Market Differentiators

What is your market differentiator? Believe it or not, whenever I ask this question to my colleagues I almost always get a blank stare. It’s simple really; what makes your service or product different than the others? In other words; why should I buy your widget rather than the competitors?




In today’s rough economical times the market place is flooded with companies vying for the customer’s business. As a service provider and a consumer I always try to think like the consumer and ask myself, “Why me, why now?” This is the message that I need to communicate to my prospective clients. Yet, when I have a vendor sitting across my desk and I ask them this question, “Why you”, I get a lot of stuttering or a blank stare. Really! Why would I want to use a vendor that doesn’t seem proud or confident with their service or product?



If I had to make suggestion that would have an immediate effect on your success, I would tell you to make sure that you know the answer to these questions. Why you and Why now? You not only need to know the answer to this but you also want to start thinking about ways to set yourself apart from the competition. How do you do this? Once you think like your customer it becomes quite easy. Just figure out what triggers their buying and then focus on what you can do to pull that trigger. I will go more into depth on this topic in future articles.



Here are a few examples of how M.C. Dean sets ourselves apart from the rest:



Subject Matter Experts

M.C. Dean offers their customers free training on many topics, from Safety to Arc Flash. This sets us apart from our competition as subject matter experts. Since we are standing in front of our customers most valued resource, their employees, and teaching them about how electrical and data effects their environment.



Social Media

This blog and other social media sites, combined with the networking events, helps make my customers and fellow networkers more comfortable in approaching me at events and functions. Since I have topics that may interest them on my blog, or if there was a status update they found to be interesting, the ice has already been broken. It also sets me up as someone who is willing to share information pertaining to many different fields.



Technology

I have always tried to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to technology. While I admit I am not as good as some, I do make an effort to keep up with all the newest gadgets that have the potential to save money and make M.C. Dean more efficient and offer better service to our customers. This is different, because most people do not like change and are way behind on technological advances that lower the cost of doing business.