Forget R&D:
Businesspeople need A&D
Articulation and Distinction are Critical to Success
© 2005 David Newman
I’m not a mind reader. But I can tell you that there are two questions foremost in every businessperson’s mind when you approach them, whether in person, over the phone, via email, or in any other form of contact:
- What do you do? (Articulation)
- How are you different? (Distinction)
Some people instinctively “get” this concept. And others don’t. I met a man at a networking function and asked him what he did. He replied, “I own a delivery service and we deliver packages across town.” I said, “Oh that’s interesting. There are a ton of those. How are you different?” He looked like a deer caught in my headlights and said, “What do you mean?” I asked, “What makes you unique?” He could not answer the question and fumbled and stammered and hemmed and hawed. Not pretty.
A business person must be able to articulate value and clearly distinguish themselves from their competition in a powerful way. Now you may say, “that’s great if you’re in sales, but I’m not in sales.” News flash: Try to stay in business without selling anything. We are all in sales!
True, you might not be selling products and services (or you might be), but we’re all in the business of selling ideas, selling value, and selling ourselves!
If your product or service (or idea or value) is not unique on the surface, you need to dig deeper and find a way to articulate the value of what you’re offering, and then specifically show how it’s different/ better/ smarter/ faster than the competition.
One of my clients is an accountant. He wanted to boost the impact of his 10-second audio logo – the short phrase of 8-12 words that first comes out of your mouth when people ask, “So what do you do?”
His old answer was “I help small to medium sized businesses manage their financial and accounting needs.” No surprise, this wasn’t getting much response. People would say, “That’s nice” and move on to the tray of prune Danish, which at that point seemed more compelling than his accounting services.
At the same time, this accountant was struggling to move away from “drive-by” clients – the folks that came in once a year in February or March with their shoebox full of receipts and wanted their taxes done. He wanted to focus most of his practice on quarterly or monthly clients where he could help guide their financial decisions throughout the year in a more proactive and partnership-oriented way.
Solution: add four simple little words to his networking introduction, so now it sounds like, “I help small to medium sized businesses manage their financial and accounting needs BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.” That’s always a showstopper and gets people curious and interested in exactly what “before it’s too late” means.
Then he goes on and says that his yearly “do my taxes” clients are really just coming in for an “autopsy,” when what he really specializes in doing is providing the financial version of “smart diagnosis and regular treatment” to keep his clients truly financially healthy every month, and not just at tax time when it’s too late to change anything.
So think about your own A&D:
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What do you really DO? |
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WHO do you do it for? |
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Why does it MATTER to them? |
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How are you truly DIFFERENT? |
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How can you HELP? |
Taking some time to answer these 5 simple questions will jumpstart your own A&D process, so people will remember what you do, why you’re different, and how you can help them and others they know. The ability to articulate your message with A&D will boost the effectiveness of ALL your marketing and sales efforts. It’s time well spent.
I can hear you now – you’re saying, “I run X kind of company, and that’s not sexy or interesting or unique at all. Now what do I do?” Answer: think harder. Let’s take a pretty tough example. Let’s pretend for a moment that you run a pet-grooming and boarding business. Not much to work with, right? Wrong!
What if you took your old, tired, and wilted “I run a pet grooming and boarding business” and turned it into something along the lines of “We help dog owners with grooming and boarding services at our state-of-the-art dog resort so when the family travels, their dog can be on vacation, too!”
See how this works? Here’s a formula for you to make your own articulation and distinction statement:
1. Who you work with: We help (IT managers, pet owners, executive women) by...
2. What you do: (designing websites, grooming and boarding, financial planning...)
3. How you do it - colorfully: (web first aid, dog resort, commando money management)
4. Unique “so-what” benefit: (so your company, so your pet, so you...)
Sharpening this one very simple tool – the dozen words you say probably 4-5 times a week – will yield incredible results and help you fill your potential pipeline with people who are interested, qualified, and ready to do business with you.
Now, get to work in your A&D lab and come up with something fabulous!
David Newman is a nationally-acclaimed leadership and sales speaker known for his high-content, high energy presentations laced with humor and “do-it-now” tools that ensure maximum takeaway value. Your investment in David pays off by making it easier for your leaders, managers and salespeople to unblock sales performance and unlock leadership success. David is the author of 8 books on leadership and sales, including Relish for Business and Sales Science.
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