Your differentiator should force a decision.
That's what most founders get wrong when deciding on their differentiator.
They tend to pick lazy 'differentiators' that don't actually get the job done:
- level of care
- personality
- quality
- team
- being the best
- industry leading
To the untrained eye, those may seem like differentiators.
I mean, who doesn't want to choose a company that cares about their customers?
Or a company that's the best? Or a company that provides exceptional quality.
No one.
And that's the point.
Those 'differentiators' don't force a decision.
They are simply basic expectations for giving you money.
A true differentiator gives your ideal customers a choice between what you offer and what your competitors offer.
Let's look at an example.
The Tesla EV
Let's set aside your thoughts on Elon for a moment and examine what Tesla did to stand out β because it's absolutely brilliant.
Most car manufacturers came into the EV market with the same offer.
An electric sedan β most of them ugly as sh*t.
- Toyota's Prius, which garnered so much criticism for its design that most people didn't want to buy one.
- Chevy's Volt that looked like a Prius knock-off.
- Nissan's Electric Leaf, which resembled a deformed VW Beetle.
Those first-generation EV cars were ugly, slow, and small.
To stand out in that market, you had to do something different.
That's exactly what Tesla did.
Instead of entering the market with another sedan, they took a bold approach.
Creating an EV sports car.
Their goal (and, by the way, their differentiator) was to make electric cars look sexy and drive fast.
They didn't introduce an affordable, mass-market EV car until they became an industry leader.
Even then, their mass-market EVs were still sexier and faster and anything you could find on the market.
Tesla's Decision
Tesla forced a decision.
They gave environmentally concious consumers a choice when it came to EV cars.
You could either go with the boring, ugly, and slow sedans that every other manufacturer was selling...
(gross)
Or you could get a sexy, fast, and cool EV.
One that made you look and feel like a badass.
They didn't differentiate on personality or quality or caring about their clients β beause those are all basic requirements for getting people's money.
Instead, they differentiated on something that gave people a choice.
And it worked for decades.
That is, until Elon entered politics and part of the country started hating him.
Which is a case against relying on a personal brand to build your business. But that's a topic for another email.
Force a Decision
Want your differentiator to work?
Force a decision.
Choose a differentiator that gives your ideal customers a viable option between YOUR offer and what everyone else in the industry offers.
You'll stand out much more β and make a hell of a lot more money.
If you're into that sort of thing.
#SassyJason out.
βπΌ