Why Your Company?
With starting my own business at 21 years old, there were certain questions asked of me early on that I struggled with. One of the most difficult was a very simple question, yet it always caused me to tense up.
If trying to land a new client, retain an existing client or make a new hire it was always the same question. Why your company?
Normally you’d have the elevator pitch that you hoped you could rattle off and not forget anything. Or you’d ramble on about something that even you lost sight of what the heck you were saying.
Each year I still reflect on this question to make sure we are giving our best answers. My thought process has two steps.
Read and research books. The two books I’ve found most beneficial in giving me thought provoking ideas are, Good to Great by Jim Collins and Never Lose a Customer Again by Joey Coleman.
Conduct a brain dump with my team. Whatever we think of is written down. Questions we needed to ask ourselves, examples of ways other companies are communicating and analogies on how to present clearer messages to prospective clients or hires.
There are three questions that we review and begin with. What is making your company stand out? What makes you the best option? What can you offer or do that others can’t? Here are some of the items we’ve used in creating our action plans.
How are you differentiating from the others? If you are doing what everyone else is doing, don’t expect to be better than everyone else. For instance, someone will always be cheaper. Advertising today revolves around price. Find a way to stand out from that. Distinguish your company in another aspect.
You need to showcase accomplishments or awards you and your team have obtained. Show that you are an industry leader. You need to tell people, because nobody else will. If you own a restaurant and are nominated for or win a James Beard award or Michelin star shouldn’t you highlight that? Make people aware of your greatest accomplishments or awards.
This is an analogy that’s been helpful since I started my business. View your company as a bike. Are you stationary or nonstationary? Too many companies get into a place where they are on an exercise bike, spinning and spinning (stationary), but not gaining any traction on their competition. You advance and separate from others by putting your bike wheels on the road (nonstationary).
Why should a prospective employee work for your company instead of a competitor? Is there something that you can offer him or her from my recent article on Hire for a Career, Not a Job that another company can’t? What makes you the best choice? You need to stand out!
Business owners and managers many times do not put themselves in someone else’s shoes. They only see things from their point of view, not the view from the other side. Imagine yourself in their shoes and step out of yours for a moment.
The principle that I have preached since starting my business. Continue to create and build relationships. People do business with people and companies they know and trust.
From these thoughts, here are some practices we’ve implemented within our company. We continually review these practices to make sure we stay a step in front.
We pivoted to a homeowners insurance based marketing approach. We no longer advertised to the auto insurance masses. Our intent was to pivot away from what the industry was doing. We identified a select demographic of homeowners and formed a laser like focus on them. Our advertising spoke directly to that targeted demographic. This was one of the best marketing pivots we’ve made.
We created an outline about our company. One is presented to prospective clients and another for prospective employees. Two pages is all. Not a powerpoint or booklet. It is colored with our team’s pictures. Easy to read and understand. It explains our company, what they are getting when they come on board with us and why we are the best at what we do. Get to the point and set the expectations right away.
Practice and always remember KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). I have always had the view that I need to keep it simple, then less can go wrong. This should be applied to marketing, hiring, training and all aspects of your company. It should be an acronym that is practiced by all your departments.
Ask your teammates for input. From the front desk person answering phones and greeting clients, to your most important person within your company. Ask questions and get feedback. Some of the best ideas or points of improvement on projects have come from interns.
Create a comparison against your top three competitors. A SWOT (Planning Tool) analysis followed by a TOWS (Action Tool) analysis is one way to do this. You want to try and identify what can make you move from good to great. Are there aspects that you are industry leading at? Is there an opportunity to pivot where you can pivot to be industry leading? Many times small changes can spur ever changing results.
With rapid technology and competition growth across all industries today, you need to continue brainstorming new and ever changing ideas. Make sure your company is operating like a bike that is moving forward and not spinning in place.