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So, you have created a great idea that you believe will capture the hearts and minds and, hopefully the pocket books of people.
You have laboured for months and maybe years making sure your product or service concept works; the technology is sound and consistently stable.
You have now arrived at the point where you need to morph your idea into a business. More specifically your challenge is to turn your innovative idea into a thriving economic engine. So how do you do it?
My mantra: If you’re not different you’re dead (or soon will be); if you can’t provide unique reasons to attract business then your startup idea will never get off the ground.
The number one consideration for anyone looking to start a business is that your idea has to be unique in some way or it can be morphed into a unique state. As I said above, you can have a great technology idea, but unless a BE DiFFERENT mindset is applied, you may never have a great business.
The starting point: develop business plan —my strategic game plan—based on answering three questions:
- HOW BIG do you want to be?
- WHO do you want to SERVE?
- HOW will you compete and WIN?
Declare your financial or market goals first. Second, select target customers that have the potential to deliver to your financial expectations. Third, create a differentiated market approach that will beat your competitors. Your game plan can be created in 3 days; you can start executing it on the fourth!
The essential component of the HOW to WIN part of the strategy is the need to create the ONLY statement for your business; this is the essence of your strategy to beat your competitors in the trenches. The challenge is simple to explain but challenging to complete:
‘We are the only ones that…..’
This is the ultimate manifestation of a real differentiation strategy and you should look in every nook and cranny in your business for this edge.
Figure it out with your team and then test it with prospective customers. Make sure it is real, compelling and believable and that you are not mesmerized by your own thoughts of grandeur.
Your strategic game plan must be set in place first; all action plans, tactics and activities are driven from it.
The bottom line for you entrepreneurs out there is that if you cannot define your business in relevant terms to your target customers (i.e. you will deliver something that is a high priority to them) and if you cannot explain in clear concise terms how your offering is DiFFERENT from the other alternatives available then STOP.
Continue to work on your idea until you meet the ONLY criteria. You will reap the rewards later.
If you want a guide to your efforts, work with my BE DiFFERENT quiz.
Use the practises in the quiz to build your business in a different way.
Related: Why the Ability To Communicate Is Critical To Get a Billion in Sales