Being different, or more correctly having a point of differentiation is one of the most critical communication strategies a small business can adopt.

If you can't find that point of difference then what is it that sets your business apart from your competitiors other than price?

Nothing

Dave runs an IT business serving small businesses networking and associated services.

He has a web site as do his competition and when I have spoken to his clients and that of his competition there is very little difference between them, in the way they communicate and what they do.

If on the outside there is little difference it comes down to price.

Finding that unique difference, articulating it and making the experience different is what will set Dave's business apart.

What makes your business different?

Are you like Dave and have a really tough time in finding a difference? One reason is that, sadly, we've had drummed into us from the time we were kids is not to be too different, not to stand out too much ... don't be a tall poppy.

Dave like all the other IT providers I've worked with has hung his hat on we provide "blah blah product” and "superior service" and "we have XYZ certification" (just fill in the blanks. In essence his message is that he's not all that different but he'd really like to be but ... heck I don't want to stand out too much.

Complete the "Sameness Test"

I checked out Dave's site and compared it to his local competitors as well as some of the businesses elsewhere on the web.

A really great test was to look at the structure of the site, the about us page, the services and how they talked about what they did.

I removed all the distinguishing business and product names and showed Dave asking him how he felt about the words and whether he felt comfortable about putting them on his web site?

And yes they were all the same "blah blah product” and "superior service" and "we have XYZ certification" and the light came on for Dave.

What to do when the light comes on?

That was the easy part, the next step was to look at the way Dave carried out his business, what was it that he, and his staff, physically did on a day to day basis. The next step was to analyze his existing client attributes and to categorise them into how he found them, what is their value to the business, does he like working with them, do they refer others and so on.

This gave him an insight into who his customers were that he'd never seen before.

Ask the hard questions

Dave then looked at the way he could best service his clients and how he could articulate the value of prevention as distinct to reaction.

Fixing something broken as a strategy can be way more expensive and an unknown in down time, lost data and repair costs in comparison to preventative monitoring and maintenance.

Look for alternatives

With a new way of communicating Dave's job is to now visit all his clients and to explain the options for a future relationship.

Sometimes it’s enough to package your services differently, approach a niche market differently, price your products differently, add services to products, add products to services, create outrageous guarantees, or add some truly remarkable habit to your sales and marketing process.

In Dave's instance he has some plugin services that his clients are just begging for ... that he just hadn't got around to packaging or getting the systems and administration set up.

The numbers are looking good for Dave ... action is the key issue as not only does Dave need to be different with his product and service delivery (= change), he also has to communicate this new process and the value it provides (=change) and in this instance Dave has to get out from behind the keyboard and screen and go talk to people face to face (=change).

All this change is about being different, about change both for him and his clients

Dave's defining moment was when he saw that it’s OK to be different, in fact, it’s the only way he can grow his business.