B (4:58)
You're trying to stand out and it's hard. I mean, you have the right stuff. You're talented and smart and good at what you do. I could go on and on, but the right people are not noticing. Maybe it's a boss or a customer or just someone you like. So here is a Terrible truth that you. You talented, smart, good at what you do, person. This is the terrible truth that you must take seriously. Even though you are a high quality person, you cannot compete on quality alone. It is true. It is awful. But today, I'm going to show you how to get noticed another way. And I will start with a guy that I once hired because he did what none of his competitors would do. So let's start with that story. A few years ago, I got locked out of my office. I was at Entrepreneur, and I just showed up one day, tried to get into my. You know, I had an office in the office with the door, and I couldn't get in. It was locked. It had never been locked before. I didn't even have a key. I didn't even know it could lock. I tried to break in, but turns out I'm a bad burglar. So I needed a locksmith. I found a bunch of locksmiths on Yelp and asked them for quotes, and four replied immediately. The first one wrote this just really simple, Basic price estimate, $29. I give you best price. The second wrote, 125 to open the door. The third wrote, yes, we can help you. That was it. No number, no anything. The fourth came from a guy named Jay Soffer, owner of a company called Lockbusters. And he wrote me this. Quoting from his email, he wrote, quote, hi, Jason, thank you for the detail. Would it be possible to send me a quick image of that handle to make sure that I give you an accurate quote? Here is my direct email address. End quote. So I did as asked. Jay and I went back a few times where he asked for more photos to identify the exact problem. And then he gave me an estimate. It was $300. A full 271 more dollars than the I give you best price guy. And you know who I hired? I hired Jay because he felt the most trustworthy. And as I would come to learn, that was not by accident. Trust is Jay's entire business model. Which makes you think, what if trust is a competitive advantage? I'm going to tell you more about Jay in a moment and what happened when I hired him. But first, let's go back to that thing that I said just a minute ago. You are a high quality person, but you cannot compete on quality alone. That is an idea inspired by Matt o', Toole, the former president and CEO of Reebok. I met him a few years ago when he was still at Reebok, and he told me companies, companies like Reebok cannot Compete on quality alone. And why's that? Well, because in our world of top notch manufacturing, quality is pretty easily achieved. And like, imagine this was his example. Imagine that you launch a brand new pair of scissors. You cannot advertise it as the sharpest scissors, because that's absurd. Every pair of scissors is the sharpest scissors. So you need to compete on something else, not just quality. And for brands, it's often a combination of competing on story, branding, design and price. But as I thought about it, I realized this applies to people too. No matter what you're good at, many other people are good at it too, whatever it is. I mean, I fancy myself a good writer, but am I the best writer? No. I'm one of many. So it's worth asking yourself, what else sets you apart? If you're stumped, start experimenting. Go out of your way to help others. Share your ideas in unique ways. Then look for the moments when someone says, oh, wow. Because that is when you've done something that others won't. And you will be shocked. Shocked at what impresses people. For example, here's how I increased my sales just by being nice. About a year ago, a company emailed me with a request. They were considering me for a keynote role at their upcoming event. But first they wanted to talk and see if I'm the right fit. And I said, no problem. I mean, I get emails like this all the time. So we spoke the next day for 30 minutes, and at the end they told me this. They said, you know, Jason, most speakers do not take calls like this. They just send it to their agent or assistant. And we're really grateful that you took the time to understand us so that we could see that you were the right fit for us. And then they hired me. And I learned a valuable lesson in that exchange. My competition is less hands on than I am. That means that accessibility, accessibility to me can be a competitive advantage. I was texting about this recently with my friend Michael Easter. He's the best selling author of a book called the Scarcity Brain. And he and I often swap ideas about the speaking business. I'm just going to read you a little bit from our text exchange. All right? So I wrote, I think just being easy and friendly is a competitive advantage. Seems like a lot of speakers aren't. And he wrote back to me. I've heard the same thing from some clients. I've heard a couple wild stories about demands and behaviors from speakers. Not being an asshole is apparently quite the superpower today. And I said, I actually make it Part of my sales pitch. When I talk to potential clients, I always tell them I'm not fancy. It's easy to access me. I'll go with the flow. I'll hang out and talk to people. Whatever you need. All right, that's now back to me, away from the text message. Anyway, I mean, you know, listen to that. This is absurd, right? Being nice, easy. Being not an asshole. To me. To you, I bet these are the basics. But in reality, they are what other people overlook. And that is exactly what Jay the locksmith figured out, too. When Jay first entered the locksmith industry, he looked at how others operated. Prices and communication are usually vague. In an effort to overcomplicate the process. He told me, locksmiths will say whatever it takes to get your business, and then they'll jack the price once they're at your door. Jay did not want to compete against that. He didn't want to just be another jerk trying to undercut the other jerks. Then he realized he didn't have to. The idea was to position myself as the good guy. He told me trust, in other words, would be his competitive advantage. This meant that he'd be nicer than the competition. He would ask more questions. He'd be more personable. And it worked. Jay's business boomed because people recommended him and always left great reviews on Yelp, just like I did. So it's worth asking yourself this. What is your true competitive advantage? Spend some time with that question. Trust is a great place to start, but, you know, maybe it's also your clear and compelling viewpoint. Maybe it's your friendliness, your generosity, your response time, your reliability. Ultimately, this is a question of where you find your joy. How do you like to engage and connect with people? How do you like to show up for people? Jay knew his answer. He told me, I enjoy helping people and consider it a privilege. And when you think like that, competition doesn't feel like competition at all. It feels like an opportunity to be you. And that's an essay that originally appeared in my newsletter called One Thing Better, which I read here on Help Wanted. If you want to subscribe to One Thing Better, which is one way each week to be more successful and satisfied and build a career or company that you love, you can get that at OneThingBetter email. That is a web address OneThingBetter email and or just continue to stay tuned right here to Help Wanted.
