After defining your product or service, the next question to answer before you throw open the doors of your new venture is “What Makes You YOU?”
Perhaps this seems like a really simple, straightforward question–one you can answer in under 30 seconds. After all, you’ve known yourself your whole life. But I want you to really think about it. Dig deep. What is it about you that draws people in? What is it about you that makes you different from everyone else on Planet Earth? Just like your fingerprints are different from everyone else’s fingerprints, there are many things about you that are unlike anyone else.
It might be your singular brand of humor. Maybe you’ve really worked at developing your snark, your dry and witty responses, or your ability to laugh at your own mistakes. Maybe it’s your incredible artistic abilities. Does everyone in a 500-mile radius recognize your characters or your landscapes? Perhaps you’ve developed a reputation for being very up front in all of your dealings with people. Everyone knows exactly where you stand at all times. Do you have a particular panache? Could someone point out your style from a mile away?
Are you an extremely family-oriented person? Is integrity your hallmark? Are you a coffee lover? A grandparent? A champion for education? A sports fan? An animal lover? A crocheting expert? A creative brain? A Cricut wiz? A linear thinker? A spreadsheet lover? A race car enthusiast? Do you have a photographic memory? Do you think in pictures? Do you have a heart for the environment? Do you have a deep faith?
The point is, there are a million accountants out there–a million electricians, cookie bakers, cake makers, organizers, landscapers, artists, designers, decorators, financial advisers, and more. A million. All of them are competing for the time, attention and money of the consumers around them. Competition is crazy. Consumers have a short attention span. What’s in today might well be out tomorrow. So as important as your product or service is, the person behind the product or service–the person that people will come to know and seek out, is just as important… maybe even more important.
Who are you? Why should someone purchase a product or service from YOU? What is it about you that enables other to really connect?
When my husband started his small business, he had recently come out of a corporate automotive job. He had seen a lot in his many years of managing shops, and he knew that he wanted to deliver automotive service differently. Not that automotive shops out there are doing it wrong. He just saw opportunities to deliver more personalized, straightforward service. He really wanted automotive-related choices to be in the hands of the customer. In his world, customers should be educated about their options, and educated about necessary repairs. Each customer should feel like his or her repair was the most important repair; like he or she was a friend or a family member; like he or she knew exactly what was happening and was in the driver’s seat every step of the way.
Some of the things that made him very able to deliver service in this way were:
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- The man has literally never met a stranger in his whole life. Never. He can talk to anyone, anywhere, about anything. He has even mastered the art of using Google Translate when we have traveled to other countries. There is no barrier for him. He just connects with everyone he meets.
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- He has a love of cars. He has been working on them, building them, and collecting them (both life-size and die cast versions) since he can remember. He was a shade-tree mechanic before he got into the industry. He’s had so many project cars that we’ve lost count. His idea of relaxation is working on his most current project car on the weekends.
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- His love of cars has filled his brain with a deep knowledge of automobiles, all makes and models. He can rattle off the craziest specifications on each one and we often have no idea how he knows what he knows. He just knows.
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- He is extraordinarily mechanically inclined. If it can be taken apart and put back together, he can do it, and in record time.
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- He has a love of Mustangs and Shelbys, in particular. He has probably collected every die cast Mustang and Shelby that has been released in the last 20 years. He has bins and bins of die cast cars. He loves all of the Mustang and Shelby merchandise that exists. Coats, hats, t-shirts, tin signs, clocks, stickers, coffee mugs… you name it, he has it (or wants to get it).
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- He is passionate about the 2nd Amendment. He loves to hunt and target shoot. He knows a lot about survival skills and it is important to him to be able to provide for and protect his family.
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- He is appreciative of our Service Members and our Veterans. If ever he encounters someone with a hat or shirt on identifying that person as a Service Member or Veteran, he makes it a point to shake that person’s hand and thank him or her for their service.
These are just a few of the unique traits that he brings to the table. I bet that at least 80% of his customers (because you always have some that come and go) know these things about him. They could tell you how conversational he is, how much he loves cars, how crazy his depth of knowledge is, how much he appreciates the US Military and our Veterans, and so much more. He is transparent and he brings all of these things to the shop on a daily basis.
He knows that his customers have many, many options. They could take their cars to literally 100 shops in the area on any given day. It’s HIS personality, HIS presence, HIS particular ability to connect that brings them in the door.
What is it about you that would make people head in your direction? What do you, as a person, offer that no one else does? Once you get going, what are the things you’d like your customers to know about you after your first encounter?
Make your list. Ten things that make you YOU.
And then stay tuned for the next installment, What’s Your Why?
