by Dr. D Ivan Young, ICF Master Certified Coach
Whether you’ve been in business for a few years or you’re just starting out, your main priority is adding value to your clients’ lives. The main question you need to answer is what makes your business unique? There are plenty of others who are also trying to do business with your ideal clients. To reach your ideal client, you have to find your unique selling point (USP) and make it clear in your messaging. They must have a solid reason to choose you over the competition.
First, you have to know who your ideal client is and what problems you can solve for them. Once you know your client’s needs and challenges inside and out, the next challenge is figuring out how to reach them.
You might have a clear idea of what makes your business unique. But your ideal clients won’t know unless you let them know. It’s also not enough to simply tell them you’re the best.
You have to show them.
I built a successful coaching brand by paying attention to what my clients wanted and needed while considering their unique challenges and limitations. Now, I help other entrepreneurs and licensed professionals position themselves for success in their personal and professional lives.
How to Find What Makes Your Business Unique
It took me a while to realize that my understanding of human behavior, emotions, relational challenges, and psychopathology, as well as my experiences creating a flourishing brand, primed me for my coaching niche. Even with that level of awareness, I had to figure out who I was before I could figure out who I was helping and how to help them.
Once I knew myself, reaching my ideal clients was much easier.
Now, I’m sharing this advice with you to help you pinpoint what makes your business unique and why your ideal client should care.
1. Ask yourself the right questions.
The average entrepreneur between thirty and forty-five years old winds up in one of two places.
- What you tried worked, and now you’re successful.
- Your strategies didn’t work, so you’re frustrated as hell and struggling.
If you’re in either of these places, you must ask yourself: “Where do I go from here?”
Do you need to attain, authenticate, or elevate your skills and credentials?
Do you need to disconnect from dysfunctional relationships?
Is it time to reconstruct your vision?
When I looked at my practice, I knew I could package my life experiences into a service. Other entrepreneurs were experiencing similar problems. I knew that if I could help people answer questions they didn’t know to ask, I could make a meaningful difference. So, I had to figure out how to communicate my unique experiences and abilities to make a difference to my potential client.
2. Introspection.
Becoming more self-aware will help you determine your strengths and areas of improvement. Your customers need you at your best.
Figuring out what you need to delegate is an important part of this process. If you’re not particularly skilled in a certain area, your clients will suffer. Seeking help from a well-qualified, credentialed coach and mentor will help you take your business to the next level. By seeking the right counsel, you can effectively focus on your approach toward better serving your clients and pinpoint what makes your business unique.
In the introspection process, consider what has transpired in your life that’s made you who you are today. When I applied this to myself, I was able to figure out what helped me make it this far. I then knew what my clients would need to be successful.
3. Internal and external alignment.
If your marketing strategy and business practices don’t align with your core values and goals, something needs to change.
You have to make an effort to live and work in alignment. Otherwise, all you’ll get is a lack of fulfillment and unsustainable success. And that’s if you’re successful at all.
Write down what’s important to you in your personal and professional life. Don’t stray from your values for a quick buck. Taking shortcuts isn’t worth going against what you value and taking away from what makes your business unique.
Focus on the Value for Your Client
It’s no surprise that companies and entrepreneurs who put their customers’ wants and needs first are far more likely to succeed. Even graduate students believe that morality and altruism are essential qualities for entrepreneurial success¹. Yet there are many products and services created to help people that end up failing.
There are two different types of entrepreneurship that we should identify.
- Social entrepreneurship: driven by compassion, altruism, and the desire to create positive social change.
- Commercial entrepreneurship: Focused on creating profit and increasing private gain.
Of course, most of us would prefer to identify as a social entrepreneur. But it’s not black and white. You can want success for yourself and still want to help others². This is where most of us land.
But your success with being successful and helping others depends on how you approach it.
Your focus should be on creating results for your clients instead of on how much money you want to make. The money will come if you provide them with real value.
So how do you provide value for your customers?
- Look at your life objectively, and consider what you would come to yourself or your business for.
- Come up with a strategy that will help you strengthen the skills you need to truly help your customers.
- Study your competitors and your ideal clientele to figure out what makes your business unique.
Finally, bring it all together.
What Makes Your Business Unique? Final Thoughts from an ICF Master Certified Coach and National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach…
When I got serious about my business, I knew I had just as many, if not fewer, years in front of me as I had behind me. I’m not saying I’m going anywhere soon, but cancer taught me how fragile life can be. That was a season of my life where mistakes were no longer a luxury. I became wise enough to understand that sustaining my success was more important than achieving it.
I knew many of my clients were in similar situations, whether they were struggling in their relationships, careers, or with their well-being.
So I reflected on my experiences. I analyzed any step that brought me frustration or led to other internal and external roadblocks. Then, I figured out what it took to get from one step to the next.
But I didn’t stop there.
Client and competitor research is necessary, no matter how well you think you know your ideal client. Find out where your ideal customers talk about their issues and desires. This may be an online platform or an in-person networking event. Talk to real people and you’ll get real answers.
Finally, remember to revisit what makes your business unique and how your business is helping people. Consider client feedback, both positive and negative. Listening to potential, current, and past clients is one of the best ways to figure out what you need to do and say, and how you need to go about it.
If this article was helpful for you on your entrepreneurial journey, sign up for my email list to be notified when I release part three of this three-part series: managing success as an entrepreneur.
Bio – Dr. D Ivan Young is an expert on human behavior and relationships. He’s a Master Credentialed expert on personality type, an ICF credentialed Master Certified Coach, a Certified Professional Diversity Coach, and a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach. Dr. Young is also a member of the prestigious Forbes Coaches Council.