Nelson Notes:
Welcome to my notebook, where I share the highlights from my books read and notes taken while in live trainings & on webinars. I feature a lot of the books I’ve read that I recommend as worth your while to read too. Givers gain, so I’m sharing the good stuff, that it may impact and improve your life in some way.
Purple Cow wisdom from Author Seth Godin.
What is the Purple Cow in your business? What is your USP?
I must be something very different, very specific; good customer service is a claim too many can make-why is your customer service the best or different?
"Create remarkable products or services that the right people seek out." -Seth Godin
Seth talks about the reason playing "follow the leader is difficult, is that in our industry, the leader has already taken the remarkable, so by the time you do it, it's no longer remarkable. Be the leader in something remarkable (as seen by your clientele).
Most business owners do not lack ideas, they lack execution on those ideas for fear of looking foolish or failing. Leaders risk looking foolish, the fail-and when they do, they fail forward. You have to get out of your comfort zone to be remarkable.
You have to experiment and risk; you have to change, you can't expect your clientele to change their behavior, you have to attract them with yours! It (your product or service) must be remarkable enough to attract early users and flexible enough to be referable to the masses by those early users.
Be specfic, have a niche: no service caters to all possible clients. For Realtors, it's not just a decisicion between buyers and sellers or this neighborhood or that one. It's what kind of buyers (military, first time, vacation homes, etc.) Or, what kind of sellers (golf course community, beach houses, horse properties, high rises, etc.)
"The everybody product is taken".
Key Point: Targeting niche's is less expensive to service, build products for and advertise to. Today's caonsumer is a master of ignoring media; you have to break through with your Purple Cow; the Purple Cow grabs attention in a 9 second attention span world.
You can't advertise to anyone & everyone. You need to target those that are looking for help and want what you have to offer. You need to know who you are serving. Who's seeking YOU out? How smooth is it for the word to spread about what you do? Who's listening?
Find the group that is most profitable for you to serve, the one you have the best chance of not only serving, but getting referrals from and target them. Don't play by the rules. You can be a shepherd, a sheep or the Purple Cow.
Purple Cows are risky and they don't always work, so you need to risk foolishness & failure and be ready to risk it again with a different Purple Cow. (Now there's a sales pitch).
Get feedback from your best customers (loyal advocates) and or clients. One way to know what your market wants is to ask them!
Rember it's not about asking WHY? It's very much about asking WHY NOT?
I loved this easy read book and Seth also has a great blog with fast tips and current updates on creating your own Purple Cow.
Image courtesy of [Praisaeng] at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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