"One of the biggest mistakes a business can make is trying to be seen as everything to everyone, rather than essential to a select group or niche," Matthew Pollard told BenefitsPRO Broker Expo attendees.
Today's executives are confronted with new challenges that threaten their continued growth and survival. With increased competition, disruptive technologies and tough economic climates, market share is dwindling and discounted acquisition is steadily on the rise. During an insightful keynote on day one of the BenefitsPRO Broker Expo In San Diego, attendees learned tips for how to stay competitive in a constantly changing landscape and how to achieve sustained success.
The tips came from internationally acclaimed sales speaker Matthew Pollard, who has personally been responsible for five multi-million dollar business success stories in industries ranging from telecommunications to nationally accredited education. His strategies are said to have transformed more than 3,500 client businesses.
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According to Pollard, there are only three key steps to achieve rapid growth: Differentiation and unified messaging; niche marketing; and implementing a sales systemization.
Differentiation and unified messaging
"Most people don't spend the time sharpening their acts," he explained. "Unfortunately, while many people spend years perfecting their functional skill, they tend to spend little to no time at all perfecting how they convert customer interest into sales."
He encouraged the audience to find a way to differentiate. "People want to identify with your message, and for that, they will pay a premium," he explained. "What you have to be asking is 'what is the message that separates you? What separates you as an individual advisor or as an organization? What benefits do you provide? What is the higher-level benefit of these? What can help you break through the noise?'" It is those questions that will help your rapid growth, he said.
He also noted that not everyone should be your customer. "Why would you compete with everyone? You risk not being seen as the only logical choice," he explained. "There is so much complexity in your marketplace and people cannot expect you to know it all, and if you tell them that you do, they won't believe you."
Niche marketing
Niche marketing is about new leads and about thinking about the unmet needs in the marketplace that you can support, Pollard explained. "If you have the right message and you aim it to the right market, you will have rapid growth."
According to Pollard, "speaking to everyone is speaking to no one and is expensive." He encouraged the audience to stop trying to be like everyone else and learn to specialize and find a niche. "One of the biggest mistakes a business can make is trying to be seen as everything to everyone, rather than essential to a select group or niche."
It is this level of blanket branding that leaves nothing but price to discuss, he added. For instance, he said, if you build houses just like everyone else, price is your only bargaining chip. In short, he said that you will be constantly discounting your prices just to win clients over your competition.
Sales systemization
Sales systemization was Pollard's final key to rapid growth, one that he learned about through his own journey in sales. "I had the reading speed of a 6th grader in late high school," he said. "I was horribly introverted and didn't know what to do with my life. I felt like the slow kid my whole life. I did not know what to do."
Uncertain about what he wanted to do with his life, and exhausted from the effort of finishing school, he decided to postpone attending a university, and instead ended up at the only job he could find: commission-only door-to-door sales.
Not only did he struggle to read the product and training material, but, he said that a case of chronic acne and crippling introversion left him feeling uncomfortable with his people skills. "While this job was the stuff of nightmares, there was literally no other choice."
Just as he had through school, he created systems that worked. He watched hours of YouTube videos every day, learned the elements of a successful sale, refined the techniques, created a few of his own, put them in a step-by-step order, and practiced, practiced, practiced.
It worked. He explained that within five months, he was the company's youngest-ever state manager and was overseeing 15 salespeople and training them all on his system. Just four months later, he had that small state of South Australia out-performing the largest markets in the country.
He said that he attempted to figure it out and looked at sales just like it was a system like anything else. "It is a completely learnable skill," he said. "The difference between success and failure can be one simple thing that you are not yet seeing, so it is so important to learn the process."
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Natalie Dolce
Natalie Dolce, editor-in-chief of GlobeSt.com, is responsible for working with editorial staff, freelancers and senior management to help plan the overarching vision that encompasses GlobeSt.com, including short-term and long-term goals for the website, how content integrates through the company’s other product lines and the overall quality of content. Previously she served as national executive editor and editor of the West Coast region for GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum, and was responsible for coverage of news and information pertaining to that vital real estate region. Prior to moving out to the Southern California office, she was Northeast bureau chief, covering New York City for GlobeSt.com. Her background includes a stint at InStyle Magazine, and as managing editor with New York Press, an alternative weekly New York City paper. In her career, she has also covered a variety of beats for M magazine, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, FashionLedge.com, and Co-Ed magazine. Dolce has also freelanced for a number of publications, including MSNBC.com and Museums New York magazine.
