I just read a great post on Duct Tape Marketing called “Your Real Competition Is Perception“. In the post, author John Jantsch says:
When it comes to true competitors most small businesses don’t really have any. ……..I don’t think that any two businesses, regardless of the products or services they offer, are the same.
Mr. Jantsch’s point is simple: Your firm should spend less time thinking about competition and more time thinking about uniqueness. If your target clients don’t see you as having a unique value, they’ll think you are just like any other firm out there. And that’s where the competition comes in.
This was one of those “A HA!” momemts for me. The only time you’re actually competing with someone is when you are offering the same thing. McDonald’s and Burger King both sell french fries. They are competing with each other. There’s nothing unique to either.
On the other hand, Tiffany’s and Sam’s Club both sell diamond engagement rings, but you wouldn’t call them competitors, would you?
Of course not. There is a huge difference here. When you get right down to it, both companies are selling the same product. Here’s a little exercise: Let’s pretend that we have two identical engagement rings. The same exact carat weight, same band, etc. Literally identical (that’s why it is just a thought exercise…):
First, the Sam’s Club diamond:
Now, the one from Tiffany’s:
Now, like we said, these are absolutely identical rings. But there is a huge difference between the two. I’m sure many of you already know the answer:
Tiffany’s is selling a different product: their reputation. Sure, you’re getting a great ring, but even more….you’re getting a Tiffany’s ring. You are getting bragging rights and the envy of friends. You’re getting the knowledge that the person buying it was willing to pay more than what it is worth….because you are worth it.
To cut this short: even when you are selling something that seems interchangeable, you’re not really selling the same thing.
The only real competition exists when you don’t dare to set yourself apart.
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April 4th, 2006 at 6:37 pm
IT’S THE RESULTS, NOT “UNIQUE VALUE” THAT COUNTS!
Thank you for bringing Mr. Jantsch’s article “Are You Your Own Competition” to our attention. I appreciate your thoughts. Respectfully though, I offer a different “take” on the subject:
My experience comes from having been involved in the selection of hiring dozens of lawyers, successfully marketing my own law firm, successfully marketing several other non-law-firm-businesses, as well as having been a Practice Management Advisor with a major State Bar’s Practice Management Assistance Service where I helped literally thousands of small law firms to develop and successfully implement very profitable marketing plans. So it’s with some measure of authority when I say that The #1 Criteria upon which most Prospective Clients decide to a lawyer, is whether or not they think you can help them solve the problem(s) or maximize the opportunity(ies) they are struggling with.
The fact of the matter is that only a handful of law schools in the country offer even a modicum of education about How To Make It Rain, and the legal industry tends to foster a very cliquish mentality with its own set of inward-looking values & priorities; So perhaps lawyers should be forgiven for being confused and over-complicating this important but simple concept.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAW FIRMS & ICE CREAM PARLORS
It’s comforting to think that most of our Prospective New Clients are going around basing their decisions upon a whole complicated set of “unique values.” Complicated criteria call for complex analytic thinking which a very familiar and comfortable mindset for most lawyers. The whole notion of clients hiring lawyers based on complex criteria also relieves the would-be-rainmaker of much of the responsibility and accountability for not knowing How To Make It Rain. But it’s mostly wrong.
In my experience, and the experience of the thousands of lawyers in small law firms who I have worked with to help them generate a lot of high-quality business, the vast majority of Prospective Clients are almost complete neophytes when it comes to selecting legal counsel. They don’t look for “unique values” because they don’t even know enough, to know what to look for and there are dozens of more effective things to do to generate business before you start trying to educate people what they should be looking for in a lawyer.
All but the most sophisticated Prospective Clients hire their lawyers based on what they think it’s going to taste like. Fortunately for ice cream parlors they can give their prospects a free sample to help them decide if they want to buy more. Most Law firms have not figured out how to do this. Instead the most successful Rainmakers rely on the fact Clients hire us to solve problems, not to have a unique experience.
HOW TO MAKE IT RAIN FOR YOUR SMALL LAW FIRM
Investing a lot of time & energy trying to communicate the unique value(s) of your law firm is an interesting analytic exercise. But the facts that your firm has unique values and that your clients may actually benefit from one or more of them, is an added bonus they won’t really appreciate until after you get hired. Instead, you’ll generate a lot more and better business if you focus on the Prospect’s “Unique” problem or opportunity, because that’s what they care most about.
RJON@HowToMakeItRain.com
April 5th, 2006 at 9:20 am
Hi.
Thanks so much for your comment on the blog. It definitely made me rethink the way I presented the post.
I totally agree with you: prospective clients are looking to see if you can solve their problem. Absolutely. That’s the whole point. Aside from that, nice logos, cool taglines, etc. mean nothing.
But I think the point I’m trying to make is, you have to get them to notice you in the first place. And getting them to notice you is what is important.
That’s where I’m coming from with the “unique” angle. Before you can even get the prospect to gague whether or not you’re the right firm to do the work, you have to get on their list of firms.
I understand your point when you say
“the vast majority of Prospective Clients are almost complete neophytes when it comes to selecting legal counsel. They don’t look for “unique values” because they don’t even know enough, to know what to look for and there are dozens of more effective things to do to generate business before you start trying to educate people what they should be looking for in a lawyer.”
But I think my point is, you never really look for a unique value. It is something that you find when you aren’t looking for it.
I don’t think of this “unique value” idea the same for law firms as you would for, say, a piece of jewelry. I guess my analogy was a bad one in the post. In law firms, the uniqueness is often something much more subtle. It’s really just something that sets you apart from all the rest, and can be perceived as a positive.
If you’re a small firm, yours could be that you can offer very individualized attention to companies in your niche. Rather than going to a megafirm, you tell clients that you have a higher level of service.
I think you are really onto something when you say that people aren’t looking for “unique values.” And that’s precisely why a firm needs to show that. They’re looking for someone that can do the work. The firm needs to show that they can not only do the work, but that they’re the best firm to do it.
April 5th, 2006 at 10:19 am
Nathan,
Thank you for your kind words. In re-reviewing your bio on the website I noticed again the description “identity consultancy”, and I think that’s what we’re both really talking about here, and perhaps if we switched “identity” for “unique value”, we’d never have had the chance to enjoy this exchange of ideas, so perhaps that’s a good thing. Anyway, I completely agree with the point you made in your reply that you have to get a Prosective New Client to notice you in the first place, before you can even make it onto their list of firms under consideration.
YOU DO HAVE TO GET NOTICED IN THE FIRST PLACE
To borrow your cereal box analogy from your comments about “Your Marketing Sucks” (which I thought most of your comments were great), you have to get the Prospective Client to notice to packaging in the first place, but that’s where I think we disagree. Not about whether it’s critical to get the Prospect to notice you, it is, but in how to go about accomplishing that goal.
I made the comment in my original reply that there are alot of other (better) things a lawyer can do to generate business before s/he resorts to trying to educate prospects about what “unique values” they should be looking for in a lawyer. I stand by that statement, but now realize you weren’t advocating the promotion of “unique values” so much as just looking for a way to get noticed in the first place; and that’s where I think my experience with so many lawyers may have caused me to forget that not everyone shares my unique experience/perspective so I apologize for not explaining more clearly what I meant.
HERE’s WHAT I MEANT
I’ve worked with literally several thousand lawyers to help them improve the marketing (and management) of their law firms. The majority of those lawyers were either solo practitioners or in firms with fewer than about 3-5 lawyers, so my experience is definitely skewed to that reality. From all of that, it’s been my experience that the fastest way for most would-be-rainmakers to create an immediate positive impact relative to baseline results, is not to hide out in the preparations, but rather to execute immediate, low cost Rainmaking techniques with Current, Past and Potential-Targeted Clients. Presenting a cohesive “brand image” is very helpful, but not until AFTER the lawyer has exhausted many other options.
Just got a call from a client with an opportunity I’m helping him to maximize -anyone interested in networking with a great immigration lawyer relocating to Houston should let me know- so I have to wrap this up now…
Thanks for this great Blog & the opportunity to exchange these ideas,
RJON@HowToMakeItRain.com
April 5th, 2006 at 10:28 am
Thanks so much for your comments. I really liked what you’ve said here. I think we’re coming from two different perspectives, and I truly appreciate your point of view.