What Makes Your Business So Special?

What makes your business so special? You should be able to answer the question with a single, meaningful sentence. It’s a fair question, after all, and the answer to it is the reason customers should buy from you and not your competitors. It’s the rallying cry of your business, and what you should get excited about sharing with others as you network and promote your company. So, what makes your business so special?

A business can be special for many reasons, but only one or two should be included in your one-sentence answer. Look at your unique selling points and the benefits your customers receive to identify how your business is special. Potential ideas include, among others:

• expertise and experience
• price
• quality
• fast turnaround
• free shipping
• excellent customer service

Now, look at how your benefits and unique selling points compare to your competitors. What differentiates you in your industry? That’s how your business is special.

Let’s take a look at a real-life example. If you were to ask a Rackspace representative what’s so special about their business, their likely answer would be “fanatical support.” The cloud hosting company has plenty of other benefits and unique selling points, for sure, but they’ve chosen to hang their hats on their support. Why? Because it’s what makes them stand out from their competitors.

In an industry in which anyone can become a cloud host, many hosting companies have earned poor reputations for lack of adequate support. Everything else being equal, customers want great hosting support. That single unique selling point differentiated Rackspace in a meaningful way, and it resonated with potential buyers to the tune of nearly 200,000 customers and counting.

You can find a special attribute for every business out there; and if you can’t readily identify how you’re special, then you need to come up with a way to be special. Even the most straight-forward businesses can find ways to be special. A tree trimmer, for example, might promote the fact that he leaves no mess behind; or a house cleaner could be eco-friendly.

How are you better than your competitors? How does that add value to your customers’ lives? That’s how you’re special, and it’s what you need to promote to grow your business.