Recently I ran a workshop about the StandOut Strategies for a group of business owners. We worked out the strategy that would allow each business to really stand out. We talked about how they could each use their strategy, to improve their marketing and their sales. So far so good.

“How do I persuade the members of my team to use the same strategy?” one of the business owners asked me. “How do I make sure that they understand and buy into our strategy?”

Whatever the size of your business, from 1-1000+, it’s essential that everyone uses the same strategy, for a marketing message that really works. Let me show you why this is so important; and how to achieve it.

Singing From the Same Hymn Sheet

No matter how many people are on your team, everyone in your business needs to use the same StandOut Strategy, for promoting and growing the company.

“There’s only me in my business.”

This is where I am, at Appletree Marketing. Just me. No staff or employees. But I do work with a number of freelance specialists. Copywriters; website designers; marketing assistants and more. All these people are on my team and they understand the StandOut Strategy that I use to promote Appletree is Certainty. That strategy is about being a safe pair of hands for my clients.

That means clear, concise language in our marketing. My team members know not to do anything ‘flowery’. No fancy stuff and certainly no jargon. Emails that explain what’s going on. Replies sent promptly. Phones answered. The people who work with me and my clients know that the Appletree way is the ‘does what it says on the tin’ way. They treat my clients in exactly the same way that I do.

“I’m part of a small business”

If the whole business is essentially one team, with or without a Marketing ‘person’, then everyone on that team needs to understand the best StandOut Strategy to use. Recently I worked with an optometrist, who thought, at first, that the best strategy for his business was Certainty. When we looked more closely (excuse the pun!) we realised that what his clients actually want, from his high end store and high class service, is Significance. This StandOut Strategy is about helping clients to feel seen and heard. It’s about helping them to feel special and looked after. It’s about helping them to stand out – in this case through the stunning glasses they wear.

From the moment a customer walks through the door of the beautifully designed practice, to the time they spend with a qualified optician, to the tailored eye care advice they receive, they want to feel special. This means that everyone is this business need to understand Significance. Its not just about carefully crafted marketing messages. The ‘message’ has to flow through the entire business, so that no matter who a customer interacts with, they feel special, cared for and looked after.

The boss knows about Significance now and will be working with his entire team, in all their roles, so that it flows throughout the business. That way it will really help them to stand out.

“We have a Marketing department, a Sales team and lots of other people in our organisation.”

In case you haven’t realised by now – the same rules apply, regardless of the size of the organisation. If you work for one that has multiple teams, everyone needs to understand and apply the same strategy.

A couple of years ago I signed up to work with a company that promised me great results. I was going for a marketing push and needed some external support. I wanted to grow my business, so I found a company that was using the Growth strategy. They promised to help get me speaking and podcast bookings – both great marketing tools for a growing business.

It all started well, but a couple of months in and I realised that the Sales function of the company was not on the same hymn sheet as the Customer Service people. The latter were more focused on Connection – they could put me in touch with those who might like to book me to speak, but then they left me on my own. They were more interested in the numbers – how many potential bookings they had listed on their spreadsheet. Less about ongoing support or how to turn those bookings into paying work. When I questioned them about their service, they just told me that they’d hit their numbers. In their eyes, that was their job. Sadly, there was a big disconnect between the sales promise of growth and the delivery of connection.

I hope that you can see, from these examples, that no matter which of the five StandOut Strategies you use, how important it is that EVERYONE in the business uses the same one. These strategies reach over marketing and sales, through to customer service, the accounts department, your smiling receptionist and everyone else with whom a customer might come into contact.

Not sure which is the right strategy for your business? Click here to Take the Test on my website. It’s FREE and I’ll send you a report that shows you which strategy to use and how to use it.

Same Hymn Sheet or Different?

When you know which is the best strategy for your business, how do you find out if everyone on your team understands your StandOut Strategy?

I’m creating a new tool that will help you to do this. It’s an advanced version of the Test on my website. As with the regular Test, every member of your team can select the emotional words and phrases they hear from your clients, when asked how they feel about working with your business.

All your results from your business will be pulled together and presented to you, to show whether or not you’re all singing from the same hymn sheet. And if not, we can talk about how to help everyone in the company to understand the right strategy, and the importance of everyone using it.

Get in touch with me if you’d like to talk about using this service and making your marketing much more cost effective and successful. Call me on +44 (0) 7773 252 744 or click here to email me.