Unique speed
Years ago I was a very big thoroughbred horse racing fan. I was lucky enough to live within a mile of our state’s only track. One day while listening to a horse racing television program I overheard the reporter interviewing a gentleman by the name of Barry Fey, who just won another National Handicapping Tournament. You may know the name Barry Fey, he was a major rock concert promoter in the 60s all the way through the early 2000s. The thing that was amazing was Barry as far as handicapping went, is he seemed to win all the tournaments. This, of course, intrigued me, but Barry would never say exactly what he did to win. In this particular interview, the reporter asked him, Barry do you have a secret to handicapping? Oddly enough he answered. He said one thing, I look for unique speed.
So as someone who handicapped horse racing almost every weekend, I started to look diligently for whatever unique speed meant. After a few months, I was beginning to think Barry was just throwing us all off course. But then it happened. I was looking at all the past performances of a 6-furlong race that was coming up in a few hours. And there it was. It seems like all the horses in this race had all been running more than a mile which is more than a furlong longer than six furlongs. Well, there was one horse who in each of his last five races have been well in the lead at 6 furlongs, and then dropped off to lose the race finishing in 2nd through 5th position. Aaha, that’s unique speed. But what if the other horses run just as fast to the six Furlong mark? This race was six furlongs, so I checked all the other horses and not one of them was close to the 6 furlongs speed and position of the horse I was looking at. Yes, indeed that was unique speed. So… with a note of thanks to Barry I placed my win bet on a horse that went off about 8 to 1 and did well as he did win being far in the lead at 6 for Longs.
Later on the same card, I found another horse to have unique speed. This one was actually quite obvious it had won its last three races all going away and no other horse in the field seem to be able to get close to its speed. It was so obvious that is basically an odds-on favorite. But that was fine I wasn’t looking for the highest odds I was looking for The Unique speed and a winner. And the horse did win. Unique speed
So what’s all this unique speed have to do with your business or your career?
After thinking through all this it occurred to me that a business that has some sort of uniqueness, as in unique speed, is the business that prospects will usually choose.
Thinking of my own company, I know that when I’m in a race so to speak with four or five other companies for someone’s business; the thing that consistently sets us apart and the reason we usually win the business is the fact that we have a very detailed process that is completely transparent on what we do when we are producing an SEO program. There are 10 different spreadsheets a client can look through at any time to see what we’re doing. We also have a very strong communication policy where there are conference calls with a client explaining what each spreadsheet is for and what its intention is. We also have a very strong track record with success.
So when it’s down to the final two furlongs and there are still several competitors in a race they can look at our communication process, complete transparency, attention to detail and proven results. That’s our unique speed, that’s what wins the race almost every time.
I have a client whose unique speed, in my opinion, is simply expertise. They’re a major remodeler and having been on numerous sales appointments with both them and others, I can tell you that you’d feel like a fool if you bought from anybody but them. They just have an amazing background and knowledge of how to get things done. Their expertise and walking through your project is enough to give them the unique-speed and win many jobs and that is why have a very high closing percentage.
So what are the things that might be your unique speed?
It can be so many things or it can be a combination of things.
Even your mission statement,
your transparency and how you do things,
how, when, and why you communicate,
it can be a guarantee you offer, or can just be the
network that you’re part of. It’s certainly not unknown of, for a prospect to buy your service because of the people you know or the people you serve.
It could be things as intangible of future benefits or just the results you’ve recently achieved.
Whatever it is you need to find it and you need to clearly define it. Most businesses have a tendency to believe their service is the best, and that’s good, but the truth is many businesses are very similar. When the house painter shows up at my door he better have some sort of unique speed because I know there’s a hundred more right behind them. You have to view yourself as the underdog and developed unique speed.
Take the time to identify your businesses unique speed. Then high light it to your community and prospects. You’ll find your self in the winners circle far often as well as attract more quality prospects consistently.