Did You Pick the Wrong Unique Differentiator for Your Small Business?

About a year ago, I moved from Baltimore, Maryland to Boca Raton, Florida. Little did I realize that one of the biggest stressors in this move would be finding a new hair stylist that would get my hair "right." 

At this point, I've tried no less than seven different hair salons across all ends of the spectrum, both in terms of price as well as vibe. I've been to the glamorous, up-scale salon... the minimalist/industrialist salon... the salon near that beach that wasn't sure if it wanted to be a salon or a nightclub... 

Amid this journey, a very perplexing trend has emerged.

At each salon I've gone to, either a manager or the owner has stopped by to welcome me to the salon and share with me what makes their salon, "different." 

Apparently, what makes each of these salons "different" is that they are, and I quote, "all about education... specifically, educating their clients about their hair care, hair styling, hair treatments and hair products." 

As each manager and owner shared this "differentiator" with me, you could see on their face how proud they were to tell me about it. 

They REALLY believe this is not just different, but also valuable. 

My strong suspicion is that there are a bunch of salon-industry consultants running around at the big industry conferences and in industry magazines extolling how "client education" is the key differentiator that salon owners need in order to stand out today. 

Only... there are a number of problems with this. 

First, and most obviously, if everyone is saying the same thing, there's nothing unique or different about it. 

Second, from where I've been sitting, my experience at these salons was no more educational than any other salon visit I've had over the last 38-ish years. So, thus far, this is mostly something that they think sounds good, but is actually just a lot of hot air. 

And third, and much more importantly, it's clear that not one of these salon owners or managers has actually spoken to a woman in their salon lately about what is MOST valuable to her. 

Now, I'm going to go out on a limb here because, no, I have not done the research myself (other than about three decades of talking with my girlfriends of course). But I'm going to propose that the MOST valuable thing to us women is that when we walk out of the salon an hour (or, ahem, three hours) later, that our hair looks just like we envisioned it in our head... or perhaps, even better than we had pictured it.

And this really brings us to the paradox of finding the right unique differentiator for your small business. 

Because by its definition alone, it seems like in order to find a "unique" differentiator for your business you really have to come up with something that's like, "WOW! That's so... DIFFERENT!" 

But in reality, often the most powerful "unique" differentiator is right there, hiding in plain sight. It's THE thing that all of your ideal clients or customers really, really want -- but that they have a hard time finding someone who can actually deliver it. Or deliver it in the way that would make their life easier. No hassle. No bullshit. Just getting it... right. 

It could be as simple as a doctor's office that runs on time 99.9% of the time. A dentist that has a pledge not to "up-sell" his or her patients on treatments they don't need. A business consultant who delivers the same or higher level of attentiveness and care even after the new client signs the contract. Or, better yet, a consultant who is responsive quickly to client questions. 

So, bottom line here. Before you pull your hair out (ha!) trying to find a show-stopping unique differentiator, simply start with the thing your clients want MOST, and focus on hitting a home run with that every single time. 

 ==> Want more tips? Discover the best-kept secret for winning corporate clients here.