Differentiation is critical. We know it. We invest a lot of time and effort in differentiating our products and services from the alternatives. We do endless feature-function comparisons. We carefully construct comparative checklists, identifying the capabilities that set us apart from other offerings—always making sure we check more boxes for our offerings than the competition checks off.
And our competitors construct their version of the same comparative checklists, featuring more checks in their boxes of features-functions.
When we meet with customers we focus on the differentiation of our offerings in those conversations. We talk about the results our customers get, we talk about our great NPS scores, customer experience, retention.
And when, pressed, we leverage the ultimate differentiator—“We’re cheaper…..”
Differentiating our offerings and solutions, in ways that are meaningful to our customers is critical. I don’t want to diminish the importance of this.
But we miss a huge opportunity, we fail to differentiate ourselves in our customer engagement strategies. We do exactly the same thing as everyone else–in ever increasing volumes.
We use the same techniques and scripts in our engagement strategies. We have the same formulas for a clever subject line. We have the same “personalization” techniques (Somehow, 70% of outreaches think I run a company called Excellenc…..) We have the same opening lines about helping companies like mine and how great their products are. And we have the same CTA asking for a meeting/demo.
And then the sequences follow the same format, usually, “Did you get my previous email…”
Every outreach follows the same format, whether email or phone. The social outreach follows exactly the same scripts and sequences.
The scripts, sequences, methods are all virtually the same. Every outreach focuses on us, our companies and our products. Every outreach focuses on our goals—we want to talk about and demo our products and solutions. And, as with everyone else, the volumes of sameness skyrocket.
While we know we must be differentiated, it’s not just our products and offering that need to be differentiated. It’s our customer engagement process, the experience people have as they struggle with their buying process. We have to create differentiated experiences that create value with the customer.
We execute sameness at ever escalating volumes and scale. We continue to do what everyone else is doing yet expect to stand out. And when it doesn’t produce what we want, we do more of the same thing.
In light of this, differentiating ourselves in engaging customers in their buying process becomes remarkably easy. All we have to do is put the customer at the center of our engagement strategies. Make it all about them, their concerns, their goals, their problems. Understanding what they face, helping them imagine a different future, demonstrating that you are interested and care.
Tailoring our outreach to the individual and their organization, recognizing that while they may have similar titles, their companies may be in similar industries, each situation is different. Engaging people recognizing this difference is how we stand out.
Sadly, I suspect, the majority will continue doing more of the same, just like everyone else.
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