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The Power To Be Different By Tom Reilly, author Value Added Selling (McGraw-Hill, 2003) As humans, we spend much of our lives trying to fit in. From our earliest social interactions, we want to be a part of something bigger than us. We want to: make the right friends, wear the right clothes, go to the right schools, drive the right car, listen to the right music, hang out at the right places, get the right job, marry the right person, buy the right home, and join the right clubs. Whew! How could so much right feel so wrong? In the process of fitting in, we lose sight of the fact that we have a God-given right to be different, a genetic mandate to stand out. Your DNA has a ten-billion-billion-to-one chance that any other person will have your exact genetic code. If you leave your fingerprints on a glass, we know you were there. Your iris is so unique that it can be used to clear you through airport security. You are the only thing like you for all of time, a one-shot deal, a bona fide individual. So, why do salespeople have such difficulty standing out from the competition? Why do salespeople struggle with the question: “Why should I buy from your company versus the competition?” My guess is that they spend too little time thinking about the stand-out difference that makes them outstanding. The Unique Selling Proposition has been around since the 1940’s. It is the one thing that makes your offering different from anyone else—the stand-out difference. It is a concise statement of your definable and defendable differences. Eighty-two percent of salespeople fail to differentiate themselves from the competition. Could it be that the customer’s price objection is another way of saying: “The reason I won’t pay more to buy from you is that I don’t see a dimes worth of difference between you and the rest of the pack.” So, be proud of your differences. Celebrate what makes you and your company unique. And the next time your customer asks you, “Aren’t you and the competition really in the same business?” answer them by saying, “We’re in the same industry, but we’re not in the same business and here’s why . . .” Visit us online: www.TomReillyTraining.com Back to the Sales Bytes Article List
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