(Note: In Spring 2006 I worked closely with two companies preparing for Initial Public Offerings. This transcript is from a curated series of late-night sessions I recorded to train the corporate marketing and sales teams. In these private trainings I answered their specific questions about the strategies and tactics (and art) of establishing your branding and positioning as unique and special, to give you the edge in a crowded marketplace. These have never been shared publicly before now, and even though the recording quality is poor there are some golden nuggets of information in each that will expand your understanding of these key topics as well.)
Now this is a neat, concept an interesting concept, one that rules our lives. It rules your life, my life and everyone else’s life. (For more on this topic see also Perception IS Reality!)
The world that we believe and see and know around us – yes, there is a physical world, I’m not saying that the world exists in our mind — But what reality is exists in our mind.
If we think that somebody is out to get us, chances are that everything that they do will reinforce that. It would be very difficult for them to prove that they are really not out to get us, that they are on our side, and in the back of our minds we always suspect that they are really, possibly trying to fool us.
Likewise, if you feel that the economy is in a tail spin, if you feel that you are in danger of losing everything that you have then that perception will drive the way you handle your spending. It will drive the discussions you have, it will dominate every area of your life.
At the same time, another person may look at it and see all the opportunities that are in the economy, and that person will find opportunity every where they look. They will be stumbling over deals that they were not able to get before and they will be taking advantage of the fact that the herd mentality is all running scared.
On Wall Street they call this, “Buy when there is blood in the street”.
The essential truth there is, is that when everyone is selling — which is their perception, that they should sell, because you follow those perceptions — then you want to buy. And when everybody is buying, that’s when they’re selling.
So, Perception Is Reality. Now in terms of building value, the perceptions that you create are the things that add the value, and we can move this over on another chapter on Positioning, and wording and things like that.
The way that you build value in yourself is in clearly identifying those unique selling propositions, the things that matter and identify you:
Things like your integrity, your honesty, the quality of what you do, the value of what you provide people, the place in the market that you occupy.
Identifying yourself with those words and phrases that come to be identified with you, positioning yourself in a way that you are unique and different in the marketplace.
(For more on this topic see also Strategic Branding: More Than Snazzy Graphics Or Catchy Slogans and Your Unique Value Proposition Isn’t About You. It’s About THEM.)
I tell people quite often my objective as a marketer is to create the perception in the prospect’s minds that they are standing on ONE side of the stage, while anybody else who could remotely be considered a competitor to them is standing on the OTEHR side of the stage.
To the degree that I am successful at that, our campaigns and programs will be successful.
In terms of creating the perception of who you are, it’s very important that, as we talked before that you deconstruct – you Backwards Engineer — and you decide where it is you want to be and who it is you want to be perceived as in the market. And begin looking at all the ways that you can make that happen. And also look at all the ways that you are currently sabotaging that.
Again, to go back to price: If you are wanting to present yourself as a high value proposition in the marketplace, the “go to” person for the real value of what it is that you offer, then having “sales” on what you offer is shooting yourself in the foot. Because those sales are saying, “It really isn’t worth that much.”
You never want to do anything that is not congruent with that position that you want to achieve, that perception that you are creating in the marketplace. Because once you do that changes the perception that your customers have of you.
You know another element of perception, and we may spend a chapter on this as well, but another element of perception is, “Who is your competition?”
(For more on this see also Competition? What Competition?)
Your competition exists in only two places: It exists in the gray area of your head and the gray area of your prospects’ and customers’ heads.
The Reality Is… You Have No Competition!
There is nobody who is You: There is nobody else but You who has Your range of experience knowledge and skills, who has Your specific business model, market, location and your specific talent pool.
There is nobody else but YOU!
All the other people have different elements of what you do, but the only reason that they exist as competition is because you have not clearly defined yourself in the marketplace, so that your perception is what I said earlier, where you are over on one side of the stage.
You are the Xerox, You are the Federal Express, You are that company that defines the business and everybody else is compared to You.
As opposed to you just being lumped in, where people look at you and go, “Oh well, you’re just like So-and-So.” Instead, they look at So-and-So and say, “Oh well, they’re Just Like YOU.”
And that’s the place that you want to reach. And it’s not something that happens overnight. It’s something that takes time, effort, energy and focus and money, and it takes a vision to make that happen, but once it happens you will be able to capitalize that in unbelievable ways. So it is worth the effort.
