How are You Different from Your Competitors?

This has been the question nearly all prospects get stumped on when I pose it to them. The general response I’ve been given:

My ‘insert company name‘ delivers high quality and professional customer service. And, our products are also very competitively priced in comparison to our competitors.

If you ever wondered what was marketing talk, this was it. It’s a load of smokescreen with words which could mean something to mislead you from the fact, this company doesn’t have a differentiator.

In the Internet business today:

• Anyone can setup a website design business.
• Anyone can create and customize a blog.
• Anyone can create an application (nearly).

But how many people do you know, could tell you why is their business or product different from the next?

Why do you need to know how is my company different?

If I asked you, where would I buy burgers? You’ll mostly answer; McDonalds. If I asked for fried chicken, you may most likely say; KFC. But these are huge conglomerates right?

So, if I asked you where’s the best chicken rice? You’ll give me a long list of them. Hence, how do I define what I really want here? Simple.

I’ll refine my question, where’s the best chicken rice in Old Town, Petaling Jaya? You’ll give me a shop name and if I asked why, you may tell me because the stall owner uses ‘qi gong’ to tenderize his chicken.

Now, how many stall owners you know uses ‘qi gong’ to tenderize chicken – if existed. By telling me; your designer; your account manager; your marketer; about your differentiator, I can then better communicate on your website – visually.

Therefore, what’s your ‘qi gong’?