I live in Austin Texas where the official mantra is “Keep Austin Weird”. I have lived in 6 other cities around the US and of them all, I love Austin the most because it is “different”.
When I was in middle school and high school, being “different” was considered a negative- but it isn’t in selling. It’s a positive! If you aren’t different, you are considered a commodity. If you are a commodity the only form of differentiation is price. Unless you are the low cost producer, you lose. So being “different” is good.
In 1967 JP Guilford wrote the book “The Nature of Human Intelligence”. In his book he makes the point that people make decisions by:
- Understanding their needs
- Looking at different options to solve those needs
- Selecting the best option
Buying is a decision process, so therefore, this is the buying process. People will determine their best option by differentiating one option from the others. When you earn a sale, there has been some form of differentiation that set your solution apart.
In “Value-Added Selling” Tom Reilly lists 3 ways to differentiate:
- Your company
- Your product or service
- Your personal services
It is easier to sell for a market leading company than for an unknown company. It’s also easier to sell a completely unique product or service than the same product or service that others have. Differentiating yourself from other sales people is less obvious, but very effective. The question I’m asking you to answer today is this:
How do you differentiate yourself from others?
I’m asking for your ideas on your personal services. It’s okay to be to “different”. It’s actually preferred!
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