If I asked you to describe your business to me in just 20 seconds, could you do it? Could you communicate why your superior product is perfect fit for my needs or would you um and ah and run out of steam?
If you have difficulty recognising your strengths and describing them to potential customers how are those customers ever going to know what you do, how you do it and why you are the practice they need?
Defining your business and being able to talk about it are essential skills in today’s market place. Fortunately there are three simple questions that will help you to do this.
What problem does our product or service solve?
Customers do not buy the features of a product; they buy solutions to their problems. We all want to make things quicker, easier, less time consuming. Everyone wants convenience. If we have a problem we will buy a solution or if we want a result we will buy the tools that give us that result be it a consultant, a software package or a hammer and nails. So the question you need to ask yourself is what problem does my product solve? How does my service resolve my customer’s issues? What result does it give?
Once you have started to think like a customer you can define your business in customer benefit terms. Start by thinking generically:
- What do customers want from products like yours?
- What benefits do they receive from buying this type of product?
Then start to be more specific:
- What benefits do they receive from buying your product?
- What specific problem does your product solve?
At this point you can also ask what problem would I like to solve? or what result would I like to offer? This is also the question that you need to ask if you are thinking about introducing a new service or product range.
Why should people buy from us?
This is where you consider why people buy from you and not your competitors. You might think that the answer to the question is that you have the best customer service or the largest range. However, it is more likely to be that you are closest to where they live.
The buying process is complex and starts a long time before a customer enters the practice or phones for an appointment. People will research, talk to friends and consider previous experience but it is important to recognise that people make their purchasing decisions on both a logical and an emotional level.
The logical part is that people buy from you because you can solve their problems; and they buy from you because you offer value – not necessarily because you are the cheapest. The emotional part is harder to define.
People buy from you because they trust you.
This is your reputation. They best way to build reputation is by word of mouth. Fortunately or unfortunately word of mouth now has the ability to reach a lot more people a lot more quickly through the use of social media and online reviews. This shows how important it is to be aware of and manage your reputation. You may lose money keeping a customer happy but is this money an investment in maintaining your reputation?
What benefits do we offer that our competitors don’t?
This question is deceptively complex, it is not all about you. Do you know who your competitors are? More importantly do you understand them? Your competitors are probably selling the same products from the same suppliers and offering the same services at a similar price. But are they using the same business model as you?
They might have shorter appointment times or use locums or perhaps encourage their optometrists to sell a new pair of spectacles at every visit. By fully understanding your competition and their business model and mode of operation you can more easily find out what you do differently, identify their weaknesses and highlight your opportunities. You also need to be honest about your business model, ask yourself ‘what are they doing better than us?’ and ‘what can we learn from that?’
This leads to the final question.
What additional benefits could we offer?
The most important thing when answering this question is to think outside the box. Identify ways you can add value to your products and services. This might be as simple as offering customers a dedicated parking spot when they attend for an appointment. Giving up your parking spot and walking a bit further from the car park is also good for you.
People are spending a lot of money on their glasses so why not make the collection an event. When you buy a new car they give you an appointment to collect it, have a grand unveiling and give you flowers. It costs next to nothing to sit the patient down in a quiet area, present the glasses in a nicely wrapped case and a gift bag, with a luxury cleaning cloth and make the collection an experience your clients will remember, and more importantly talk about.
Finally to return to our original question could you now describe your business to me in 20 seconds? Can you communicate why your superior product is a perfect fit for my needs rather than me visiting your competition?