Creating An Industry
Bypass
A more interconnected
marketplace is forcing companies around the world into direct
competition with each other. Any innovative entrepreneur can escape this
trend by creating an “industry bypass.”
Business In a Changing World.
The world is more interconnected today than at any point in history.
Consumers have more choice, more power, and more information available
to them than ever before.
For your clients and customers, this means a great deal of freedom. But
too much freedom can be overwhelming. The vast array of choices has left
many people feeling confused and uncertain. For you, it may mean having
to compete against a number of others in your industry in a game that’s
based on the lowest common denominator: price.
Instead of being forced by industry pressures into this commoditized
situation, you can create an “industry bypass,” removing yourself
completely from the price war, and providing clarity and confidence to
everyone who interacts with your business. The best news is that you’ve
probably already got the basic ingredient you need to do this: your own
unique way of creating value for your clientele.
An Experience-based Business.
When people have the ability to satisfy all their material needs, what
they turn to are intangibles. If you consider your best clients and
customers, what they come to you for, and why they keep coming back,
isn’t about what you’re selling. Chances are, they could get that from
someone else. They’re loyal because of something unique about what they
experience with you.
Everything you’ve done up until now as an entrepreneur — all the wisdom
and problem-solving expertise you’ve accumulated — allows people to go
through a particular process with you that creates a unique experience.
This process is yours alone; they can’t get it anywhere else. If you can
articulate this process for others, so they can understand the benefit
upfront, you’ll have something new you can charge for that competitors
can’t touch.
Demonstrating The Unique Value You Create.
Packaging your wisdom into what we call a Unique Process™, allows anyone
inside or outside your business to instantly grasp what you do, and
their relationship to it. It also provides what people want most:
increased direction, confidence, and capability. Capturing and refining
your process can take some time, but you, your team members, and your
clients and customers will immediately benefit from an increase in
clarity and confidence: Your process makes some part of their life work
better. How that happens — which products and services can facilitate —
is a secondary consideration.
Creating an Industry Bypass.
Most businesses make their money from selling commoditized products and
services, and give the experience aspect of their business away – not
appreciating that it’s the most valuable thing they offer. This keeps
them trapped in a constant battle with their commoditized competition.
But when a company is able to package the experience it creates,
communicating its entire value creation proposition as a step-by-step
process, it is able to create a new level of relationship with its
clients and customers that completely differentiates it from
competitors.
When you articulate and package your Unique Process, you create an
independent source of income that’s not subject to the forces of
commoditization in your industry. Your competitors will find it tougher
and tougher each year to distinguish themselves and sell product using
the old strategies that the industry teaches. You, on the other hand,
will have bypassed those methods, and placed your entire business inside
a unique, valuable system that’s focused on your clientele, not on what
the industry is doing.
© 2007 The Strategic Coach
The
Strategic Coach
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