With an endless variety of outlets and ways to sell product in today’s marketplace, gaining the competitive advantage is vital to optimizing sales. While advertising, promotion and marketing research all play a key role in making your product stand out, three other key factors figure into the equation: Quality, uniqueness of character and consistency.
Quality measures a product’s degree of excellence. It showcases whether you have chosen the best ingredients, how carefully you tended and prepared your product and how you present that product to the consumer. Quality means you care about the ultimate end use of your product or service — that it pleases the customer enough for her to come back and buy again. Quality also reflects the true measure of how you view your business and what your mission is. If you see yourself as always striving for the best in product and performance, then the quality of your product is important to you.
Uniqueness of character is all about the distinctive attribute which makes your product stand out above all competitors. Identify that characteristic and sell it boldly. Tell your customers why your product or service is the best, but show them as well. In other words, what is your story behind the product? What is your level of care and attention to detail? And what makes your product the best in the business? You may not feel selling the same thing as many other competitors do will give you anything to promote, but you need to think back to why you decided to sell this product to customers in the first place. Why did you think your product would stand out at the farmers market or attract people to come to your retail outlet? If you can answer those questions, you will understand the unique character relevant to your business.
Consistency can be confused with “boring” but don’t be deceived. If a product is consistent in taste and quality, your loyal customers will become repeat buyers. You expect top shelf products to perform the same over and over. Brand loyalty is based on the consistency factor — customers will select your product over a similar one because they know what to expect. Consistency also helps sell future or special products. If customers appreciate your regular line-up of products, they will be more willing to try a special reserve or new item you have to offer. Why? It is because they can rely on the care and quality that is representative of what you do every day.
In direct sales and service, you are pitted against strong competition. Many times you are selling against others who are offering the same or similar products. Rising above the competition can be difficult but not impossible. You have three ways to gain the advantage: Produce and sell a quality product or service that reflects your attention to detail, discover the unique characteristics which showcase your business and strive for consistency of quality and service for increased sales.
The above information is presented for educational purposes and should not be substituted for professional legal or business counseling.