Differentiate to De-Risk Workshop

Next workshop is on February 19 (1 - 5pm CT)

Register for the workshop

Mind the Gap

Have you ever met someone you are connected with online for the first time, only to realize that they are completely different than how they portray themselves via social media?

And I am not just talking about thier appearance - I think we've all met that 55 year old executive who still uses their professional photo from when they were 45. I am talking about the person who portrays themselves empathetic and altruistic, but in conversation you realize that they are really very selfish.

A peception gap develops and you quickly become skeptical of that person.

The same thing happens with companies when they screw up positioning.

What is Positioning?

If you ask 10 experts for their definition of positioning, you will likely get 11 answers, but I'll give you mine.

Positining is how your ideal clients see your brand, in the market you serve, in relation to other competing services. It is also the work that you do to get your ideal clients to perceive you in a particular way. So while we can't control perception directly, we can definitely influence it. So it is both the path, and the destination.

Unfortunately, traditional positioning strategy misses the mark. Your positioining needs to de-risk the buying decision for your ideal clients, and you do that by addressing the 3 layers of differentiation:

• Intelectual property: frameworks, methodologies, concepts
• Functional: people and process
• Go-to-market: sales and marketing

The problem happens when 1 or more of the layers of differentiation are missing or incongruent with the others because they all work together:

The Perception Gap

The perception gap is created in a variety of ways, depending on which levels of differentiation are present.

Functional Only

If you have only differentiated based on your people and process, you will have no affinity, no industry relevant context, and high cost of customer acquisition.

This happens because nobody cares about your functional differentiators - how experienced your people are, or your proven deliver process - without the appropriate context of how well you understand their problem. Which is where the IP comes in.

IP Only

If you have only differentiated based on your intellectual property, you will have no awareness, no proof that your IP works, high churn rates, and long sales cycles.

This happens because without the right people and processes to deliver on the potential value of your IP, your delivery and account management will be lacking and inconsistent. And without appropriate go-to-marketing differentiation, you won't be getting you IP in front of enough prospective clients.

GTM Only

If you have only differentiated based on how you go-to-market, you will have no context for the message your are going to market with, no proof that the value you are promoting actually works, which will lead to high customer acquisition cost, low margin, and high churn.

This is probably the worst offender, and is what happens when positioning is treated as a marketing exercise. It creates a veneer, instead of a solid foundation for the business.

Functional + IP Only

If you combine Functional and IP, you will be in fairly good shape, but you will still find awareness hard to come by, leading to long sales cycles.

IP + GTM Only

If you combine IP and GTM, you will be slightly better off than GTM only, but there will still be a mismatch between the value you say you can deliver, and what you actually deliver. This leads to high churn and a tainted reputation.

Functional + GTM Only

If you combine functional and GTM, you will feel like you are doing all the right things, but struggling to grow.

This is the most common scenario. A firm has solid operations, and account management, overall delivers good work, and they are seemingly doing all the right marketing and sales activity, but it just isn't moving the needle. This happens because there is a missing link in the chain. There is no context for the functional differentiators to matter, and there is nothing of substance to drive awareness to, to build affinity.

Perception Gaps = More Risk for the Buyer

There are two types of perceived risk that your firm needs to address, and only one of them you can fully control.

1. Marketplace risk: The trends happening in the market that make buying decisions risky. This is all generally based on how much choice there is, and how quickly things are changing. The more choice, and the faster the pace of change, the higher the risk of making the wrong decision.

2. Positioning risk: How clearly and positively your ideal clients perceive you compared to the competing options in the market. Anything that you do, to make your value more ambiguous and your perception less trustworthy, will dramatically increase the relative risk of chosing you over your competitors or over the status quo.

You can only fully control positioning risk, but you need to understand and address marketplace risk.

Also note that the more marketplace risk exists, the more imporant it becomes to really nail your positioning.

If you are looking to lower client acquisition costs, decrease sales cycle length, attract more best-fit clients, improve profitability, and turn your firm into a sellable asset for when you are ready to exit, then the Differentiate to De-Risk Workshop is for you. Next one is on February 19.

Register for the workshop

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