Graham McGregor: What's special about you?

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Opinion

There is an unusual Australian dentist called Paddi Lund. He works 23 hours a week, loves his work and earns far more than many other dentists.

One of the interesting things about Paddi's dental practice is he only accepts as a new dental client, someone who has been referred by one of his existing clients.

Paddi has created an interesting resource he calls his "Welcome Book" which explains in great detail his "special way of doing business."

When potential clients read his welcome book they understand very clearly what is special about the way Paddi does business. Some people like what he does and they become clients. Others can see that Paddi's approach is not for them.

Paddi's story is a great example of what is possible when you focus on selling your "special way of doing business" rather than focusing on selling your products and services. For more details on what Paddi does visit www.paddilund.com

The good news is that you can develop a special way of doing business without spending much money. In fact you can often do it for free!

How to develop a special way of doing business:

1: Tell people (in detail) how you work with new customers or clients, before you talk to them about your products and services.

Before you can sell a person on buying your product or service you need to let them know clearly what will happen at each stage of the sales process.

Remember that customers hate uncertainty or nasty surprises. And when you give them a clear picture of the sales process it removes a lot of the uncertainty they may have about what will happen along the way.

The easiest way to do this is to use the following words: "The way I work is...", or "The way we work is..."

Then follow these words with the steps you go through in your normal sales process.

"John, before we talk about my computer services and how I may be able to help your business, what I'd like to do first is tell you how we work with a potential new client like you. First of all we do this ... Then we do this and this ... By doing these things it means this..."

The more a customer understands what is happening at each step the more comfortable they will be with you.

2: Be different from your competitors in "how" you do business.

Do this in a way that your customers and clients appreciate.

The prompt email reply:

I regularly purchase a number of products from a marketing expert called Bob Bly. One of the things I love about doing business with Bob is that he always replies promptly and personally to any email I send him.

I really appreciate that as at least half the people I email never reply promptly. And a large number don't respond at all.

Because I appreciate Bob's promptness doing this, I have made it a habit of responding promptly when someone emails me as well.

Creating a special way of doing business is an easy way to position yourself as being different from all your competitors in a very positive way.

What is your special way of doing business?

"It is not your customer's job to remember you. It is your obligation and responsibility to make sure they don't have the chance to forget you" -- Patricia Fripp

Graham McGregor is a marketing consultant and the creator of the Unfair Business Advantage Report. www.theunfairbusinessadvantage.com