“You can’t look at the competition and say you’re going to do it better. You have to look at the competition and say you’re going to do it differently.” – Steve Jobs
In a dwindling and shrinking business world, becoming a voice that is heard and respected is becoming one of the biggest challenges for any business. In order to make your business stand out from competition nailing every aspect of your business is quintessential to its success. A company would need to offer easy to use and understand information about itself in order to ensure that you make your business stand out from competition. In addition, letting customers know what your company can do and what it can do better than your competitors is another way to make ‘your presence felt’. There is no business that does not have competitors – someone who would be trying hard to ‘steal’ your best customers and even your company’s top talent. Whoever your competition is, you need to win and ensure that you do whatever it takes to make your business stand out from competition.
There are actually many companies doing things that would be of value and interest to customers but because they do nothing to make their business stand out from competition, no one knows about them. There could be several reasons for this – including the assumption that because they do things differently everyone would already know about them. However, this is one of the top reasons that do not allow companies to gain a competitive edge and stand out from competition. Very often customers probably may not even know the difference between seemingly same / similar products and may continue to buy their ‘usual’ brand – if you have something better to offer you need to let them know if you want to gain more business and stand out from competition.
We know that it is crucial to let existing and potential customers know about your offerings. However, what is it that you should tell them or do, to ensure that you make your business stand out from competition? Does your company do anything to highlight its uniqueness? We believe that if your business does have ‘qualities’ that would make it distinct, you would need to select one or two of them and establish them as your unique selling proposition or USP. USP is anything that will make your business stand out from competition by demonstrating added value to your customers. A great way to understand what to put forth as your company’s USP is to ask customers directly. Whatever seems to be the most common feature highlighted by the customers, could possibly be the USP of your company – most often it would be something that your company did not even know it did well.
Mind the ‘face’ of your company to ensure that your business can stand out from competition. The face of a company is its brand, the logo, the website, business cards, social media sites – anything that fronts up to customers, both existing and potential. All these aspects must constantly ‘speak’ to customers and be energizing reminders of why your company and business is better and positively different from any of your competitors. These aspects should augment and highlight the great things about your company and its offerings. They must let everyone know why doing business with your company, working with your company and investing in your company would be the best business and professional decision they could ever make. Ensure that your current customers would be able and willing to bear testimony to these claims and promises. Doing so consistently would position your business as an authority and make it stand out from competition.
Another important method to stand out from competition is the kind of content that your company sends out. Many companies use blogs, articles and other kinds of content to let customers know about what they do and the hard work the company puts in to provide them the best. Fresh and engaging content is an inexpensive yet highly potent way to connect with and form emotional bonds with customers. As customers find value in the information shared by your company, they come to trust and depend on it more and over time these customers become loyal and willing brand ambassadors. These are perhaps the top reasons for any company or business to stand out from competition and companies must therefore, consistently aim to this trust and brand enthusiasm.
Everyone is aware that customer needs and expectations never remain static. They could like some aspect about a company one day and the next may not even notice that aspect. A company cannot afford to rest on laurels or keep to the status quo – they must constantly endeavour to change and better whatever they do to ensure that customers continue to notice them – better than competition. The fact is that customers prefer a company that appears to be consistently innovating and enhancing whatever they do. This also attracts more customers since anything is new and better would make a business stand out from competition – and customers only want the best. If customers reward excellence, a company must remember that they also severely punish mediocrity.
To make your business stand out from competition, ensure that your company is not only known for its products and services, but also for its expertise and insightfulness. A company that comes across as knowledgeable and an expert in a range of subjects, is often more successful with customers, as compared to one that only has great products. Being known as an authority and expert on subjects, builds credibility of a company that translates to trust. With trust comes repeat business, great testimonials and a large number of referrals – sure shot methods of increasing profits and sustaining success. As a company’s stature grows with its customers, it would become easier to stand out from competition consistently and for long-term.
The crucial nature of great customer service in the success of a company cannot be underestimated and overemphasized. Providing service that teems with empathy, courtesy, care and respect will ensure that customers are drawn to your company and would find it hard to leave. Great customer service forms an emotional connection with customers – one of the top reasons that customers buy repeatedly from a company and the top method to stand out from competition. Every experience your customers have with your company must be memorable and pleasant – they would gladly share these experiences with others, thereby arousing curiosity in others too about doing business with your company. As your company’s good reputation spreads, it would leave your competitors fuming and scrambling to find their feet.
Your company would be known for the way it treats its customers – service to customers is provided by its employees. In order to stand out from competition, ensure that your company hires the ‘right’ people to work with it. Choose people with an attitude of service, willingness to collaborate and work with teams, people with service experience and those who are characteristically empathetic and caring about others. Such a workforce would be relatively conflict free and remain energized to serve each other and the customers with the highest level of service. When a company is strong internally, it is not hard to stand out from competition and ensure that they never outrun your company.
Just as every business process should be consistent and on-going so also the company’s efforts to stand out from competition must be relentless. It could be tempting to ‘lose steam’ on this front because something else seems to take precedence, but this would be a self-defeating move. Doing your best consistently for customers is what distinguishes a winning strategy from a losing one and it is what will make your business stand out from competition for a very long time.