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What you’ll learn in this episode:
So often we are conditioned as entrepreneurs to beat the competition. To be better than your competitors and other products on the market. And this is what most entrepreneurs spend their time doing, going after a piece of the market that requires them to play by the rules set on the playing field in a game they didn’t create.
In today’s episode we discuss how ditching the idea about being “better”, and instead focusing on being different is where it’s at. When you stop playing the game of “better” and instead play the game of different, you put yourself into a whole new arena where you’re the architect of the game, the rules, and how it’s won.
If you want to grab market share in your customer’s mind, set yourself up as business in a category of its own, and stop competing with other businesses for a piece of a dwindling pie, this episode is a must.
We will talk to you about why being different is something you need to embrace, and why it’s crucial to playing big and creating serious success in your business.
Here’s a glance at this episode:
- Why being different is the fastest (and most lucrative) strategy for your business
- How to stand out from the crowd in a way that separates you from your competition (and in essence, creates a world where you have none)
- What you need to do to shape the narrative of the problem you solve and the solution (and ultimately your company and brand)
- How to grab the lion’s share of market share before anyone else is even paying attention
Mentioned in this episode:
Work/Connect with me:
Consults That Convert FREE Training
[0:01] Hello, everyone, and welcome to the It’s Your Offer podcast. This is Jess Miller, and I’m so excited to be here with you to talk about this week’s topic of being different. I’ve been doing a lot of research, as I’ve looked back over the past year, and I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes companies really stand out. And I don’t mean stand out a little, I mean, what really breaks the mold for them, and sets them apart, and makes people notice them and generates, you know, consistent money and not just a little money, a lot of money. And what I’ve discovered, as I’ve been, you know, researching this is this concept of being different.
[0:45] Recently, I’ve been reading a lot of different books on niches, and defining your problem and thinking about, you know, the different markets that you’re in and categories. One of the great articles that I’ve read in great blogs that I’ve read, have been by a company called Category Pirates. And if you haven’t heard of them, I would highly recommend that you check them out, they really talk about what it takes to create a category of your own. And so in this idea about niching down and owning a problem, I’ve been doing a lot of research. And I want to share with you today what I have deduced from this. And what I think is really important for all of you entrepreneurs that are listening to this, that don’t just want to play in the space, you want to really own it, and you want to own it in a powerful, and in a big way. I also believe that when you define what it is that you do differently, you really can create a much bigger impact in the world, and help a lot more people. And I believe as entrepreneurs, that’s our guiding light, that’s what we want to do.
[1:59] So if you want to grab market share in the customers minds, and even in their wallets, then you must find a way to not be better than your competition, but to be different. So many times, we spend an enormous amount of energy and time, just trying to be better than the people next to us. But I believe its uniqueness and ingenuity that takes the gold in today’s marketplace. And contrary to what we often hear out there that, you know, it’s not a comparison to others to be better than them or that playing by others rules in a game defined by someone else that creates massive success in your business. Although we constantly think it’s that because we are always looking at what other people are doing. I believe it’s actually the ability to own a specific problem and to solve it in a unique and different way. It’s setting yourself apart into a category of one. And in this way, you define how people think about the problems that they’re experiencing, or reframe the problem.
[3:04] So they realize that that old problem isn’t even a problem anymore. And then you solve it in a new way. When you do this, you change the entire game. You not only set different rules, but you define a whole new playing field. And when that happens, you get to stand out in people’s minds and become the go to person for that problem and your solution. This is critical when it comes to not just running your business as a whole it’s super important to there as well of course but on a very micro level. It’s super important to creating your offers and not just any offer, your hell yes offer. As we’ve talked about a million times you don’t just want to sell offers right you don’t want to just the run of the mill offer because let’s face it when you look out there that’s what you often see is these run of the mill offers, you want to sell a hell yes offer. And a hell yes offer consists of as we know these three critical elements, your hell yes, energy, what you’re passionate about what feels aligned to you and creates excitement, the problem you solve and your ability to call in your ideal clients with that problem, right pull in your people, and a compelling solution and how you uniquely solve that problem for your customers.
[4:21] When you differentiate yourself from others, not to strive to be better than them, you can easily pull all those pieces into your head yes offer in a way that makes it powerful and compelling and often completely different than anybody else has ever done. So maybe you’re starting to buy into this whole differentiation thing, you know, maybe believing that not just being better, is really the way to be. But you might also be thinking like okay, like what exactly does being different do for you in your business? Like I get it, Jess, I hear you, but what are the results that you can really expect? And when I first started thinking about this con deceptive differentiation. I, I wanted to know this, like I understood it. But I wanted to really see, why is this what I want to be doing.
[5:11] So today, I want to share with you the three biggest reasons that I believe you want to be different and not better than the people around you then other businesses. So the first reason is, when you are different, you stand out, you set yourself apart from the rest of the pack. This is the lone wolf, right, this is the person that’s pulling themselves away from the group mentality, the social norms. And when you do this, you’ll put yourself in a separate category that no longer has you competing with others. But instead, you’re defining a completely different landscape, a completely different category, and a problem of its own. When you define a separate category for yourself, you do this because you become an architect of a different and a new problem, you start looking at the world and what’s possible through a whole different lens. And then you explain this problem in a way that no one else has defined it. So as a result of doing that you create demand around a new needed solution.
[6:09] When people start to buy into this new problem and your new way of talking about it, what they ultimately want is the solution. They want you to be solving that problem. And if you do it right, it’s not just any solution. It’s your solution. And your solution as you define it. We have seen this in the past in with many great companies. One of the most pressing examples of this, I think, is when you look back at the evolution of smartphones at the evolution of the BlackBerry turned iPhone, right way back in the day, I had a Blackberry, I worked in corporate America. And I actually feel like I might have had two of them because I had one for myself, my personal Blackberry, and then one for work. And at that time, people were just trying to make better Blackberries. They were trying to make smaller ones, more sleek ones, ones that did you know other things. And it was really about it dominated like the business market. How do you make, you know, checking your work, man emails easier? How do you make checking your emails when you’re working easier. And so the Blackberry was born, and people were racing against these Blackberries.
[7:15] But then in comes Apple, and they totally redefined this problem. They decided it’s not about your work email. And it’s not about building a better Blackberry. The problem is actually about flexibility, and being mobile and being remote. And not just for people at work, right? For everybody. And so they built the smartphone. And they totally changed the game, right? Now it’s a different problem. It’s a different solution. And we’re not even in the same stratosphere anymore. And I don’t know one person that still owns a Blackberry. Okay. So this is an example, that really setting yourself apart and really owning that problem in a different way redefining the problem, setting yourself apart, in being different is really where it’s at.
[8:06] So I want you to think about where in your industry or in your everyday life, is there a problem that you’re experiencing? That is untapped? Where are you seeing something as a problem that no one else is really talking about? Or is brave enough to go out and define and solve. This is what you want to look for. Because if you’re just trying to be the better widget, the better shoe the better pizza, the better whatever you are in a comparison game, and scrambling for what is a much smaller piece of the pie, then breaking out and forming your own pie. For entrepreneurs, this is often scary and difficult because we are conditioned to look at what other people are doing, and compare ourselves to other people. And when we often look externally for the solution instead of looking inward, or in our court at what’s happening on a micro level, we are in a game of competition with others. We’re also so afraid of failing. So charting our own course, putting yourself out in the limelight to potentially be wrong is terrifying. But I’m here to tell you that separating yourself from the crowd is where all the glory is, and it is worth it.
[9:06] The second thing is you set the narrative, you define how people talk about this new problem and this new solution. You’re also more importantly, determining how people talk about you, and how they associate you with this new problem or end category. This is the epitome of owning a problem. You all hear me talk about dear sweet Don Miller story brand and the business made simple team. You want to own a problem. And in people’s minds, the problem is the only thing they care about. They don’t care about anything else until they believe that you understand their problem. And more importantly, that you can help solve it. So when people can see how you solve problems, and you have the words that you have given them to explain it, and then everything pertaining to that problem and that solution points to you. You are on the golden road to victory.
[9:58] It’s at this point that momentum takes over and you can just run with it. This has also been the basis for creating incredible offers and positioning your business in a way that put you leagues ahead of others. It’s often a place that your competition doesn’t catch on to right away, either, because they’re so busy looking at what everyone else is doing, and trying to be better than them. But they don’t see how you’re redefining the very playing field that they are standing on. So at best, they become the “me toos” or they start repeating a slightly different version of what you’re already saying. But it doesn’t work quite as well because you’ve already said it. And people are already thinking of you as a result of it. So I want you to think about what words are you giving your customers, the marketplace, or whomever is listening to you about your brand and your business? are you defining how you want people to think about the problem you solve? Are you telling them how to talk about how you solve it? Are you going out there and owning your narrative and opinion about what you’re passionate about? This requires bravery to be the first one to say what needs to be said. Or to do it against the grain and Stanford perspective. No one else is standing for, and, frankly, that most people would need to discredit in order to stay in their better game.
[11:24] So I want you to really think about this. Where are you being brave and going out there and saying what no one has said. And number three, and last but not least, you grab the most market share differentiators and leaders within a space always grab the lion’s share of the market. The reason for this is that when they break ground, and dare to be different, no one else is looking at the landscape, the way that they are, no one else is competing against them, because they’re so busy competing against other people in a quote unquote, better world. These leaders, these differentiators, are often out there blazing the trail, and gobbling up this market share, because they’re in a category of one.
[12:12] So I want you to think about if we’re thinking about bravery, if you’re thinking about something that needs to be said that you aren’t saying the people that enter those spaces first, are the ones that grab the most market share. They’re the ones that redefine that market, they’re the ones that are able to position, the problem and the solution in their favor. And they’re the ones that are going out there and actually being brave enough to own it and capture it. And that really leaves the rest of the people fighting for the remaining market share once they catch on. And once they realize that the game has changed. Now they gotta get in the game. They’re often talking about it the way that you’re already talking about. And they’re trying to gain what’s left of the piece that you don’t have. Because so many people have already associated you with the problem, the solution, and this general category that you have put yourself in.
[13:09] So in summary, we don’t want to be different, we want to be different, we do not want to be better. And if you are somebody who wants to grab market share in the customers mind and their wallets, you need to find a way to not be better than your competition, but to be different. Differentiation is where it is at. Why is this the case?
[13:32] Number one, when you’re different, you stand out and you set yourself apart from everybody else, you’re not even in the same playing field anymore.
[13:41] Number two, you set the narrative you tell people how to think about the problem, how to think about the problem they have, and how to solve it and not just any solution, your solution. This is the epitome of owning a problem. And the problem is always the hook in your client’s mind. So you need to make sure that you are setting yourself apart and owning that problem.
[14:02] And number three, you grab the most market share people who are first to market people that are differentiators will always grab the lion’s share of the market share of the market. And then what is left is what people fight over in the better than game. But you will be lightyears ahead because you’ve already been there and done that.
[14:21] So I want you to take the time to go back through each one of these things and look at your business. The people that listen to this podcast, they’re not about being better. They’re not about being the same. They are about being unique and different. You’re not here by accident. You have something uniquely you that you’re bringing to the space. The key is you want to go out there and claim it be different, not better. It is the answer to all of the things in your business that you want, both for you and all the people you are trying to serve. You got this! Let’
