Your company’s unique talent

Many companies claim to stand out in the market by excelling in various areas compared to their competitors. However, when you consider the internal processes that are not visible in your rivals, you may find that your true advantages lie in just one or two specific areas.

How well do you understand the financial health and bookkeeping practices of your competitors? What about their team's motivation? Or their customers' experiences beyond what is available in online reviews?

We often overestimate our knowledge and underestimate what we do not know. Therefore, when evaluating our position in the market, we should concentrate on what we are certain about and publicly share and reinforce those aspects.

Perhaps you can deliver products to your customers faster. Maybe your product quality lasts longer. However, the more traits and characteristics you combine without data-backed evidence, the more uncertainty you introduce in the minds of your customers.

In a market-driven economy, people naturally assume that differentiation among firms indicates that each has its own unique position and existence for a reason.

Your company may have many reasons for existing in the market. But if other products and solutions already exist, there must be that compelling reason for your presence. This is what your customer needs to know.

Unless you are a strictly self-service product or service, marketing often focuses on setting up the sales process for success.

The goal of marketing is usually not to deliver a comprehensive sales pitch that de facto closes the deal.

Instead, your goal should often be to provide the best assist possible rather than trying to score the goal yourself.

You do not have unlimited time and attention to convince your customers of everything. Similarly, they will not be swayed by your subjective biases. What matters is objectivity. To persuade someone, you need to reference something concrete: data, a statistic, or something tangible that they can see, feel, or touch.

To be strongly positioned in the market, your company’s unique talent must be both concrete and desirable to the market. For example, you can be cheaper than your competitors, but if the entire customer base is satisfied with the current price point, you are not addressing the unmet demand. Perhaps what they want more is quality.

If you want to identify your company’s unique talent, ask yourself:

What is the one thing we do differently that would make me choose us over the competition if I were the customer?