The Sedona Effect

I'm on vacation in Sedona, Arizona with my wife up until Sept 1, and when I travel, one of my hobbies is to notice how marketing is done in the places we visit. I know, a weird hobby, but I do it so you don't have to!

Sedona is know for its towering red rock edifices and energy vortexes which convey a feeling of well being. It's also a tourist Mecca with the accompanying stores, restaurants and lodging.

In visiting several of these establishments in our first few days here, I paid attention to how they stood out in a crowded marketplace vying for the traveler's dollar.

And many of these ways of establishing uniqueness and memorability apply equally well to professional service businesses.

Uniqueness is what makes a businesses stand out, but what specific unique factor will your business emphasize? Let's call it the "Sedona Effect." Here are a few that got my attention:

Superior Knowledge

The Sedona Sports Shop was manned by its owner Bill, and from our very first question about hiking shoes, we knew we were in the hands of an expert. When Bill explained the physics of lacing up a hiking shoe for maximum comfort, we were both sold.

How do you communicate your expertise? Is it through the articles you write, your presentations, the content on your web site or the way you answer questions?

Clients are looking for true expertise from a professional and you can't just hope they will guess how knowledgeable you really are.

Unusual Responsiveness

The first night we ate dinner at wonderful restaurant named Rene's, and from the moment we came in the front door we knew the service was going to be special. The staff performed as if we were honored guests at the White House. Wow, what a feeling!

How often do you receive service like this, as if you were special guests whose every wish was their command? Could you perform at this level for your clients?

Perhaps not, but clients are looking for responsiveness at a very high level. They're not paying for a $100 dinner but for services that can run into thousands of dollars. What could you do above and beyond what you're doing now?

A Quirky Uniqueness

Bill, from Sedona Sports, raved about a special restaurant in the tiny mountain village of Jerome a few miles outside of Sedona. The Asylum Restaurant's motto is: "Abnormality is Normality at this Locality!" The location, view, staff and menu reflect this quirky, fun and delicious approach.

The result of this is a lunch we'll never forget.

Now, you don't need to be weird and eccentric to stand out, but you ought to let your personality shine. For instance, Aren't you puzzled by web sites of various professional services where there is no mention of the owner (let alone a picture or a bio)?

I want to do business with real live people who are interesting in their own unique way. Don't hide behind a "professional image."

An Extraordinary Specialty

After lunch at the Asylum we ventured into the streets and shops of Jerome (once a thriving copper mining town, now a lively community of art and craft stores). But one stood head and shoulders above the rest, Nellie Bly's.

I learned within a minute of stepping inside that they carried "the world's largest collection of kaleidoscopes." And the staff were eager to show me the magically-beautiful, hand-made creations from more than ninety kaleidoscope artists.

Is there something that you do better than anyone else? Perhaps better than anyone in the world? A tall order for sure, but to be known for a unique and memorable specialty makes your clients say, "He or she is the very best at..." Who wouldn't want that?

A Stunning Variety

Our last stop in Jerome was a shop I always seek out on vacation to satisfy my sweet tooth. Jerome had one, of course, a quaint little shop called "Copper Country Fudge." Nothing special in the decor, but they had thirty-seven delicious varieties of fudge!

And with twenty years experience, they make the creamiest, yummiest chocolate fudge I've ever indulged in.

Unlikely that you have thirty-seven services to offer, but are you flexible in the range of options you can offer your clients? Instead of one standard service, do you offer a "choice of yeses" (as Alan Weiss says) that make it easier for clients to work with you?

You can't stand out in every single one of these ways, but pick one and really go with it. Create your own Sedona Effect and make your business memorable, not another "me-too" service.

*

The More Clients Bottom Line: Uniqueness and memorability for a business are achieved by looking at what the marketplace is already offering and then providing something that stands out in bold relief, that simply cannot be ignored. This is the key to creating a thriving enterprise in any industry.

*

What's your Sedona Effect? What do you do to make your business stand out, get noticed and generate oodles of word-of-mouth business? Please share on the More Clients Blog.

Comments

[New Balance Shoes]

Thanks so much for posting these, they are fantastic! So bummed I missed what looks like a truly unique evening.
http://www.yaahshoes.com/

[Erica Ross-Krieger]

By far one of the greatest things I did to create my own "Sedona Effect" last year was to write a book -- for me falls into the Communicate Your Expertise Factor. I had no idea how many doors that marketing effort would open. And the funny thing is, I wrote it because I loved doing so, not because I knew for sure it would attract more clients.

The other thing I have going, which I used to see as odd but now embrace as a Quirky Uniqueness and have really emphasized this year, is a very diverse and rich professional background (I've been everything from a nutritionist, coach, art therapist, textile designer, outplacement counselor and chi gong teacher). I've found a way to weave this all together and I now play up the fact that I do bring all this to the table. Somehow, it just works.

[Shel Horowitz]

Here's some of what I do:

1. Appear over and over again to my core audience as friendly, helpful, skilled, approachable, and affordable--by posting regularly to selected Internet discussion groups.

2. Actively court testimonials, and when I get them from people on these lists, I ask them to post there.

3. Write books that demonstrate my competence while presenting a huge amount of information in manageable chunks and accessible language. Three of my books--Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First, Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World, Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers--have won awards.

4. Differentiate myself from other copywriters through my open and clearly stated commitment to ethics, my very affordable price structure that lets people get started for an extremely low cost, and my willingness to answer my own phone.

5. Develop extremely useful and comprehensive websites, and let Google bring traffic to them.

6. Develop ongoing relationships with ezine editors, bloggers, authors, etc.

There's lots more but I'll stop there.

Shel Horowitz, http://www.principledprofit.com

[Carna Zacharias-Miller]

I am an EFT practitioner (EFT="Emotional Freedom Techniques", a form of emotional acupressure). We can do EFT with clients on everything from phobias to career goals to traumatic memories, just the way a doctor treats patients (means, no personal experience of the problem needed). However, this is where my "Sedona Effect" comes in: I would call it "been there, done that".I work with women who grew up with a physically or emotionally absent mother - and that is exactly the situation I personally experienced. Since very painful, intense emotions tend to come up, it is invaluable that I KNOW how that feels. That way I can tune into my clients' emotions and needs on a deep level and make them feel safe.

[Ann Kristen Krier]

As a company of one, my Sedona Effect is highly personalized service. Like Robert, I have only "yeses" in response to client needs - they may be modified "yeses" - but still yeses.

If their budget is too small, I find a way to reduce the project without hurting the final results.

If their ideas are not marketable, I find a way to add value to them to make them marketable - this is where I excell.

I am a "SUPERWOMEN" when it comes to being a customer of the creative industry. I have bought one of everything that my clients are selling - to see how it works. This makes it easier for me to demonstrate what effect their new products or new books will have - I am their customer.

You can only be what you experience...

When both parties, myself and client, work towards that - our achievements are greater. It is almost a customer service plague - if you can't relate to the customer (yours or theirs) you can't market their ideas.

Be the customer....

[Rupesh Bhat]

A hobby to possess but that's what is different between a marketing profession and other professions. We always have an eye for new and more information on marketing which helps us in innovating further. As far as the company's business I work for as a Business Development, the uniqueness we carry is that we customize our product as per the clients. We have kept room within our product for no. of customization. The product idea is already sold during the cold calling. This is the greatness of niche marketing. For us "product customization" is the "Sedona Effect".