How to Outshine Your Competition
Whether you’re dating, in business, or in any other kind of competition with a slew of other “suitors”, the only way to outshine your competition is to promise–and deliver–more than they’re delivering.
Yes, that sounds daunting. But it’s entirely do-able. Lots of businesses and entrepreneurs are doing land office business. They aren’t supermen and superwomen. They have the same number of hours in every day that you do. They’re just using them differently–and their loyal “fans” are keenly aware of it and talking about it to their friends, families and business associates in person and on social media. In fact, they pretty much can’t help talking about it. After all, when someone makes a great impression on you, it’s hard to keep it under your hat, isn’t it? You feel like shouting it from the rooftops!
Most competitors are promising and delivering what’s realistic and expected: satisfactory basics plus a genuinely friendly, appreciative smile.
To outshine your competition, you need to promise–and deliver–what’s unrealistic: uncommonly excellent basics, enthusiastic appreciation, and more.
This does not mean over-promising, which would lead to non-delivery of a promised “WOW!” — and acute disappointment.
You need to promise additional benefits that are possible to deliver but which aren’t already being delivered by your competitors.
Your perceived value has to tower over the perceived value of your competition.
It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and forethought.
You’re in business to solve your target audience’s pain, problem or predicament, and to deliver relief and pleasure as a direct result. There are many ways to do that beyond eliminating their challenge. You just need to list ways to do that.
Here are just a few of them:
1.) Become your customers’ Connector to other folks you know who solve the pains, problems or predicaments that you don’t–or who can solve them better than you can. (“Wait! Won’t this last phrase cost me business?” your mind may be shrieking right now. Not at all. You build trust when you send a customer or client to someone else who can hit something out of the ball park for them. They remember your sacrifice and will want to reciprocate in some way.)
Example: I know a business owner who tries to be all things to all people. He’s a logo and graphics designer extraordinaire. A web designer? A social media guru? A copywriter or editor/enhancer? Not so much. But he tries to do it all…..and I have no doubt that he gives it his all. But his all is simply not as good when he steps outside his expertise. (Is yours?) So he short-changes his clients. He knows people who can do it better. If he didn’t know anyone who could do it better, he’d be on solid ground offering his clients his best efforts. But he does know people who can do it better. He should be referring these things to them.
2.) After you’ve solved your customer’s challenge, don’t just move on. Let them know you continue to think about them and that you care about them beyond what you’re able to do for them professionally. Genuinely thank them for placing their trust in you. Get to know them well enough that when you run across an article or a news item that you know will inform or edify them you can pass it along to them in an email, or–even better–an envelope that you take time to address by hand and mail with a short note inside: “Spotted this today and thought of you. Enjoy!” It just takes seconds–but the goodwill it builds will last and last!
3.) If you have your customers’ physical or email addresses, send them an occasional NON-SALES-Y ‘newsletter’ or ‘neighborly note’. It can have actual, timely news or information that will benefit them (e.g., in January, “5 Tax Deductions You’re Entitled to that You May Not Be Aware Of” if you’re a tax attorney or accountant) or it can be a diary about helping a doe deliver her baby goats! The subject matter is entirely up to you and should reflect your personality and sensibilities. (Yellow Alert: Unless you know your customers well enough that you know their religion or politics like the back of your hand, avoid these topics and any others that may cause a distancing rather than a tightening of the fond bond you’re developing or strengthening.) The communication can be about anything that carries a keen sense of excitement, interest, or information. Make it fun and do it at least quarterly. Monthly or weekly might be better if you have the time (or the budget, if you’re outsourcing the piece to a professional).
4.) Offer fun, friendship and helpful hints & information via social media . You are on social media, aren’t you? If not, you’re seriously missing out on additional ways to create fond bonds with your customers! Even the major brands are transferring as much as 60% of their ad revenues to social media because the old ways of doing business don’t deliver the same bang for the buck that they did in back in the days of three TV stations, pre-Internet and the Information Age, where captive audiences were easy to locate and pitch to.
Learn which social media channels your customers visit most often and which ones can best showcase your products or service on the rare (repeat after me, RARE!) occasions when you use the channels to actually present your wares. For example, if you’re a professional photographer, Pinterest and Snapchat are good social media platforms for you if your target audience spends time there. If your target audience is looking to learn something, YouTube and a blog may be just what the doctor ordered. NEVER EVER automate your social media so that the same article, meme or piece hits all of your platforms at the same time unless you have a book launch or some date-specific event that requires a mass communication on every platform you use. Social media should be social… You should be engaged and engaging. Otherwise, you’ll come across as a robocall–and you know how you loathe those! (Big Hint: So does everyone else!)
For more insights about social media, subscribe to Lisa Twining Taylor’s blog at DancingGoatWebDesign.com. She is beginning to download her brain there and in the months ahead you’ll learn what you need to know to be able to do your own social media without shooting yourself in the foot and about how to interview and assess the social media chops of any provider you may be considering hiring.
5.) Spend ten minutes a day thinking about just one or two customers–perhaps a shut in, a newly-retired or married individual, or someone you admire and have never told–whose existence you can brighten a bit (or mightily) with just a quick “thinking of you!” phone call or a physical card or note. Give them a lift. It won’t take long and you’ll both be glad you did. Don’t expect a bundle of cash in return for your time but do consider that your thoughtfulness will probably be shared abundantly by most of the people you reach out to in this way.
It’s karma, baby. What goes around comes around. To outshine your competitors, out-care them. Let your customers know they’re not just income to you–they’re seen, noticed, appreciated, well-regarded, and very much cared about.
Care and concern is the difference that delivers lingering loyalty.