Before List Selection Define Competitive Advantage

November 24, 2009 by Tim
Filed under: Marketing Lists

The first and most critical step before writing your 2010 marketing plan and looking at strategic database strategy is to define your competitive advantage in the eyes of your customer base.

This could be the difference between a 25-50% increase in your sales or marketing response rate during the first 90 days of 2010.

The competitive advantage for my marketing plan and the ultimate marketing system. That’s what sets my system apart from everything else out there. So, that’s why a marketing manager can go with confidence in approaching prospects because he’s got something different and unique.

These are profits going to the bottom line because we didn’t increase the money spent to create those results. We didn’t have to do more advertising. We didn’t have to hire more people.

We’re freeing up capital because we’re better allocating the scarce resource and that’s so important, because it is the number one step and the first step in the marketing system because it is essentially the elevator sales pitch.

It’s the compelling selling reason that that company is in business. It is what sets that company apart, what makes that company unique from all of the competition, and it’s so important because with so many different kinds of businesses in the same business.

Find something that will differentiate you from the competition, and the reason you have to do that is because if people don’t perceive a reason that’s different to do business with you, then they’re only going to shop price, and they’re only going to go to the lowest price seller, and they’re only going to watch for the ads that give them the lowest price.

The first step is we met with the owner/president and staff to get their perspective of why your customers purchase your product rather then the competition, and you have a complete questionnaire that goes through what questions you should ask.

The next thing you do is call or email or survey customers, and in your survey questions you need to have to get the customers’ perspective of what might be unique.

From this information you determine your competitive advantage and then this becomes your mantra, your direct marketing headline in e-mail, mail or sales call.

A good example of a company using their competitive advantage is Domino’s Pizza, the dramatic impact for that company because they came out and they looked at all the competition and they surveyed customers, and they talked to prospects, and they asked what’s most important to them. At the time speed was becoming and was a void in the industry. No one was delivering a pizza fast.
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So, they did. They said, “We’ll get it to you in 30 minutes or less or it’s free.”Dominos Pizza, the dramatic impact for that company because they came out and they looked at all the competition and they surveyed customers, and they talked to prospects, and they asked what’s most important to them, and at that time speed was becoming and was a void in the industry. No one was delivering a pizza fast. So, they did. They said, “We’ll get it to you in 30 minutes or less or it’s free.

For free consultation or email at timglittle@charter.net