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How to position yourself as the go-to business

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How to become the go-to business and stand out from your competition
As a business owner, you want to ‘position’ yourself as THE go-to business in your industry 

But, how do you do that?

To do this properly there are specific steps that you need in place, and in this article you’ll discover what some of those are!

Something really important but often overlooked by small business is how you position yourself, how you create your secret sauce, your WOW factor.

How can you stand out – create your unique position in your market place – and become that go-to business?

Positioning is all about what you claim and own and then how you weave that into everything you do.

You need to create your Category of 1 – to be the giraffe in the plain of zebra – something that none of your competitors can hold or claim.

To do that you need to think about you, and think about how you talk about you, how your customers talk about you and how your staff talk about you.

You need to set yourself apart

You want to be the one and only

All of us should have a competitive advantage – but often because you work so closely in your business you need to dig deep to find out what makes you stand out.

And many business owners can get stuck at this point

We are shy about saying how good we are!

We feel uncomfortable about making wow moments about ourselves

So to start off: 

  1.  Think about how you can know your customer better than anyone else who is trying to acquire your customer
  2. Get close to your customers – understand how they think and how they behave – what are their needs? And what is their problem for you to solve. Imagine you are a customer of your own business – what would you need to see to buy from you
  3. And thirdly, you need to emotionally connect with them to really, really understand what are their hot buttons that you need to press

Your positioning then has to be weaved into everything you do – videos, copy on your website, newsletters, ads – everything you do needs to become a mantra for your business teams and you.

And it needs to be weaved into everything you do as well as everything you say about your business

For example; the car that you drive impacts your positioning. If you are a tradesman think about the impression a rusty, dirty, van gives compared to a clean, super smart van with your logo on it – all important elements that help to position you.

Positioning also needs to work all the way through the customer journey – from your website to what you say to your customers.

You need to pay attention to detail… think about Apple and their packaging – it’s a work of art (and often quickly thrown in the bin) but creates a huge perception and positions Apple where they want to be. They use packaging to give a WOW factor.

It all needs to be consistent and complimentary – everything needs to look the same and give the same message. For example if you’ve updated your website – make sure any changes are reflected in everything else you have – business cards, signage, ads etc

Your positioning statement is a lot easier to create than you think

You already have the answers – in your copy, in what your staff say, what your customers say – it may even be in the testimonials customers have written about you – you just need to draw them out.

And it’s Fundamental in your pricing – you need to have the right price for the product and service you provide

Sometimes you need to break a few rules (but stay legal) as you can’t look the same as everyone else.

You’ve got to CAPTURE your customers ATTENTION

Make them stop and think – “this is amazing!” – “how can they claim that?”

Do something different, and do something people talk about – for example if you are a florist, and you need to leave a bouquet with a neighbour – have a small box of chocolates and card to leave with the neighbour. That is definitely memorable, and will also make the neighbour more likely to use you as their florist next time they need to send some flowers.

Imagine, if I am introducing you to 50 people, – and they are your ideal customers. You would love to have them as customers

  • How should I introduce you?
  • Why should they be interested in you?
  • Why should they ask you for a quote?
  • Why should they come to your restaurant?
  • Why should they visit your website?

What is it about your business, how do you want to be perceived and seen by your ideal perfect customers?

What do you want to them to know, think and say about you and refer you?

What would I say to get this ideal audience of your customers excited about you? That they will then buy, refer, share information about you?

We need to get their ATTENTION because they want you to solve their problem

So how can you stand out and be that giraffe among the zebra?

  1. Be willing to do something powerful and memorable – create something to make you memorable. And it needs to be powerful in words, statements or actions
  2. Be bold and innovate
  3. Be first! Are you the quickest, fastest, do you have the best turnaround.

What is your guarantee, your promise? It could be a new product, a new thing on the menu, create it then shout about it. 

You can claim the space – you can self-annoint – the big boys do it, look at Premier Inn who claimed the space of the best nights sleep, or Dominos with their 30 minute delivery promise

We like to be modest and hide our firsts or bests – we need to shout about it! What do you do differently? Now shout about it

Let’s find out what you need to tell people about you.

To do that we need to find out what you need to tell them. The easiest way is to ask questions:

  • Who are you?
  • What do you do differently?
  • You might be the best, most established, what’s your teams’ experience? 
  • What is your uniqueness your wow factor?

Claim it – do it!

It could be where you are based – are you the first in a town or region? We forget to use this sometimes!

Could you be the most recommended?  It could be from Trust pilot, Google My Business,LinkedIn, Facebook etc – that is a really valuable positioning.

How long have you been doing your thing? Don’t give the date!!! But are you the most established, most experienced, are you a specialist, an expert, what are your creditations, awards. You can use all of these.

What sets you apart? That one thing – it could be a member of your team, it could be something you’ve done. It could be that you’ve written books, documents, white papers, you could have the most videos on You Tube.

What Turnaround times do you promise? If you are a kitchen fitter can you promise to do it within a certain timeframe? If you are a local garage can you arrange to have your customers car picked up in the morning and returned – can you do it on the same day?

Can you offer a guarantee? – we’ll never miss an appointment or we’ll give you a £100 cheque

What do your customers love about you? – go through your reviews, testimonials, recommendations – help find words to describe you – described by our clients as the most, helpful, efficient, friendly, amazing, “the most efficient at what you do in your location”.

  1. You need to have a super hero identity – what is it? – you’ve got to be better tomorrow than you were today, and always be striving to improve.
  2. The little things matter – go out of your way to make people feel special, get people talking about you

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did. 
People will never forget how you made them feel”

Maya Angelou

That is key – get really close and emotionally connect with your customers

Innovate from the inside – your team have a huge part to play in your positioning, have you a superstar you can showcase? Do you promote your team not just you. Ask your team what your companies positioning should be? They are maybe not as blinkered as you – they talk to your customers every day

Then with the right positioning you can look at your prices. If you get your positioning right you can become that category of one – that giraffe among the zebras. Set the ambitious goal of standing so far ahead of the competition that your customers believe there’s no comparison. And they will have no other option but to deal with you.

I challenge you:, think about how you can create your Category of One, and let us know by posting it in the comments below.

If you are finding it hard to delve deep and find your Category of One – your market dominating position – then let me know – we love helping businesses just like you find their WOW factor. Book a call here

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