A leader of a company who was considering using my services asked me, "So tell me how you are different?"
I can't stand that question.
Don't get me wrong, I understand it. It's been beaten into every business person's head that they need to be unique...they need to differentiate.
It's simply not true.
Here's what I want from service providers:
- Do what you say you are going to do, and be on time about it. (This is first because it's so important. If only the service providers I've worked with in my life were better at keeping their commitments...)
- Help me buy the most helpful and impactful services from you.
- Help me translate your services into success for my business.
- Be a good fit for the specific needs that I have. If you're not the best fit, help me find a provider that is. Don't shoehorn your service into something that, in the end, won't meet my needs as well as something else.
- Deliver great service as well as great services.
- Stay on top of the developments and trends in your industry and in mine.
- Understand my business and my clients so you can come up with ideas relevant to me.
- Run an efficient operation and constantly improve so I don't pay for your inefficiency.
- Help me understand what's new in your area of expertise so I can apply that knowledge in my business.
- Be pleasant and fair, and work with me through communication or other breakdowns on your end or mine.
Firms that deliver consistently on the bullets above...they're remarkable...they're valuable. I'll buy from them, and I'm constantly looking for them.
Not only do I not care if they're unique or different, I often don't want them to be unique or different, whatever the laws of branding say.
When it comes to your marketing and communications strategy, you shouldn't try to position yourself as different. I have written about differentiation frequently myself, and I've read great articles on the topic such as My Twin Brother And I Are Different: The Myths Of Differentiation Of Professional Services Firms by Bruce Marcus on RainToday.com.
Just because something is different doesn't mean it's good or valuable. I like milkshakes, and I like a really good chocolate one, but I don't think I'd want a meatshake even though, to my knowledge, it's unique. (Listen to the sample of song #3.)
Don't ask me why I'm different. Ask me how I can help.
The answer is more valuable.
I agree strongly with this; the received wisdom of branding is heavily derived from consumer marketing. It doesn't always translate directly for professional services.
Your Laws of Branding piece hits hard on some of the discrepancies between theory and reality. It seems to me there is some logic behind those observations.
In industries like ready to eat cereal, or even automobiles, branding can influence the entire chain of the buying process--from Awareness to Interest to Desire to Action, to use one common model. So, a Tony the Tiger, or a visual look combined with a Led Zeppelin song can literally drive purchase behavior.
It's not nearly so much that way in accounting or law. Branding plays a role in recognition; but much less so in selection. When it comes to the selection process, clients tend to be affected by personal interactions (or by the lingering effects of past personal interactions). Strongly.
Which means that even strategic positioning for a professional services firm is profoundly influenced by personal interactions; the accumulation of interactions, one professional and one client at a time. That's not nearly so true for Ford or GM, much less for Rice Krispies.
Another difference-driver is that consumer branding is aimed almost entirely at the buyer. In professional services, a great deal of branding impact is on recruiting and on employees, and only secondarily on clients.
Good stuff.