You Are NOT What You DO
A few years ago I hired an independent research firm to find out what our customers thought about us. I had them interview our current and past customers. Then, I had them interview our own people to see if there were gaps between our company’s and our customers’ perceptions. When our own people were asked the question, “What do customers value most about Merge Agency?”, our people listed our “skill sets”, good marketing strategy, good interactive execution, good creative execution, research, good writing, project management, etc. When we asked our customers the same thing, they had a completely different list of what they thought was the most valuable reason they chose Merge. These were the top answers: trust, patience, flexibility, easy to work with, forgiving, smart solutions and good under pressure.
I knew there might be a gap, but nothing this far apart. After reading this report, I realized something significant about my business and found this same disconnect exists in most businesses. We see our value as what we do, but our clients buy what we mean to them. Your clients likely have hundreds of alternatives to your product, features or “skill sets”. This means these things do little to differentiate you.
Ninety Seconds take away:
Unless price is your single tool for beating your competitors, stop thinking of your company as a product, service or collection of “skill sets. Stop articulating your business as a meaningless list of things you sell or do. Start thinking of what you mean to your customers. Think of how the experience of buying from you is easier, better, deeper and more meaningful. If you think of your meaning first, they will be open to your list. If all you are is a list of services, features and functions, then you certainly have lost perspective as to why your customers will want to buy from you instead of your competitors.
