The Right and Wrong Ways to Differentiate Yourself From Your Competition

By: Stephanie Tuesday January 4, 2022 comments Tags: Marketing, Copywriting, Lead attraction, Mindset, Client attraction, Email marketing, Content marketing, Enrollment, Public relations, Lead nurture, Sales

Happy New Year! I hope you're having an amazing start to 2022.

As you create, flesh out, or implement your plans for the coming year, one important thing to consider is how you're going to handle situations where your clients are shopping around, or where they've been burned before and they aren't sure how they can tell that you're the real deal.

Some people try to steer potential clients away from other coaches in their field by harping on their competitors' bad points, or by trying to claim that they're the only ones getting real results in their field. In this blog post, I'm going to explain why I DON'T recommend those strategies, and what you can do instead to make yourself look MUCH better to your potential clients.

Why trash-talking your competitors can backfire on you:

If I'm thinking of buying from you, I don't want to hear what you think of your competitors. I want to know why YOUR product or service is the best fit for my needs.

If your main selling point is that your competitors are worse, that doesn't tell me your product or service is good "“ it just tells me you know how to trash-talk people when you're financially motivated to make them look bad.

And when people claim that they're the only ones offering great service in their field, that tells me they either don't have a clue how many other offers like theirs I've seen (usually a lot)... or they're deliberately lying. Either way, my bullshit alarm screams like a Star Trek klaxon, and it hurts the speaker's credibility far more than it hurts their competitors'.

Here's a better way to show your clients why they should choose YOU:

One way to help your clients see why you're the best option for them is to empower them to make that judgment for themselves.

Tell your ideal clients what criteria to look for, so they can tell which coaches are a good fit for them and which ones aren't. Then tell them how your company meets those criteria, and that if they want to work with someone else, they should at least find someone who meets those same criteria to the same degree.

Also, be sure to tell them what criteria THEY should meet, to see if they're your ideal client!

This shows your expertise, your respect for the client's right to choose, and your desire to help them get the best result, while also showing "“ in a helpful, non-pushy, positive manner "“ why your offer is a better fit for your ideal clients than others who don't have the qualities you described. It also shows that getting the best outcome for the client is more important to you than simply making as many sales as possible, regardless of whether or not it's a fit.

Will the client then use those criteria to find another coach? Maybe! but if they already feel a connection with you, and they already know that you can help them get them the desired result, why bother?

If they STILL want to shop around at that point, they were probably going to either way! but at least now they know why, after exploring their other options, they should probably come back to you.

And if your coaching ISN'T a fit for that particular client, it's better that both you and the client figure that out now, so they can move on to a coach who's better suited to them, and you can focus your precious time and energy on clients who need exactly what you're offering.

While we're talking about plans for the New Year...

Are you planning to turn your expertise into a group coaching program, so you can transform more lives at a time, make more money, and provide an option for people who need what you're teaching but aren't ready to work with you one-on-one yet? If so, check out my ebook, 1 Month Program Builder, to get an easy-to-follow walkthrough of the whole process!
  

About the Author: Stephanie

Stephanie is a writer and coaching program design specialist. She helps coaches to create and sell life-changing coaching programs, so they can help more people, make more money, and have more time freedom.