentally responsible.”
CEO Daily reports that IBM also found that now 84% of CEOs stated in a separate study that sustainability will be important to their business strategy for 2022 – as opposed to just 32% who said it in 2018.
Yet may I be so bold to suggest that these numbers aren’t simply about the environment and health of the planet.
Instead, it’s about putting people first.
It is obviously incongruent to suggest that 70+% of people want to work for a business that has a good record on climate change – but doesn’t care about their employees or customers.
What I believe these figures state is the vast majority of today’s customers – many of them from the Millennial generation – are tired of working for and purchasing from organizations that are putting their products and programs before the people who make and use them.
(Consider there are over 72 million Millennials – and the oldest of that generation is now hitting the age of 40. Too many Boomers and Gen Xers have talked about them like they are the “coming generation.” Bull! They’re here and they are changing the way you must do business.)
In other words, what’s happening right now is a major reinforcement of the Four Cornerstones of Distinction. You’ve got to have Clarity regarding your commitment to people and the planet. You need to be Creative in your approach, so you become more attractive and distinct to the customers you desire and the quality of employees you engage. You must Communicate the story of your commitment to people and the benefits they receive from your values. And these times require a Customer Experience Focus so the promise you make is backed by the performance you deliver.
These steps will create distinction for you in a time that demands we put people first.
By the way, if you’d like to drill deeper into how you can create the ultimate level of distinction, I’d love to have you try our Iconic Inner Circle.
When you join, you’ll have immediate access to specific virtual programs on how to craft and deliver a Distinctive Story…what you need to know to use the tools of today to communicate virtually, whether on a sales call or a group meeting, with Post-Pandemic Events…and discover the specific program to make your over-reaching values and your daily actions congruent with our course on Personal Distinction.
In addition, I present a weekly lesson on a single, specific step you need to take to reach this ultimate level of distinction. AND we’ll soon launch a monthly live virtual program for all members of the group to answer your questions and discuss your challenges.
Here’s the best part – your first month is absolutely FREE.
I believe in this program so much, I know that once you experience it, you will want to continue. (Especially since it’s such a small investment for such an extraordinary return!)
The level of customer service — not to mention the even higher standard of the customer experience — is genuinely, consistently pretty awful.
Especially during these challenging times, managers believe they can save X% by cutting back staff and reducing service. Guess what happens? Customers go someplace else…
But, here’s the rub: the organization’s leaders then blame the decline in sales on the pandemic economy or the competition. They never say, “We screwed up. We should have been investing in serving you more — instead of cutting overhead and caring less about your repeat business.”
Another element in the level of customer service provided is caused by lazy employees who don’t care. One of the ways that Steve Jobs kept the best employees at Apple is that he wouldn’t tolerate those who weren’t “all in.” If you don’t terminate those who aren’t committed, you will eventually lose those who are.
Sure, I realize you must compensate and treat them right. But your best employees are tired of carrying the load for the slackers. Sooner or later, this discontent will either show up in their performance… or their absence.
The entertainment industry spends more time studying human emotion than it does the most advanced visual effects or new camera angles.
Why?
Because an emotional connection is the most potent and influential connection possible.
To make 1997’s Titanic, it cost a staggering $200 million. (In 1997 dollars!) However, not very many people stepped out of the theatre marveling over the fact that a special Russian submarine was used or every detail on the ship matched the original Titanic down to the doorknob. The audience walked out in a trance, swooning over Jack and Rose’s romance, saddened by the massive loss of life — or enraged that Jack’s death could have been prevented had Rose just shared the door she was floating on!
The fact is people rarely remember the details.
But they will remember how something made them feel.
We have created a culture of customers who demand compelling experiences whenever they do business. Regardless of your industry, what your product or service is, you’re selling an experience.
The more powerful the connection, the greater the success.
We all have customers or prospects who are willing to assume the worst about our intentions. In this time of social media and instant opinions, their criticisms can race around the newsfeeds of our marketplace in dramatic fashion.
Take for example a viral video from 2017 showing a significant amount of food being disposed of at a local Wal-mart store. The video was of an angry man outraged because he felt the food being thrown away could be of good use if it were donated to charitable causes instead.
The problem not mentioned was that a tornado had ripped through the local area days before causing a power outage throughout the community. The food was spoiled and unfit for consumption.
By the time Wal-mart posted the “other side of the story” and their logical and legally mandatory reason for doing what they did, millions had already decided that Wal-mart was not interested in serving the needy in their communities.
What if Wal-mart would’ve front-loaded this by Tweeting about the food and their commitment to customer safety and health as they were putting the spoiled food in dumpsters behind the store?
What if they would have contacted local media to talk about what they were doing — and encouraged local citizens to check their own respective freezers and refrigerators to ensure they didn’t eat spoiled food?
In other words, what if they would not have waited to tell their story?
Two important questions you should be considering this week:
How have you prepared in your business for those customers who assume the worst about you and use the enormous platform of social media to spread their misinformation/disinformation?
How have you prepared to be proactive in telling your stories about the positive steps that your business is taking?
It was 1978… Kansas City, Missouri’s Municipal Auditorium… the National FFA Convention… and, the speaker was Paul Harvey. The presentation title was, “So God Made a Farmer.”
Audio from this speech was used for the powerful Super Bowl spot for Dodge’s RAM trucks and an estimated 108 million viewers listened to Harvey talk about hard-working American farmers across the generations.
In today’s world of unbelievably efficient agriculture, not all of us are called to life on the farm. However, we can bring to our organizations that spirit and attitude of which Paul Harvey spoke.
When you look for someone to add to your team, do you seek mere skills? Would you be better off to find someone with the spirit of a farmer?
When you look for someone to create distinction and grow your business, do you look into the mirror… and do you see someone with the dedication and commitment of a farmer?
