The Invisible Business Part 2: The Key to Being Seen and Wanted

So, your service business isn’t different enough, and you know it’s not acceptable
because you’re here for such a bigger game! So, how do you go about setting yourself
apart in the marketplace? 

Branding consultants uniformly advise business owners to differentiate on the
following:

  • Pricing. Lower pricing establishes you as a easy-grab option; higher-end
    pricing cultivates an image of prestige or quality.
  • Convenience/Efficiency: You position yourself as being able to get
    customers results faster than anywhere else.
  • Personality. You separate yourself by what you wear; a particular way of
    speaking; an attitude, etc.
  • Past Career/Adventures: You separate yourself by branding your business
    on a past career (Kenny the Monk was a monk, and now he teaches leadership
    in corporatations), or adventures (a mountain climber now helps leaders scale
    the highest peaks in their own lives.)
  • Uncommon Credentials: You have a PhD in psychology but are teaching/ consulting business owners on business growth.
  • Target Market: You stand apart by having a very tiny niche. Freed Gleek
    built his business fortune by helping the self-storage industry sell information products.

There are other typical branding/differentiation strategies, and clearly sometimes
they work. If they’re “Brain-Sticky” enough, they capture attention, leads and
dollars. Much of what we see on the internet are differentiation strategies that
succeed here—for much the same reason as we are all drawn to bright, shiny
objects: they’re sparkly bling and we can’t look away.

But too often that does not foster quality leads or clients, just those wanting quick-
fixes, convenience, or some thrill—then they’re gone. If you are here to effect change
in the world, most of the differentiation strategies you will find will be too superficial
for you. Your business identity must be substantive.

What makes a substantive business? One that offers intellectually stimulating
ideas; ideas that turn heads, provide rare insights, suggest provocative direction.
This is, or should be, the domain of the expert, wouldn’t you say? To speak not about
hackneyed concepts, but fresh and innovative ones that inform and expand.

What if your business was separated from all the rest in this way? What if you stood
on the mountaintop with a concept that had never been posed before and that
taught those listening something new and substantial, that they are hungry to learn?

Why do you think you’d stand out from everyone with this idea? Because good,
provocative ideas are hard to come by—so by that alone, you will be different. But
also because nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come. You want to
have such an idea.

When people work with me, this is how I differentiate them because teaching is the
domain of the expert, and service providers are experts—especially those with
big visions. They need to be out there in a very different way,  pulling prospects in
with their “Teaching Story.”

A “Teaching Story” puts forth a premise that no one else has. It’s yours and yours
alone, grown from your expertise, unique perspective, and wisdom. And it is how
you are known. It is your brand. As such, it is the secret weapon to becoming famous
and to changing the world.

What make a good “Teaching Story”? It: 

  • Is highly relevant to your narrow-market—something they have high
    interest  in learning about.
  • Tells prospects something new, that they didn’t know about that subject; it
    widens their intellectual horizons.
  • Stirs the emotions—often inciting disbelief or outrage, sometimes sadness,
    and always hope and excitement.
  • Has a provocative, even controversial, premise.
  • Provides satisfying support for that promise. 
  • Peels back veils, exposes untruths, and excites possibilities 
  • Creates a significant shift in perspective. Participants say, “I will never look
    at this subject the same way again.”
  • Dynamically unfolds to build suspense, alleviate tension and provide a
    satisfying and viable solution.

Like any good story, it is complete with hero, villain, desires, goals, obstacles,
suspense, climax. A Teaching Story has a deliberate “arc”—one that pulls the
prospect through a roller-coaster of emotions, to a final climactic finish of “a-ha!”
and transformation.

In order to get at your Teaching Story (i.e. your differentiation), it is imperative to
have your business identity fully established: who your target market is, what their
pains and desires are, how your solution is “urgently wanted” and what its results
are, what your mission is and, finally, your leadership message: the single-sentence,
mountaintop inspiration message of universal truth.

I do this work in a 7-session private program called, The Powerhouse Method™.
It is the fastest, most unique process you will experience for securing your one-of-a-
kind brand and the leadership message you are known for. To be considered for a
40-minute call to discuss your business differentiation and how the Teaching Story
works for you, just contact me at info (at) inspiredleadersacademy.com today! I
am confident you will never find a more effective, soul-stirring process for revealing
your one-of-a-kind business differentiation.

The Invisible Business: Why It Hurts on a Deeper Level

Service entrepreneurs come to me because they want to be Brain-Sticky: they want
to be compelling, memorable and original in the crowded marketplace. Often, in our
first call, they are excited and prattling off the things they think make them different
enough: I really listen; I ask penetrating questions; With me, they take action; I’m
very intuitive; Clients can reach me on the weekends, etc.

This is when I have to play bad-cop.

To coaches who tell me that they’re intuitive, take people to action, and listen really
deeply, I say, “That’s what a coach does. It’s in the job description,” at which point,
the newer ones instantly deflate and announce, “I don’t think there IS anything very
special about me, then.”

The pain I hear in their voice runs deep.
When we’re in business for ourselves, there
is very little separation between “what we
offer” and “who we are.” If we aren’t offering
something special, things get collapsed and
we start thinking we’re not special. And there
is no fate worse for a service entrepreneur
than not being special. If we can’t separate
ourselves from our work, it’s safe to say we
can’t separate our egos from our work–and it is a bitter pill to swallow that
we may not be special enough to fulfill our mission and have an impact on the
world.

From the moment we’re born, every one of us wants to be special. Even as teenagers,
when blending in is ‘in’, we want to stand out to our best friend, our boyfriend, our
teachers, our sports team. Every one of us dies a little every time someone we admire
or love overlooks us. It is the human imperative to be noticed, seen, wanted,
valued–i.e. recognized as special.

This doesn’t go away when we “grow up” and become business owners. In fact, the
need is often augmented then, put on display, if we’ve had a history of being ignored
and passed over. But for others, the existential human need to be different and special
still exists. And in business, it certainly exists. It is an absolute truism: you must
be special to succeed in your own business.

So, for those whose business identities lack the “stand out” factor, there is a double-
blow: their human fear of not being good-enough/special-enough is triggered as well
as the very real potential that they will fail in business.

And for those who are visionaries, this is acutely painful…and unacceptable. If you
are here to effect change in big ways and fulfill a mission bigger than yourself, you
won’t achieve it feeling small and insignificant like you did in gym class, or by
closing up shop.

The problem is, however, that the most prevailing branding and differentiating
advice out there is superficial and not long-term Brain-Sticky. If you’re here to make
change, you must stand out in a substantive way. No gimmicks and bling.  (And no
features and benefits, either.)

Return for Part 2 tomorrow, as I share the most commonly accepted strategies for differentiation and why they don’t go far enough for any service provider—but
particularly not for those with visions to change the world. Until then, give it some
thought: how has not having a solidly different business identity pulled
on your
in-bred human fear of not being seen, wanted, valued…special enough?

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