How To (and why you must) De-commoditize Yourself
October 18th, 2017 // 3:50 pm @ Scott Manning
Today we are talking about just how profitable your business can become and whether it is going to be dependent on a volume basis or you can create leverage through the ability to control your own price.
There is a dividing line: on one side is a commodity position and on the other side is a place for differentiation where you are about something other than just the tangible of what you do, what you sell – your products and services.
I have been consistent on this point for a long time:
Business Owners do more to ruin the value perception of their customers, clients and patients than the customers, clients and patients do.
They look as bad as a bag full of Halloween Candy. Customers may have preferences for a certain brand, type, flavor but generally it all looks the same, priced the same, accessed the same, consumed the same… a near commodity even though each could have somethings that is considered unique.
Not a lot of fun getting compared to Halloween Candy huh? Gas Stations, Milk on a shelf in the grocery, even clothes; anything can become a commodity.
And yet within each type of product or service there are people that stand out. They do this because they have differentiating factors that they embrace and become known for.
This is what you must do if you want to continue to thrive. You never want someone to be able to say you are “the same as.”
The definition of a commodity, in the way we are talking about it, is something that is easily accessible and has no unique qualities that increase its value beyond what it is. You need gas you get gas, you want coffee you get coffee, you put on clothes or drive a car or go out to eat… it is all interchangeable.
Truly anything and everything can be a commodity. But it doesn’t have to be. How could Starbucks become unique with something as ubiquitous as coffee?
Well, the most obvious switch for companies that breakthrough the commodity trap and who are no longer held to the same pricing structure as counterparts is this:
They are not selling ‘coffee’ anymore. It becomes about something other than the piece of the business that has been commoditized.
That is a powerful sentence you want to read, study, embrace and go to work on in your business.
As long as your customers, clients and patients see you as selling the one part of your business that they can get anywhere and everywhere else – AT LEAST IN THEIR MINDS – then you are stuck at the value someone else expects instead of the value that is possible.
One of the most foundational goals within your business must be to de-commoditize everything you do and then connect that to how your customers experience you. It comes down to what they see as their benefits from being involved with your business.
We are going to be diving deep into this over the next few weeks. It’s critically important and it’s something that everyone can improve on, because the perception your customers, clients and patients have of you is going to limit or expand your opportunity to grow and maximize your profit.
In order to NOT be a commodity:
Be different.
Price different.
Deliver different.
Sell different.
Educate different.
Be about something different.
To make this plain and simple – you do not want your customers, clients or patients making price based decisions about your business and you do not want them thinking they can get what you do other places. There must be some level of commitment and loyalty and real desire so much so that it compels them to want to do business with you specifically, your people, your company, your philosophy, your approach.
This is what it takes to have long term, sustainable success with growing profits that keep you out of the volume trap while forcing you to compete on price with discount gimmicks or any other way that devalues what you really do and the benefits you deliver.
I’ll bring it to life for you and we’ll do a little weekly workshop right here to get this dialed in for your future and ready for an amazing 2018… which, in case you haven’t looked up yet, is right around the corner.
Category : Blog
