The P.O.D.

When I go chat with prospective clients, one of the things they often ask about is my point of differentiation.  What makes me different from any of the other consultants with whom they’re speaking?  That’s a great question each of us needs to be able to answer whether we’re trying to sell consulting services, to get a new job, or to sell a product or service in our current jobs.  If you can’t answer the question, you might want to spend a few minutes and think about it.

In any event, among the things I believe make me different are the business experiences I’ve had over the years in both traditional and digital media.  There aren’t a lot of us who were senior management in the “old” world and transitioned into the “new” one.  We usually end up talking about a few other areas – intelligence  vision, style – but the one thing I like to emphasize is keeping a focus on the business and not on the tools.

I’ve written about it before as have others.  It’s still a surprise when that prospective clients asks “how do we get good at  (pick one – the web, Twitter, social media, SEO)?  The answer is always the same – you don’t, because that’s not what you’re trying to do in the first place.  Using those tools is just a means to an end.  What you’re trying to get good at is your business and to use those things to do so.  I guess that’s a real point of differentiation because many of them hadn’t really thought about it before and the other folks with whom they’re talking seem to have spent an awful lot of time on tactics and very little on goals and strategy.  Ready, Fire, Aim.

We need to stop confusing the end with the means.  “Likes” don’t equate to sales unless you’re structured to make them do so.  Does this make sense?