Menu
The very foundation of profitability comes from this question, “What makes your business special?” Frankly, every business faces this question, which leads us to the challenge of discrimination.
Meaning, you have to build in the product, service, and messaging to distinguish yourself from your competition.
Much too often business owners spending too much time trying to serve their entire market. Building a profitable business, and even more so when you’re a small business, is almost wholly dependent upon defining the value of your offering in your customer’s eyes.
Are you addressing their most critical pain point? The most important question in their mind? Are you crafting an irresistible offer?
Great! You have a business that is running, or ready to launch, or are just working though the idea formulation stage.
There are literally hundreds (thousands) of businesses that will have demand.
A more fundamental question becomes, can you operate your business in a manner that will deliver the lifestyle, income, and freedom that you wanted when you began.
In a word, is your business….profitable?
From a very simplistic perspective, profit is a matter of your ability to run a business at less than it costs for you to operate. The less your business costs to operate, and the higher prices you are able to charge, the more profit you will generate.
That question comes back around to HOW?
Here’s a simple 2×2 matrix that focuses upon the value you deliver, and the uniqueness of your business:
Your objective is to create a unique and valuable product or service!
If you’re Unique and Valuable (Block 2), you are in the ideal location and people will pay more for your product or service. This is the best location to maximize your profitability. (Think of Apple, Mercedes, etc…)
If you’re Valuable and Not Unique (Block 4), you must compete on prices. In this scenario, your business is a commodity. Tough place to operate from if profit is a key objective.
Unique and Not Valuable (Block 1), you are in a bad business location. You may be passionate about it, but no-one will pay for your product or service. I affectionately call this….your hobby.
Obviously if you’re Not Unique and Not Valuable (Block 3), this is the worst place to be. Need to start again…
Work both axis well, and your business will be in the ideal position to deliver value and a price point that is good for you and your customers.
Note: Have you considered incrementally improving several areas of your business, and want to see what the impact would like? This Blueprint will give you multiple ideas to grow your business without an additional cent spent on marketing. Just click here to grab your FREE copy.
When you operate a business you work very hard to serve your customers. Each of them individually.
Then, you build (have built) a website that talks as if you are addressing a crowd???
Your website, and your digital infrastructure, is focused on talking to one person at a time.
Profitability builds from an individual, and progresses from that point. The clearer the individual that is your ideal customer, the more specific you can be in your marketing and communication.
With this very specific person in mind, we need to separate your business from the competition.
What you offer in your business is critical. “I want to deliver a superior product/service/experience” is NOT A DISCRIMINATOR.
Narrow your focus, and look at every phase or cycle within your customer experience.
What do you do better than everyone else? What is “special” about your offering? What is the expertise that only you possess?
Having spent countless hours working to define USP’s for products, services, and events one of the easiest mistakes to make is to try and discriminate your whole business.
You need to look at your business in pieces, then here are 4 questions that will highlight ideas that you can refine for your unique selling proposition:
Once you are clear on these questions, you are in the best position to grow your business and to do so profitably!
Building profitability into your business is accomplished by being specific.
Bring a unique aspect to your customers, and deliver a fantastic value and you will have positioned yourself to operate from a position of strength.
Focus your marketing, website, and copy on a specific individual. (Write to your individual ideal customer).
Break your business down into smaller pieces, or phases, to define potential unique selling propositions.
Use the same Excel template shown, and jumpstart your action!
I would love to hear from you! Please join me on Facebook, and say hello! Let me know what you would like to learn more about, and how this article has helped you in your business.
