Differentiate Yourself with 3 Uniques

There are lots of advisors out there.?Financial advisors, investment advisors, wealth advisors, financial planners, commercial bankers, business brokers, attorneys, realtors, accountants, etc.?They have various initials after their names ranging from CFP to CPA to JD.?They may be solo, an agency as part of a larger shop, or part of a large corporation.?Needless to say, there is competition.?So how do you differentiate yourself?

Before I reveal an example and framework to do so, I must digress.?A man I greatly respect once told me, “you are not special, but you are special to me.”?He meant it to instill in me a sense of duty to work hard and pay my dues rather than to engender any sense of entitlement.?In doing so, he also let me know he genuinely cared about me, my future, and my ultimate success.?I have since shared the same sentiment with my own children.?Nonetheless, I choose to believe an advisor has an opportunity to be, and the best actually are, special, or, synonymously, different or unique.?

I believe that, no matter your profession, whatever you are, you are not unique, until you are.?What I mean by that it is consumers (i.e. the clients advisors pursue and desire) need a reason, or three, to choose you. This is particularly true when a high-level, apples to apples comparison indicates your affiliation with similar organizations or firms, comparable education and degrees and the same licenses.?So how can you, as an advisor, communicate and project uniqueness??I rely upon the “3 Uniques” concept.?

For example, our fractional general counsel offering lists our 3 uniques, or what differentiates us (previously from a traditional law firm model to presently against newfound competitors), as the 3 S’s: Stability, SME and Sincerity.?Upon communication these, I can then expand upon them, typically along the following lines:

1.????Stability.?Rather than relying upon an in-house legal department that is subject to turn-over and/or contraction, our outside counsel have been with our firm and provided long-term counsel for decades. As such, you can leverage our institutional knowledge, both generally and specific to your organization. In short, you can count on us not going away. ?

2.????SME (Subject Matter Expertise).?Instead of a general counsel who goes wide but not deep, generally speaking, or associated attorneys and staff who have focused on issues specific to the company only, we have the subject matter expertise and experience across a wide variety of legal matters. We oftentimes say “we have solved a problem like yours for a client like you” because it communicates our experience and thus perspective.

3.????Sincerity.?I usually sum this one up by saying “we actually give a sh!t” and voluntarily choose to bear the burden so the client does not have to.?I then provide references to my clients to attest to things that evidence the same, such as responsiveness, proactivity and loyalty.?

While my example is illustrative, here is a framework you can use to create your own 3 Uniques.?First, who is your target client and what do they need or want from what you have to offer??Second, where do your competitors fall short??What pain points are you solving and how??Third, what is an easy to communicate and thus easy to remember list??Can you use similar letters, an acronym, alliteration??Fourth, how can you then expound upon each??Think about how an elevator pitch is meant to succinctly summarize the problem and your value proposition (i.e. alternative/solution). Fifth, and finally, ?will it resonate with your target client??Don’t be afraid to test it out and refine as needed.?

I choose to believe many advisors are unique and just need to communicate it better.?I also choose to believe that following this framework will not only help you communicate it better, it will help you identify ways to differentiate yourself from your contemporaries, thus making you special.