How do you position yourself in an industry with a rotten reputation?
Say you are a really honest used car dealer, a truly compassionate personal injury lawyer, or a lobbyist fighting for a real noble cause…how do you create an image for yourself that is believable and disconnected from the bad connotations that characterize your industry?
Can you overcome the perceptions?
And how do people make buying decisions when they need a product or service from an industry that is tainted like that? Sure, they can ask for recommendations…but in a lot of cases you do not need that product or service too often, and many of your friends may have never needed it either.
It’s a tough one…and one that many small businesses are facing.
Thoughts? Good case studies? Let me know…
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November 11th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Hey, do you know anything about social media for restaurants, preferably at the luxury end. My question is this- how do we position a restaurant which has a reputation for being expensive (but isn’t really). What are the considerations>
November 11th, 2008 at 8:52 am
I’ll go out on a limb here and say - make friends with the women’s market. Attend women’s groups, treat them like the powerhouses they are, be authentic and ask their advice.
Women will embrace you if you’re sincere, honest, and willing to listen. Then, they will give you the best WOM marketing you’ll ever get.
This means joining us in conversation online and offline, and putting yourself out there - where we have the advantage and you don’t. Mind you, I’m not advocating that anyone patronize women - I’m saying “open your eyes and recognize that women can be your most valuable advocates, if you aren’t afraid of being sociable, friendly, and informative and if you’re willing to accept constructive criticism - even when it sounds like you’re being lectured.”
November 11th, 2008 at 11:37 am
My answer to this is really straight forward.
If you want to single your brand out as being truly unique in an industry with a rotten reputation, then you have to go out of your way not only to do things the “right way” but to do everything in a way that sets you apart and gets you noticed.
For example, maybe it’s standard practice to provide parking vouchers for clients to cover the cost of parking in the garage during meetings. Instead, maybe you could step it up a notch and have someone meet them out on the street to personally valet their car and pick them up when the meeting is over. It doesn’t have to be this dramatic, but you get the point. Things like this signal - We’re different.
December 19th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I love this topic!!
I have worked in dentistry, insurance, & recently residential construction “the contractor”.
It seems my life could possibly be a series of hard sales calls.
You will not be able to overcome perceptions until you yourself have the correct perception of what it is you are selling.
I used to sell contracting services until I realized people don’t really want to pay for a carpenter to come to replace their door.
They will pay for a new door though.
If I tell them, “I can do it, I have blah blah experience, I’ve done it before etc” then I’m asking them to correlate my goodness to the goodness of the finished job. “I’m good, it will be good.” This seems to be what my competitors still do. I learned fast that I just need to show them a picture of a door just like theirs that I’ve installed & say “this can be your new door for $_____”
I learned this by doing installs for Lowe’s, who is “Improving Home Improvement”. The reason they sell so many doors is that the selling conversation happens right there next to the product. They can in most cases feel & touch the door & imagine it on their home. They even have an install price right there on the shelf.
Then in comes the contractor who will need to make everything happen. They really do not care who the installer is, it is a guy with a blue polo shirt. All my experience is nothing in comparison to the large corporate name. The big name shows the product & then jumps the puddle of price & installation on the back of the installer. Guess how many doors I installed before working for Lowe’s. I was a gen liability policy with a face that only got paid if the customer was happy.
The average consumer just wants their product or service, not the person selling it.
You think there are those that want to really know who it is they are buying from? The long term relationship btw contractor & home owner etc? I do not agree.
If I can not guarantee the end result then I do not offer the product.
Sometimes the request will be “to try”
I will need to clearly define if the customer wants me “to try” or “work at” something. These are not products & end up in dissatisfaction 90% of the time.
In industries where both the consumer & the sales person do not have a clear understanding of what the product is, there breeds dis-reputation.
The best thing I did for my small contracting company is to remove myself from un-defined services.
So who will be the “carpenter” that replaces the window with a door, if all you are offered is a door only installer a window only installer & a skylight only installer?
No me. Sure I can do it, but that is not the question. The question is have I done it enough for it to be a product?
What if they beg me to do it? They say “you do good work & are reasonable, we trust you will do a good job”
Well… it looks like only selling that which you can guarantee has paid off…
Now I have an opportunity to let up my guard & allow this customers unspecified expectation to potentially tarnish my own business’s need to be above reproach. It better be worth it.
Proving that you did what was asked with the written description in the contract does not matter.
I’m not a columnist, please take what you may from this short reeply turned long.
sales@glendalecorp.com