Jean-Pierre Lauzier, consultation expert and sales consultant, regularly gives his personal and commercial development advice on Isarta Infos. Today, he evokes several options for differentiation compared to his competitors. Notably the targeting of a specific niche.
To grow your sales and customer numbers faster than the market, you need to attract the attention of future customers by being more attractive than your competitors. To do this, you need to communicate clearly, simply and quickly why the customer should do business with you. In short, you must put forward what differentiates you advantageously.
To help you find your differentiators, here are some ideas:
1. The price
Several companies differentiate themselves by the price, presenting themselves as the cheapest, for example Costco, Walmart, but also as the most expensive, such as Mont-Blanc pens or Rolex watches.
If you choose to position yourself as the cheapest in the market, then you must be the biggest and always the cheapest. If you choose to be the most expensive, you will have to invest considerable amounts in advertising to make your brand known to the target market.
2. The product
If you choose this differentiating element, you or your products must be very innovative, with different characteristics and better than the competition.
Your research and development department must be very strong, because before you reach your cruising pace in sales, you will have to constantly innovate so that the competition that tries to copy what you are doing is always behind you.
3. The service
Providing superior customer service is another element of differentiation. In the long term, it is cost-effective, especially as customers increasingly consult opinions and comments on social media and the Internet.
However, in the short term, this differentiation will not bring you many customers, because all companies boast the quality of their customer service. Have you ever heard a company say that its service is rotten, but that it has excellent prices? To ask the question is to answer it.
4. The geographical position
Your geographic location close to your potential customers gives you a competitive advantage. However, you will have to take the place quickly, to avoid that the competition in the same territory is better known than you.
5. The specialty
By developing a specialty in a specific market, you differentiate yourself and this specific knowledge that you hold represents a force of attraction for the customer. You are becoming an expert, which is very attractive.
Let me give you an example of specialty differentiation. The shingle roof of your house is leaking and you search up on Google someone to do the repair. Your research takes you to the sites of three companies: the first company is made up of general contractors, the second of roofers and the third of roofers who are experts in shingles. Who do you call first?
Probably the experts in shingles, because they give a superiority over the other two, by their specialization. At the same price, there is a very good chance that you will do business with them. Moreover, by nesting in a specific market, word-of-mouth will be much faster.
Many companies may believe that by specializing, they attract only a small segment of the entire market, but if you try to be everything to everyone, you will be nothing to anyone. Nothing prevents you from developing several specialties in order to attract more customers, but do not forget that the more niches you have, the more you will dilute your message.
So, if you want to grow faster than the competition, often the best option is to differentiate yourself in terms of offer compared to your competitors, even if they have been in the market for a long time.
