Tomlinson & Associates ⧫ “Organizational Excellence – A Culture of Discipline” ⧫ www.gary-tomlinson.com Page 6
Your Three Uniques: These are what make you different, what make you stand out and
what you’re competing with. If you line yourself up against 10 of your competitors, you
might all share one of the uniques. Some of you many even share two, but no one else
should have the three you do. Southwest Airlines is a great example of this. It focuses
on low fares, on-time flights and having fun. That’s what drives everything in the
organization’s business model. If you’ve flown on Southwest, you know it doesn’t offer
any frills. As a result, it doesn’t appeal to everyone, but that’s okay. Southwest matters
to its ideal customer and that’s all that counts. (How to choose your three uniques can be
found on page 57.)
Your Guarantee: The second element of marketing strategy is your guarantee. Think
of what Federal Express did with overnight delivery: “When is absolutely, positively has
to be there overnight.” Domino’s did the same with pizza delivery: “Thirty minutes or
it’s free.” A guarantee is your opportunity to pinpoint an industry-wide problem and
solve it. This is typically a service or quality problem. You must determine what your
customers can count on from you. If you guarantee it, that will put their minds at ease
and enable you to close more business. Your guarantee has a secondary benefit. It forces
all the people in your organization to deliver on it. That in turn forces you to look inward
and make sure you’ve got all the right people, processes and systems in place to do so. If
not, you’ll be forced to improve upon it. Your client will never need to make good on
that guarantee if you’re at your absolute best. (How to select your guarantee can be
found on pages 58-59.)
Your Proven Process: There is a proven way you provide your service or product to
your customers. You do it every time and it produces the same result. It’s what got you
where you are. What you need to do is capture that process in a visual format to guide
your sales team. It should be encompassed on one single piece of paper, it must illustrate
your proven process and it must have a name. It should show each step, from the first
client interaction to the ongoing follow-up once your product or service has been
delivered. Instead of giving a sales presentation and inundating them with information,
you’re saying, “Let me show you exactly how we are able to accomplish great results for
our customers. We have a proven process that we follow called The (your company
name) Difference.” (How to create your proven process can be found on pages 60-62.)
Your Target Market: The fourth and final element of marketing strategy is your target
market, or “The List.” Identifying your target market involves identifying your ideal
customer. Who are they? What are they? You need to know their demographic,
geographic and psychographic characteristics. By identifying your target market, you
create a filter. Out of that comes “The List” of perfect prospects for your organization
and sales team to target. (How to make “The List” can be found on pages 63-65.)
What is your 3-Year Picture? With life and business moving as fast as it does in the 21
st
century, there is little value in detailed strategic planning beyond a three-year window. This step
greatly improves the one-year planning process. With the three-year picture clearly in mind, you
can more easily determine what you have to do in the next 12 months to stay on track.