How Are You Different?

I’m constantly amazed at the “sameness” of the majority of the prospecting I see. We inundate our prospects and customers with emails, social media outreaches, and phone calls that are virtually indistinguishable from those sent by everyone else. We blanket our prospects with one outreach after another. In most, we are pitching our products or…

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3 Examples of Niche Marketing vs Differentiation

The riches are in the niches. That’s a truism I often cover in great depth when I’m doing a keynote presentation for an industry group or business conference. I also discuss the importance of differentiation. Niche marketing and differentiation are closely related, but not the same, and to mistake one for the other can be…

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Are You a Commodity or Are You Different?

One of the first questions we ask a new client is “how are you different?” We usually hear things like: Our people are better Our products/services are better But rarely do we hear, “we do what we do differently than others do it.” The harsh truth is, your people probably aren’t better. They may be…

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8 Key Ingredients to a Profitable Consulting Business

Most of the guidance you see for entrepreneurs is aimed at those who are selling a product (Apple, Tesla, Xiaomi), or selling a service (Uber, Airbnb, Snapchat). Yet, according to statistics from the Small Business Association (SBA), over half of new businesses offer something else—personal professional services, including consulting, business coaching, and advisory services. The challenges for…

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Are You Really Different?

We know the importance of differentiating ourselves in attempting to win business. We try to do this at our web sites, often posting comparisons and charts showing how we have more features and functions than the alternatives. Too often, we think differentiation is about checking more feature boxes, having a richer product, than the competition.…

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How to Battle the Dragon AND Avoid the Encounter

Sometimes a competitor is just too entrenched, too strong, too well equipped to directly face in battle. At least that is the conventional wisdom. Yet, there are constant examples of new entrants into a niche that grow, prosper and sometimes even become dominant. So when do we know which course to take? Quietly abandon a…

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When Did Profit Become a Bad Word for Entrepreneurs?

As a startup advisor and investor, I find that more and more entrepreneurs avoid using the term “profit” in pitching their new venture. They seem to feel it conveys a message of personal enrichment at the expense of others. My view is that the purpose of every business is to make a profit, as fuel…

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The Incredible, Undeniable Benefits of a 100% Money-Back Guarantee

Why stand behind all your sales with a zero-risk promise or money-back guarantee? There are a few answers to that question, but the most important one is this: Zero-risk promises and money-back guarantees build trust. Trust is the single most important element required for building a long-term relationship with a customer or client. Trust is also…

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How Far Can You Niche Down and Still Have a Viable Audience?

When I was thinking of starting a new internet marketing agency, I was considering different passions I had. One of those is technology, and more specifically the very latest in technological developments. I decided that the ‘new technology releases’ angle was too big and too competitive to enter. However I did consider one very specific…

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