Photo by James Schnepf
10.25.18
Dominators Don’t Talk About Quality
Here’s the deal: Imagine you’re in a grocery store to grab some milk and a local dairy rep approaches you at the cooler saying, “Buy ours! It’s white, fresh and wholesome! Brought to you by people who care!” You’d think he was nuts. Why would anyone tell you something so obvious and believe it would create demand for his business while separating it from competitors?
Guess what? That goofy milkman is guilty of the same crime you and others at your business commit when you talk about your “quality.” Or your “commitment to customer satisfaction.” Or how “your people make the difference.”
Look, your business is great at what it does. But so what? Your competitors are equally great. They have to be. Parity and commoditization are rampant in every industry, which means it’s next-to-impossible to gain competitive advantage based on what you’re selling or even how efficiently or painstakingly it’s made and brought to market.
Dominators don’t waste demand-building opportunities by telling people what they know and take for granted. And they never use the same go-to-market language as their competitors. Never!
Saying what competitors say (admit it, you do this) means you’re:
- Endorsing them at your own expense while sending a clear message that says, “We’re just like them;”
- Commoditizing yourself, which leads to competing on price and inability to attract/retain customers and employees; and
- Destroying any chance of your important publics (like customers) building your reputation by describing your business the way you want it described.
That’s not going to happen any more.
My next Short Blast will show you how to remove your competitors’ go-to-market language from your vocabulary. Permanently. That’s the first big step toward developing positioning language that clearly separates you from competitors and gives your important publics something to remember and talk about.
It’s time for you and your business to make some noise.
Stay tuned for more excerpts and inspiration from Ken Schmidt’s book, “Make Some Noise—The Unconventional Road to Dominance”