Sales and Marketing: What Is Your Start Up Company’s Special Ingredient That Will Drive Sales and Marketing?
“What Is Your Start Up Company’s Special Ingredient?”
This is one of the key questions I ask my consulting clients who are starting a new business. What would your answer be to this question? Exactly why WILL prospective customers buy from you instead of continuing to do whatever it is they are currently doing?
Amazingly, most entrepreneurs have not even considered this issue – they rarely even have an answer after they’ve thought about it for a while. Marginal “me too” improvements over existing solutions will rarely drive sales for a start up company. This is true even in areas of interest and focus for your prospects. Even great innovative improvements in areas that are not of interest and focus to your prospects will also rarely drive sales.
I call this your YSI: Your Special Ingredient. Sometimes this is called your USP – Your Unique Selling Proposition – a concept and theory that goes back to the 1940s. Others refer to it with a variety of terms, like KSP – Key Selling Point. No matter what the acronym, it is still the same basic question: Why you and your company?
People, and companies, hate change. Inertia is a very powerful force in the Universe and you are going to need an equally powerful reason to effect change. Often, inertia will be your most powerful competitor – one that is almost never mentioned in business plans done by entrepreneurs. Yes, the name on the box your prospect is using may be one of the names on your competitive analysis – but the real sales challenge is even getting folks to honestly consider something different.
Even when a prospect decides they have to, or want to, do something different for whatever reason – then you have to convince them your products and services are a better alternative than your competition.
So, how do you convince them? How do you show them that you have a “special ingredient” that will be important to them (the fact your special ingredient is important to you is irrelevant.) What are you going to do to keep your products and services from being a “me too” commodity?
An Example – My Own Company’s Special Ingredient
Let’s use my company as an example. I’ve been offering management consulting services to start up and emerging companies for the past 14 years. During that time, I’ve made a lot of pitches to prospects – and these are some of their candid responses to some of my own special ingredients. (Remember, the ingredients THEY find important are the ones that ARE important.)
- “I offer management consulting services to start up and emerging companies.” Typical prospect response: “So? Management consultants are a dime a dozen. Every out-of-work executive calls themselves a management consultant until they can find their next job.”
- “I have an MBA.” Typical prospect response: “So? MBA degrees are a quarter a dozen. A degree without applicable experience is worthless to me. Number crunchers won’t understand my business because it’s different and real life business is not like the stuff you learn in school.”
- “I started four dozen of my own companies.” Now, we’ve identified a major separator from the crowds. This is rare, major real life, APPLICABLE experience and a special ingredient that my prospective customers can relate to. Typical prospect response: “OK, that’s good – you can relate to some of my issues…and we belong to the same “club.” You can probably help a lot – but I’m sure my company is a lot different than any of your own four dozen companies – so I am still not sure you will be a help with a lot of MY problems and opportunities.”
- “I successfully raised $25 million from angel investors and venture capital for my own companies.” It’s amazing how money can really get attention as a special ingredient and give you credibility – especially if the prospect intends on raising investor capital for their own company. Typical prospect response: “How fast can you raise $25 million for MY company?” Most are half-joking when they say it. The others are fully serious. (Hint: It’s never that easy.)
- “I’ve already worked one-on-one with over 2,000 other CEOs and entrepreneurs – helping them effectively and efficiently deal with the same kinds of problems and opportunities you and your own company face right now.” Bingo. Typical prospect response: “Wow, you probably CAN help me since you’ve already been there, done that and probably consulted with the company that made the tee shirt!” (This is an actual quote from one of my prospects-turned-client. Thanks, Ron!) Most prospects see this experience as meaningful and indicative that I can quickly “get it” and understand their unique problems and opportunities – and that I have the experience and expertise to help them short-cut the path to success – they most often see this experience can be valuable to them – and they almost always recognize that it’s experience that my competition never has!
Even though the last point is the real attention getter, all five points are special ingredients that separate me out from various competitors. What I want to do, and what I recommend you do, is figure out a way to combine all of them into a super special ingredient – especially if you can give the combo a simple name that your prospect can relate to.
Compound Knowledge ™
In my case, I sum up all of the above selling points into one term: “Compound Knowledge.” Compound Knowledge is the aggregate experience and expertise, from all five of the above selling benefits, that gives me a special, rare ingredient over my competitors – one that can massively help me help my clients improve the odds of success for them and their own start up and emerging company.
You can read how I pitch my prospects below. As you read it, see if it convinces you why my company is different than all or most of the others out there. Also, see how you can use my approach as a guide for your own company’s pitch – explaining YOUR special ingredient.
The Pitch
Summary:
Cut your risks and greatly improve your odds for success for your company by benefiting from my unique Compound Knowledge. My Compound Knowledge was earned from the unique compounding of Engineering Physics and MBA degrees, starting four dozen of my own companies, raising $25 million from investors and unmatched experience from working one-on-one with over TWO THOUSAND CEOs and entrepreneurs – helping them effectively and efficiently deal with the same kinds of problems and opportunities you and your own company face right now.
Full Pitch:
Having worked with 2,000 clients is a key reason you might consider my services for your own venture – it’s the special ingredient and major differentiator that gives me tremendous insights that could greatly benefit your company.
In addition to all that I learned from earning my degree in Engineering Physics, my MBA and my post graduate work in Computer Science, I learned volumes more about people and business from starting and operating four dozen of my own companies.
I’ve also accumulated even more volumes of immense additional experiences, insights, epiphanies and expertise from 14 years of working closely with 2,000 diverse client companies and entrepreneurs in almost every conceivable industry – learning each company’s detailed, inside moving parts and helping each of them slay their own multitude of dragons.
That’s TWO THOUSAND companies.
And it’s not just superficial stuff like selling them a copy machine and then walking away. Instead, it’s working directly one-on-one with 2,000 individual CEOs and entrepreneurs – understanding each of their visions – seeing the inside workings of their companies – crystallizing what may be only a fuzzy business model – developing action-item tactics that fit their strategies – helping them fix what may be broken – redesigning what may not fit – all of it with the goal of accelerating the successful implementation of each of their goals.
One thing I’ve learned is that every company is unique.
Another thing that I’ve learned – most have the same issues and dragons that you may face: cash flow, sales, marketing, personnel issues, raising capital, juggling priorities, managing growth, missing puzzle pieces – and too little time to get it all done.
When you work with 2,000 very bright, visionary CEOs, entrepreneurs and founders, you can’t help but learn an immense amount about business from each of them – if you pay attention.
Consulting with each of these TWO THOUSAND companies and their CEOs has worked like compound interest – helping me build on my own knowledge base, my own expertise, so that my services have become even more valuable to each of my new clients.
“The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest” – Albert Einstein
This compound interest that I’ve earned from “The Two Thousand” really IS the special and essential ingredient in my services. An ingredient that you simply cannot get in school earning an MBA. An ingredient that you cannot get from just working for a few employers or with a few consulting clients.
How powerful is the compounding effect of 2,000? Well, if you take a penny and compound it at only 1% two thousand times, your penny becomes almost $4.4 million ($4,393,862 to be precise.) That’s 440 million times what you started with! Now, THAT is a rip roaring ROI!
(Note: The compounding of 1 penny at 1% only gets you to $210 after 1,000 times – so going all the way to 2,000 makes a major impact. The same is true for consultants!)
What if I only learned that same 1% more – from each of those two thousand client companies and high-creative entrepreneurs? Think about how many more volumes of experience, knowledge and wisdom that I’ve gained about start up and emerging companies than I knew before!
Can you see how that Compound Knowledge, that aggregate experience and expertise, gives me a special, rare ingredient over my competitors – one that can massively help me help you improve the odds of success for you and your own start up and emerging company?
The good news is that all of this aggregate experience and expertise – including all of the Compound Knowledge that I’ve gained over the past three decades – is now available to you and your company – on a very cost-effective basis.
Robert Goodman, MBA
www.Virtual-Exec.com
PS: I hope this example will help you identify and successfully convey your own unique special ingredient to your prospects.
