Great marketing and an OK service is not enough, if you want to grow a successful business.
Think of it like this. Imagine you see some snazzy marketing, which inspires you to buy something. Then, when you use it, you find that it’s not as good as the marketing suggests. It’s OK at best. Below average maybe.
You are not happy. You feel like you have been duped.
What do you do?
- You may seek a refund.
- You may blog about how it failed to meet your expectations.
- You may tell your friends on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin etc, how the product failed you.
What wouldn’t you do?
- You wouldn’t buy from that company again.
- You wouldn’t give them permission to market to you again.
- You wouldn’t recommend their product to your family or friends.
Here’s the thing: No matter how good the marketing is, if the product or service behind it is just OK, you set a very low ceiling on the potential of your business.
When I start working with a new client, one of the first things I work on with them, is how to transform their product or service into something that’s of unique value. We look for refinements and improvements, which will be of genuine value to their prospective clients. As a result, their marketing messages become massively more attractive and their clients want to tell the world how much they love the service they receive.
It may take less thought to bring yet another OK service to the marketplace, but the return is very poor. That’s because your prospective clients are not looking for an OK service. Even if some of them are, most of your competitors are already providing an average service, which is why they are competing against each other based on prices or fees. When competing providers offer an OK service, prospective clients use prices or fees to determine the best value. That’s why I get my clients out of that fee-sensitive loop FAST, regardless of their industry or profession.
Offer more unique value than your competitors. Get as far away from average as you possibly can.
That’s where the best clients, highest fees and most rewarding work is.