I do, I’m a wanker.

I don’t like Vegemite very much, I grew up on Marmite and I get it flown in from the UK.

I order it on eBay and it ships via airmail.

Do you see what I did there?

‘Get it flown in’ sounds fancy, like some rich expat in an old film.

‘Buy it on eBay’ is an ordinary way of delivery.

(Wait for it, the point is about to arrive).

What language do you use to describe what your business does? 

What work you do, who you work for, what experience they’ll get.

When I quiz people in our Strategy Session (that’s my sales call, you know that, right?) what do you want your customers to think or to say about your business?

They usually answer with similar statements along the lines of:

• We do good quality work.
• We communicate well.
• We’re reliable.

Stuff like that.

There’s nothing wrong with saying that, I know. 

You probably say it.

F%#k, I say it, “I’m a good coach”, “My clients get results”, “My clients make more money and feel more confident.”

But they’re not inspiring statements either, are they?

They’re ‘I buy Marmite on eBay’, not ‘I get my luxuries flown into the country.’

So my question to you this week is two-pronged:

1. Why are you good? Why would your customers choose to do business with you, specifically?; and
2. How can you explain that using better language than ‘We do good work’ which doesn’t mean much at all?

I’ll spend the rest of this post on some examples to help you. Your job, of course, is to answer those questions for your business and think about how you can use better language than what we call ‘motherhood statements’ which are those like we discussed – ‘We do great work’, that kind of thing.

They’re correct.

But they don’t mean anything, really, and they don’t help the listener understand anything about you – everyone says that, don’t they?

So for ‘We do good quality work‘, what could we say instead?

• Let’s be a residential builder for a minute:
  • ‘We’re very proud of our carpentry skills and we make sure that all the finishes are perfect. We take special care to make your new home beautiful.’
    
    Do you see how that’s specific and meaningful?
    
• Let’s be a construction electrician who subcontracts to builders in the higher-end residential market:
  • ‘We’re experts in home automation and lighting so we can help you all the way through the build to make sure your customer gets the best possible electrical and controls outcome. Almost a consultant on your team.
    
    We also do our work with care.
    
    The electrical installations will be done properly, no shoddy shortcuts, high quality, and look expensive.
    
    We’re also flexible and able to accommodate the changes that occur in projects. And we sweep up after ourselves…”
    
    Different messages for different audiences, right?
    

 One more?

• Someone who does garden maintenance, yard work and landscape projects for property managers and/or strata managers (and for their landlord clients).
  • ‘We’re reliable and professional. We’ll turn up when we said we would, we can handle key collection and tenants.
    
    We’ll keep your properties tidy and healthy, our pricing is reasonable and our quotes are simple so we’ll make your job easy – you can get a quote, get it authorised by your landlord and then leave it to us and know it’s taken care of.’

So what’s yours?

What do you do?

Who do you do it for?

Why are you good?

Why is that good for them, specifically?

It makes it easier for them to choose you.

It gives them context for your price.

Please do it.
Ask for the ‘Why I’m Good’ Guide.