Back in the 1950s, American advertising executive Rosser Reeves was the man who invented the term “unique selling proposition,” or USP. Reeves believed (as I do) that the purpose of advertising is to sell a product, not to entertain people or showcase the clever wit of the advertising company’s copywriters.
Because of this, he had a very successful career writing ads for big brands such as Minute Maid, Bic, and Colgate. He is most famous for two campaigns. One is the Anacin (an analgesic) campaign. Critics considered it “grating” and “annoying” but it tripled the product’s sales. In the seven years it ran, this campaign generated more money than the movie Gone With The Wind. The second campaign he famously pioneered was M&M’s “melts in your mouth, not in your hands.”
When I coach MSPs on how to successfully sell and market their services, I encourage them to strategically develop their USP and answer the question on every prospect’s mind: Why should I do business with YOU over all the other MSPs and IT consultants vying for my business?
The answer to that is your USP.
The simple truth is that competition is an annoying reality of running a business. We ALL must compete for clients, vying for favor against myriad choices and competitors, many of whom actually might have a leg up on us in service, price, selection, competence, or resources. Some simply lie or lowball their fees to win business (which is FAR more annoying than honest competition). But another harsh reality is that true differentiation is not easy. So, how do you stand out in a “sea of sameness” when you don’t have anything truly unique about what you do and how you do it?
This is a question that bedevils many. The natural tendency, for not only most MSPs but certainly most business owners, is to seek ways to improve the product or service. To improve intrinsic value—and that’s the quagmire where we get stuck, splitting hairs and being truly uncertain about what we can do that will sufficiently differentiate us in a significant and meaningful way.
The “Why” That Motivates A Buyer To Choose One Product Over Another
If that’s you, I want to give you a different perspective that may be your saving grace. But before we can do that, let’s ponder an important starting-point question: WHY do people choose one company over another? One brand over another?
It’s NOT always based on who’s the best, the biggest, or the cheapest, as many MSPs think. Better by whose opinion? “Better” and “best” are subjective. A vegan might give Bourbon Steak, my favorite restaurant in Nashville, a 1-star review. Cheapest is also subjective. BMW might be the “cheapest” luxury car out there if you compare it against a Rolls-Royce or Aston Martin. But not if you compare it to a Kia. The Dollar Store is cheaper than Walmart, but does that make Walmart a worse place to shop?
Technology Drives Commoditization
Clearly, people (including you) don’t purchase solely on the tangible, intrinsic value of anything significant you buy. MSPs frequently choose software vendors based on the relationship they have with the people selling the products. They then defend their decisions with vehemence. So, if you attempt to differentiate your services solely on the intrinsic value of what you deliver, you can really miss the mark. Competitors can copy Intrinsic value too. That’s why so many MSPs have a hard time competing—and it’s only going to get worse.
That’s because technology is constantly driving commoditization. Ask anyone who’s been in business for 20+ years and they’ll agree that their industry, and what they sell, have become far more commoditized than ever before. For starters, technology has made it easier to find options. If I’m looking for a CPA, Google will not only give me a list of every CPA in my area in under three seconds but also ratings and reviews to help me make a choice. At a glance, everyone appears the same, even though we know they aren’t.
Technology has made it easier to sell to and service a broader pool of customers. MSPs are no longer restricted to having clients that are loca. Many have clients based around the country—sometimes around the world—because technology has made it possible to communicate and service those clients from anywhere. That wasn’t the case 30 years ago when MSPs (VARs) only serviced local customers. They had to open physical offices if they wanted to expand their geographic reach. The same is happening in all industries, from financial advisors and marketing agencies to payroll and HR to recruiting, etc.
Technology has made it easy for small businesses to compete with larger ones. Websites became the new storefronts a long time ago. This means that with a little creativity, I can have a website that looks as good or even better than a company 100X my size. Technology has allowed me to accept payments, deliver services, and manage projects. In IT, you don’t even need to recruit and manage a team—there are companies that will do back-office services, SOC services, and help desk for you.
What Do Customers Want?
With so much commoditization, and back to my earlier question, what IS driving a prospect to buy from one company over another?
Sometimes the prospect is driven by pure need and lack of options. If I need to fill up my tank while driving through a rural area without a lot of choices of where I can stop to get gas, I’m buying from the next gas station that appears. That gas station has an advantage because they’re the only game in town. They don’t have to worry about clean restrooms and well-stocked shelves of snacks, gourmet coffee choices, and fresh sandwiches. Nor do they have to be the cheapest. They just have to be open.
Sometimes it’s driven by convenience. Amazon gets a lot of my business for two reasons: 1) they make it easy to buy things; and 2) I can easily use my American Express points to pay. So, even if something costs more, the pure convenience and ease of it wins. That is Amazon’s specialization: making it EASY to shop.
Successful Brands Tell Better Stories
But what do you do if you’re NOT the only game in town? What if there’s someone else cheaper, or who is willing to undercut you? Or is more “established” and well-known? Or is “more convenient” to buy from because they’re being referred in? Remember, a referral is about convenience. If we trust the person making the recommendation, it alleviates our need to conduct our own time-consuming and imperfect research on who to trust.
Tell your customers and prospects a better story. Let them know you stand for something or someone. Or “romance the stone” and tell the story about how and why the business was started. Tell a story about why you do things the way you do, what you stand for, what you stand against, and most importantly, who you are FOR.
Create A Bond With Your Customer
A great example is Miracle Ear, a national franchise that sells hearing aids. They have an ad that tells the story of the founder, Ken Dahlberg, who was in the Army Air Corps during WWII and received numerous awards for his heroism during the Normandy invasion. After returning home from a POW camp, founded an electronics company to work on his passion: help people improve their lives with better hearing. In my opinion, they don’t use this story enough to sell the product, but they ARE using it. Many people, particularly men, are embarrassed by the need to wear hearing aids. They feel it’s a sign of weakness and fragility, and a reminder that they’re getting old.
But when you take THIS story and tell it to them, suddenly they realize this is not a condition to be embarrassed about. One version of this story is that if an American hero and POW can be courageous enough to wear a hearing aid, so should you. This instantly bonds the customer with the product in a way that no marketing campaign, offer, or ad can.
Celebrity Sells
All the highly successful skin care products today are sold by a story. One of the best brands to study from a marketing perspective is Meaningful Beauty. Their marketing tells the story of a doctor discovering a rare melon that grows in the South of France that doesn’t rot or brown like other fruit when cut, then uses it in the anti-aging skin care line they sell. The implication is that the natural preservative in it will prevent your skin from aging. Sounds a little faux science if you ask me, like the shark cartilage charlatans who claimed that eating shark cartilage will prevent cancer in YOU because sharks don’t get cancer. But that’s not the point. The product is backed by a celebrity, Cindy Crawford, which just adds to the appeal of the story.
Keep in mind that ALL anti-aging skin care products make the same promise: “We make you look younger.” And there are THOUSANDS in the marketplace. Further, the stuff they put in it MUST go on the label, so anyone can copy it. Given that reality, how do you differentiate? You spin a better story.
Buying An Ideal
People who buy a Rolex do it to tell a story about themselves in the same way Tesla car owners do. Black Rifle Coffee fans might like the coffee, but they buy because it’s a vote for an ideal. TOMS shoes became wildly successful because of their mission story, not because they were the highest-quality shoes (initially, they were barely more than a slab of cardboard with scratchy burlap fabric on top).
Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. IBM. Nike. Apple. ALL tell stories to sell their products and services. To differentiate and resonate with their audience. So, if you are struggling to differentiate the intrinsic value of what you do, I would advise you to ensure that what you sell is of good quality, but then put your efforts into telling better stories about your company, your mission, and your clients, clarifying and strengthening the MESSAGE.
My go-to books on this topic are Made To Stick by Chip and Dan Heath as well as Don Miller’s Building A StoryBrand. Both are excellent reads and highly recommended.
