Whether you’re currently a desk jockey, a freelancer that’s just getting started, or a thriving business owner you’ve surely felt the anxiety and pressure that comes with competition. It could be competition from your co-workers for a big promotion, competition from other freelancers to land a lucrative client, or a competition from another business to dominate your market.
It’s no secret, starting a business is hard. It’s damn hard. Whether it’s a side hustle, a freelancing operation, or a startup with dreams of landing massive amounts of capital — there is nothing easy about it. In fact, according to Forbes magazine, 8 out of 10 small businesses fail within the first 18 months in business.
“It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard… is what makes it great.”
— Jimmy Dugan (A League of Their Own)
Let’s get real, no idea is truly original and most likely you are going to try something that’s been done before, is currently being done, or is soon to be done by a lot of people. Before Facebook there was Friendster and MySpace. So regardless of your idea, you will face competition. Lot’s of it.
For example, I work as a personal trainer in San Francisco which is a very crowded marketplace (i.e. lots of competition). A quick Google search returns well over 1-million results and a Yelp! search returns 1,519 listings — yet somehow I’ve been able to not only make it, but stand out. Hmmm.
I may not be operating the next Facebook, but I have a pretty sweet little personal training business here in beautiful San Francisco called Action Jackson Fitness, I was recently named San Francisco Magazine’s Best Personal Trainer For Abs, and I’ll be speaking at this year’s Business Movement event.
How did I do it? Below I’ll outline the 4 simple steps that I took in order to become a local authority, set myself apart from my competition, add more value to my clients, make more money, and dominate my market. I don’t have to compete with other personal trainers any longer. Until someone shows up that’s a lot better than me and targets the same niche market, I’m in a category of one and will continue to dominate my market.
I’ve also got momentum on my side so I’m way ahead of the competition. And I’ll show you how to do the same. Don’t think you don’t have to be in the fitness industry to apply this same technique — it can be applied to any industry. Onward.
Competition Isn’t All Bad
Hey, competition can be a good thing and can be very healthy for you. As Tim Ferriss pointed out in The 4-Hour Workweek, eustress (good type of stress) can be the cure all to procrastination and get you to actually produce and deliver instead of plan and perfect forever like so many of us tend to do.
(This is where you go RG3 and post some cliche quote to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram that says, “No pressure, no diamonds.”)
On the other hand, too much stress can also lead to severe procrastination, unnecessary information gathering, and endlessly planning and perfecting until the opportunity passes us by. Ultimately, the end result can be classified as a failure.
Whether you’re still dreaming, just starting, or already hustling the question we need to ask ourselves is this:
How Do I Set My Product or Service Apart From My Competition?
It’s simple. Let’s go back to Marketing 101 and your unique selling proposition or USP. Do you have one? When was the last time you revised it? Do you even know what a USP is?
The reason most freelancers fail is simple: they don’t differentiate themselves and they get lost in a crowded and competitive marketplace marketing/selling to anyone that will pay them. As a result they become another “me too” option for clients. There is nothing distinct about their product or service and there is really no reason for clients or customers to pick your product or service over anyone else’s.
That’s where your USP comes into play. According to Jay Abraham in his fantastic book Getting Everything You Can Out Of All You Got, the cure-all for a mediocre “me too” product or service is a unique selling proposition (USP). Even if you have a business that’s doing well, with some refinement to your USP I bet it can do a lot better.
In order to truly thrive, you need to develop something that allows you to stand out from the competition and gets prospective clients to notice your product or service. And when you follow the steps below and get really good at this, you’ll find people don’t just notice you but they’ll demand to work with you. They will begin to think that you are the only person that can solve their problem and they’ll be right. That’s when you are truly in a market of one.
Here’s your 4-step formula for USP success:
Step 1: Who do you help? Describe the person in 1-3 sentences max.
- Here’s mine: Males age 28-38. Interested in physique training (six-pack, lean muscular physique). Lives in San Francisco (Castro, Mission, Soma).
If you aren’t sure, who you help just think about your current roster of clients — especially your favorite type of client. It’s the type of client that you get excited about helping, are damn good at helping, and would love to have more of. To be clear, it’s not just your favorite client as a person. We are concerned with the type of client here as opposed to one specific individual.
If you don’t have any clients yet, try thinking about these questions to get the brain juices flowing:
- Who do I want to work with?
- How old are they?
- Are they male, female, or both?
- What problem(s) do they have?
- Make sure these are the type of problems you want to solve and it helps if you are already good at solving them.
- How do they feel you solve their problem(s)?
- Why did they choose your services over someone else?
- What keeps them up at night (hopes, fears, dreams)?
- Where do they hang out?
- What are they interested in?
- What types of messages would appeal to them?
Even if you have a roster of clients, it can be very useful to answer these questions. The more specific, the better. The insights will be fascinating and can lead to a breakthrough. One breakthrough can result in a dramatic shift up in your business.
Step 2: What do your clients want? What’s their end goal or desired outcome? Keep it simple, straightforward, and brief.
- Mine is “six-pack abs” and/or “lean muscular physique.”
- Another example might be increased website traffic, social media followers/engagement, or even increased sales.
Focus on the outcome and not the features of your product or service!
Step 3: How are you helping to solve their problem? Describe how you specifically help your ideal client. What’s unique about the service you offer to them?
- Mine is “customized exercise and nutrition programs that are proven effective and get results quickly” as opposed to some cookie-cutter program in a magazine or on Bodybuilding.com. Most people are also accustomed to working out, doing the same thing over and over, and getting little to zero results. My programs are different than anything they’ve ever done and get results in a weeks, not months.
- Another example might be “creating and posting social media content” or “increasing SEO ranking for existing content”
Step 4: Put it all together.
- I help [your ideal client] [accomplish their goal] by [specifically how you help them].
Here is an example of my UPS based on the exercise above:
- I help busy men in their 30s get lean muscular physiques by providing customized exercise and nutrition programs that get results quickly.
Another example:
- I help professional bloggers double their sales in less than 6-months by tripling their website traffic with increased SEO rankings.
Here is a breakdown of my USP: I addressed several concerns of my ideal client, I narrowed down who he is, I’ve used his language, and I’ve even told him what he will get (the desired outcome of my service in his language).
- I said “busy” because my clients tend to be working professional men that have demanding careers. They are outsourcing to me because they don’t have the time or attention to work on this problem.
- I narrowed down the age range. My average client is 36 years old although I do still work with many guys in their mid-late 20s and early-mid 40s the majority of my clients are in their 30s. Remember, every client isn’t going to meet every single criteria.
- I mentioned the outcome or desired result of my service, which is what they will get. Men who work with me use the phrase “lean muscular physique” to describe what they want. A close 2nd is “six-pack abs” so I could easily use that as well. This is their language not mine. It’s what people tell me they want. Initially, don’t go too deep here. Ultimately, these men want confidence, sex appeal, etc. but they don’t outright say that. They say things like “six-pack abs” so I use their language not mine. Knowing the deeper reason is highly beneficial, but it’s hard to work into a very short USP. Feel free to try both and see what works better.
- I mentioned features of the services (customized exercise and nutrition programs) to let them know how I will help them achieve their “lean muscular physique.” The men I work with know they could do this themselves if they had the time or put in the effort. They are smart and highly motivated guys that already workout 3-5x per week. What they don’t have and what they want is a customized exercise and nutrition program to follow. They don’t want to have to think about it. They want someone else to do it for them so they can just execute. For them, execution is not the problem — they need the right strategy.
- I address one of their concerns by saying, “get results quickly.” These guys are mostly Type A overachievers that are used to creating a plan, executing, and measuring results. They have been working out long enough to know effort simply isn’t enough anymore and effort isn’t the problem. With the right strategy, they expect to see measurable results quickly. They want a timeline for reaching their goal and milestones along the way to measure progress against.
How To Use Your Unique Selling Proposition To Get More Awesome Clients
You might be asking yourself, “Now what? How do I actually use this information to get more/better clients? How will this information make my life or my business any easier?”
Fair enough. You are going to use this information to provide direction for everything you do in your business going forward. For example:
Example #1
Before: Randomly post anything related to your industry on your Instagram or Facebook. Ever wonder why you have like 200 followers and an engagement rate of sub-10%? It’s not an accident. You’re just another “me too” freelancer that just moderately appeals to everyone on a low level. When I did this I had 400 followers and single digit engagement numbers.
This post is a terrible, blurry picture. The caption, which I find funny, doesn’t appeal to anyone else. There are no hashtags, nobody is tagged, and no description. It adds no value to anyone else except it makes me feel like I’m “doing something” to promote myself and my business. End result, nobody cared and I got 14 likes from people that I’m friends with mostly because they had to like it (girlfriend and family) or just plain felt sorry for me. What’s also going on here is that this post shows me as a total amateur that likes to take gym selfies, doesn’t actually have a real job, is not very credible or skilled, and is selfish and craves attention. Not cool, but that’s the unspoken message.
After: Specifically and strategically post images, video, and text that speaks to my ideal client. Use the words and phrases they use. Post things they are really, really interested in and they get excited about. I still don’t have a million followers but I’ve built an audience larger than 200 and my engagement is much higher. Since getting clear about my audience and being strategic about what I’m posting I’ve built a following on Instagram of 3,500+ as of this article with an engagement of 30%+.
This post, on the other hand, is a crisp, clear, and beautiful photo that looks professionally done. It quickly adds a ton of value just from looking at the photo. Someone scrolling through their feed can instantly get feedback on their plank form. In the description I talk about why plans are important and then fully detail out common mistakes, how to correct them, and the coaching cues I use with my in person clients.
For those that are interested and actually read the description, it adds massive value above and beyond what they already visually learned from looking at the photo. I also had several relevant hashtags. As a result, it added enough value to people’s lives that I got 213 likes. What’s also going on is that this photo demonstrates me as a professional, who looks the part but is also highly credible and knowledgable on the topic of exercise, and someone that deeply cares about his clients and helping people.
Example #2
Before: I’d run Facebook ads to an offer with very general parameters using randomly selected images and text that sounded good to me. This resulted in a lot of wasted money with no prospects, sales, or revenue generated as a result of the ads. What a waste of time and money.
This ad is terrible and was a total waste of money. There is way too much text, nobody is going to read that especially when they know it’s an ad. I’m offering a webinar to people that don’t yet know, trust, or like me. How likely are people to sign up, give me their email address, and commit an hour of their time to a webinar when they have no idea who I am or what I’m about? Not likely. I wouldn’t even do that. Plus the image isn’t that appealing. What’s not being said is that shows me as a total amateur and it shows me as very intimidating. The ad went largely unnoticed getting only 1 like and 1 share from my girlfriend. Side note, thank you baby for always supporting me even when nobody else cares :'(
After: I now run Facebook ads with a very specific and strategic purpose (getting people to know, trust, and like me before being presented with an offer) targeting a very niche and specific audience using text, images, and video they will relate and respond to. As a result I can turn on my Facebook ads and get 1-2 new leads per week anytime I want. There was a LOT of upfront work, but now I can get new leads anytime I want and I’ve sold several clients thousands of dollars worth of personal training services based on a relationship created from my ads.
This ad is 10x better at a minimum. The text is super short, sweet, and to the point. Instead of trying to add credibility with more text that people won’t read, I do it with the Best of San Francisco image. That alone provides massive credibility and also appeals directly to anyone that is in my target market of San Francisco. I ask them a question that appeals to my target market (99% of my clients need a lot of help on their diet). I’m adding additional credibility with mentioning DIAKADI Body which is a well-known gym in San Francisco. And I’m offering a free session, which is a huge value especially when they notice I’m San Francisco Magazine’s Best Personal Trainer For Abs.
Additionally, the image is fun and flirty without being over the top and intimidating. And this ad worked very well because it was also done as a retargeting campaign to people that already visited my blog and read at least 1 of my previous blog posts. Hence, these people already knew, trusted, and liked me so presenting them with an offer was more enticing. What’s also happening is this ad shows me as a professional, that doesn’t take himself too seriously, is fun to be around, and is extremely credible and knowledgable about health/fitness.
Example #3
Before: When at a party or social gathering and someone inevitably asked me, “What do you do?” I’d cringe before uttering the words, “personal trainer.” Hey, I love my job and I’m very proud of the work I do and the lives I change but let’s be honest — the fitness industry doesn’t have the best reputation.
Further, it’s no secret the job of personal trainer comes with a stigma. The combination of me not being excited to say the words “personal trainer” and their inevitable reaction never felt good and it certainly didn’t trigger any engaging questions or conversations about my job. Even the word “freelancer” tends to have a bit of a stigma in society and seems to be synonymous with “unemployed.” It’s unfortunate, but it’s reality.
After: Now, when someone asks me what I do… with pride I shoot back with my highly engaging, specific, and much more interesting USP. Your USP, if crafted well, will be more specific, more interesting, and is sure to lead to a very specific question about your product, service, or the people you help. You’ll respond with confidence, they’ll be interested, and everyone will feel better about the interaction. No more uncomfortable exchanges. It’s win-win. Hell ya!
Go Where The Fish Are
If you need new clients today, right now, all you have to do is go where the fish are. Before, you had no idea who you were targeting or how to find them. Now, you have an arsenal of information to access and leverage to find these people. Look over the information you wrote about your favorite/ideal client. Where could you find these people, if you needed to, today? Seriously, if you absolutely had to find 5 prospects today — where would you go to find them?
When I first got started in personal training, I had a crappy website and no real online marketing strategy so I got a majority of my clients from in person prospecting. I’d meet people on the street, in a gym, at a restaurant, and I even once met and sold a guy I met in a movie theater. I know my ideal client so well I easily can pick them out in a crowd. I know exactly who I’m looking for and as a result I’m able to filter out the excess and focus on who might actually be interested in training with me.
Don’t think this is limited to personal training because it isn’t. This can be done for any industry. Let’s say you are a freelance iOS developer and you are targeting new startups looking for a minimal viable product (MVP) or a prototype to show to investors. Where would you find these people?
Using Meetup San Francisco you can easily drop in on more than a dozen meetup groups in the next few weeks all of which will be filled with people in the startup game. You can even narrow it down by industry if you want and focus on those in the financial, gaming, or productivity niches.
For a final example, if you are a yoga instructor I’d bet you’d have some luck getting prospects by hanging out in the vegan aisle in Whole Foods. It can be that simple; don’t overcomplicate it. It just takes a little guts and grit to get outside your comfort zone and talk to people you don’t yet know. Just show an interest in them and come with a helping hand and they’ll be happy to talk with you and even come in for a free session. Note: don’t ever say, “You look like you could use some personal training.” Practice makes perfect.
Take Action Today
There is a lot of information here. I know. Just take it one step at a time, break it down, and execute. The key is not to wait and say, “I’ll do it later.” Take 1 step today. However small it is, even if you just do Step #1 above — do something today to build some momentum and commit yourself. If you wait you’ll either forget and never do it or you’ll psych yourself out, fear will set in, and you’ll never take action.
To summarize, here are the steps you need to take:
- Who do you help? Describe the person in 1-3 sentences max.
- What do your clients want? What’s their end goal or desired outcome? Keep it simple, straightforward, and brief.
- How are you helping to solve their problem? Describe how you specifically help your ideal client. What’s unique about the service you offer to them?
- Put it all together:
- I help [your ideal client] [accomplish their goal] by [specifically how you help them].
Use this insight to craft your marketing messages, add more value to your target client, create new/better services, etc. This will help you appeal directly to your target market, add more value to your clients, break away from the competition, and stand alone in a market of one.