First published 5 July 2021 on Your Best Year Starts Here with Nigel Risner.
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Nigel wanted to go a bit more business-y this week, so he opened by asking me who my competition is. I said nobody. Plenty of people can do chunks of what I do (Nigel included), but so much of it comes down to who I am. And nobody else can be me.
He'd guessed I'd say that. His view was a lot wider. With things opening up again and some people sitting on a year and a half of unspent money, anyone who could take that money off your customer is competition. For him that might be a flower shop. If a client spends on flowers to make the office prettier, there's less left for a speaker. I pointed out it's only some people with spare cash, and plenty have had a rough time with income over the lockdowns. Nigel said those people will be even fussier about where it goes.
Then came his ice cream van. A couple of weekends before, he'd seen one with a queue about 100 deep. Homemade ice cream, prices through the roof, and a guy handing out samples to people while they waited. Another van nearby was half the price with about three people at it.
My take was about feelings. Businesses exist to solve a problem, and sometimes the problem is just someone wanting a little lift. So a £2.50 ice cream and a £250 pair of shoes can be fighting over the same person. The story in your head is half the flavour. Homemade, and costing two or three times as much, it's going to taste special.
Nigel also said to put yourself on your own mailing list and see what you send. I had to jump in on that one. At a business I used to be part of, emails kept going out with silly typos, and I'd see them on my phone at weekends. I don't do micromanagement, but in the end nothing went out unless I'd read it. People think it's from whoever's name is on the bottom. We finished on testimonials, and I'd only add one thing. Get them in the client's own words, like a Google review or a LinkedIn recommendation, because "Johnny from..." on a website leaves people wondering who actually wrote it.
The bits worth keeping
- Your competition is anyone who could get your customer's money. For a holiday company right now it might be a washing machine.
- Don't settle for being 5% better than the place down the road.
- Put yourself on your own mailing list. If your name's on the bottom, read it before it goes out.
- Get testimonials in the client's own words, somewhere people can see they're real.
Businesses exist to solve a problem, and the businesses that do well and make the money are the ones that make it easy to solve that problem.
Neil Martin
Put yourself on your own emailing list and see the nonsense you send.
Nigel Risner
