Part of the Who are You series

Consumers are a skeptical bunch. With a raised eyebrow and a load of mistrust, consumers want to know.

• Who are you?
• Why should I care?
• What problems will you solve for me?
• How are you any different from the rest?

Then they demand you prove it.

Who Are You?

Before you write your first word of business communication, you need to understand who you are – as a business and a product or service. The first post in the Who Are You series offered tips on:

• Defining your business (including a template for doing that)
• And identifying what problems you solve.

This post tackles what makes your business unique. How is your business different?

What’s Different?

Part of knowing who you are as a business is knowing what is different about your business/product/service. And how that helps your potential customer.

Some business communicators struggle with identifying what is unique about their business, their product, or service.

If you have that same challenge, 5 Ideas on What Makes Your Business Unique, may help. I updated and converted the original SlideShare version into a video format.

In a hurry? Check out the revised You Tube version.

A Bridge to Trust

Have you handled a call from an angry customer? Most business professionals have been on that hot seat a time or two. Perhaps that angry customer was you.

If you experienced that uncomfortable challenge, you understand how difficult it is to calm the angry caller. To gain his or her trust.

Initially, your business communication faces the same turbulent sea of mistrust.

• Consumers don’t know you.
• They’ve been burned before.
• You need to prove you are different.

So, how do you cross that bridge to trust?

Be Different: Marry Benefits and Features

You will find no shortage of advice for promoting your product’s benefits versus its features. But the features are important, too.

• Benefits help describe what your product/service does for customers – e.g., increase productivity
• Features are facts – e.g., dimensions, push button, glare-free touchscreen

Product benefits and features are a marriage of results and how your customer gets there.

Below are two posts I enjoyed regarding benefits versus features and how to use both in your business communication.

• A Simple Trick to Turn Features into Benefits (and Seduce Readers to Buy!)
• Benefits vs. Features: The Crucial Key to Selling Your Product

Please share in Comments your thoughts and ideas. How do you define who you are as a business?

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Note: The next post in the Who you are series reviews how you can address that customer question in your business communication.

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BigStock Photo Credit

Canva Credit

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Note: This post originally published on February 8, 2016. This August 11, 2022 version updates it.

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