Defining Your Business’s Three Unique Traits

What separates you from the crowd?

In today’s market, competition is fierce. It is no longer enough to simply be better than your rivals because there is inevitably a lot of them, most of which may seem identical to all but the most trained eye. You have to show your customers what makes you different. What separates you from the crowd? What raises you above the competition?

Without defining the things that make you unique, you run the risk of wasting time and money trying to appeal to people who don’t truly value your services. If every other company is offering the same things you are, you’ve just become another website for them to click out of, or advertisement or sales call to ignore.

That’s why it is so important for businesses to define their three uniques. Three traits – or two, or four, or five – that make your business different than those you’re competing with. Very few businesses truly have one. These might include your amazing customer service or your free shipping policy, or your customized subscription model. What are your three unique traits that make you completely different than your rivals?

Unfortunately, some businesses try to be a little bit of everything. They want to offer the customer service, the free shipping, the customized subscription model, the supply discounts, high quality, concierge-level service, and so on. But in trying to offer all of this at once, many do so poorly, which just makes them blend in with all their competitors.

That is why the focus of three unique traits is so important. Shooting for at least three things and making them clear to your customers ensures that they see you as separate from the other businesses offering your services or products. Think of it this way: You may not be able to come up with one or two things that truly set you apart from competitors, but a combination of things may do the trick.

Take a maintenance company for example. They focus on complex, industrial facilities and one of their clients has an issue. It’s 11:00 at night and the client’s plant is down, and they need someone out there right away to fix a critical, non-routine problem. This is where their three uniques come into play:

1. A specialty in servicing complex, industrial facilities.
2. Safety: Because this company is going to such lengths to service an at-risk plant, they are demonstrating a devotion to safety that most businesses might not share.
3. Responsiveness: They are equipped to answer clients at all hours of the night and dispatch technicians within one hour to ensure the satisfaction of their customers. This company also assures the reliability of their services, ensuring that what they deliver is of high quality.

Some other businesses may offer a couple of these traits. They may specialize in industrial maintenance and focus on safety, but not have the guaranteed responsiveness of this company. What truly makes this maintenance company unique is that none of their rivals can offer all three of these things.

So, ask yourself: What makes your company different? What unique traits separate you from all the other businesses in your field? These questions might help:

• What problems do you solve that other companies do not tackle?
• What solutions do you offer that nobody else does?
• What does your ideal customer want from a business like yours? And what makes that ideal customer different, in some cases?
• What niche do you fill in your market?
• Do you have a technology, service, or specialty that nobody else can offer?
• If none of your services or products are unique, can you offer a level of service that is?

The concept of three uniques is part of the vision/traction organizer, which is a system of organizing business goals and focus in a way that clarifies them and makes them more attainable. By using the VTO, you can identify your company’s standards, its processes, its niche, and its core values. All of these elements are integrated; they can help determine your three uniques, and those in turn help define other components of your business.

For example, establishing your business’s guarantee – the thing that makes your prospects and customers trust you – can help determine one or more of your uniqueness. That guarantee can even serve as one of them if it stands out enough. Additionally, your core focus – the reason your company exists and what it serves to accomplish within its market – is a stepping stone to establishing what is unique about your company.

For further help in developing your three uniques and other essential components of your business strategy, look to Provident CPA & Business Advisors. We specialize in strategic business growth.

Our three uniques?

They are a customized membership model, a concierge-level service, and a holistic approach to advising businesses.

And we’ll use them to help you find yours.

Call us at 1-855-693-7829 or get in touch through our contact form to get started.