Episode 35: How competition can help you to create an unbeatable USP

I was on a call with an HR consultant in the US the other day...

She's just in the process of setting up her own consultancy.

We were talking about all of the usual set up stuff and then she asked me if I felt that the HR market was saturated.

As in, do I think that there are loads of consultants out there offering the same service and would she find it difficult to win new clients as a result?

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Now this is a really interesting question.

I don't have any hard stats to go by - but I have done a lot of listing building in the US and I've spoken to a lot of people about the independent HR market in the US and we all kind of get the same vibe.

At the bigger end of the market, there are lots of larger, more corporate style consultancies and PEOs that are targeting businesses with lots of employees.

We feel that, that end of the of the market is a bit saturated.

But if we look at the smaller end of the market, there actually isn't that many smaller consultancies targeting smaller companies, (with less than 100 employees let's say) offering full-spectrum fractional support.

At the smaller end of the market, in the US, there seem to be more individual consultants offering specialised HR services like culture and L&D who are contracted in by internal HR teams of larger organisations.

Especially if you compare the geography, number of business vs number of consultancies ratio to that of the UK.

So, for anyone in the US looking to start and grow a consultancy offering full-spectrum HR support, I don't think the market is saturated. No.

And again, I'm just going off vibe here and would love to get some hard stats to back this up.

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So why am I talking about this today?

Well, even if the market was completely saturated, there is ALWAYS an opportunity for you to stand out from the rest, find your own lane and be recognised as the 'go to' HR consultant in your area or chosen industries.

And as a consultancy owner, it's incredibly important for you to look at the other consultants around you, compare yourselves and create an unbeatable USP.

And that's what this podcast episode is all about.

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I know lots of consultants who are worried about their local competitors and it's something that you can easily get stressed about.

Firstly, competition isn't anything you should worry about or lose sleep over.

When it comes to business, I try to have an abundance mindset and I think you should too.

There's loads of work to go around for everyone and there's different 'horses for courses'.

If anything, competition is really healthy and should embrace it.

It can be a great motivator and it forces you to create an unbeatable USP which completely underpins your brand, messaging and marketing.

So instead of worrying about if the market is saturated, or about your local competitors, I want you to openly embrace competition and use it to give yourself a competitive edge.

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Okay, so most consultants I know really struggle to create an unbeatable USP and that's because they focus on their services.

In the world of HR consulting, there isn't actually that much differentiation in the services you actually provide compared to another consultancy down the road.

And this is where you can easily get stuck.

So instead of focusing on what, I want you to focus on you, who and how.

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Okay, so the first and most easy way to create a stand out brand and unbeatable USP is by focusing on you and your personal brand.

You are truly unique. Your knowledge, skills, experience and personality cannot be replicated by anyone else.

The easiest way to create differentiation is by creating a strong personal brand and letting that cascade throughout your business and marketing.

Here are my personal USPs that I try to focus on:

In the same way, an action for you here would be to think about what makes you great as a person and HR professional, write them down and weave them into your messaging.

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The next way to create a stand out brand and unbeatable USP is by focusing on WHO you're targeting.

Most consultants I speak to are scared to create a target market because they can work with anyone so why would they restrict themselves?

Well in the world of brand, marketing and sales this has the opposite effect.

When you try to target everyone your brand and USP becomes weak, you blend in and become unmemorable.

So instead of being everything to everyone, you can choose to become an expert to a selected audience.

Now I know there's a process to go through here and I have created a podcast episode and webinar on it before, so drop me a message if this is something you want to work on and I'll send you the link.

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And then the third and final way, for the purposes of this podcast, to create a stand out brand and unbeatable USP is to focus on how you get the job done.

Even though the 'deliverables' of HR are quite similar, the way you approach your work is likely very different to other consultants.

You should lean into this!

There’s no right or wrong - it’s about your way of doing things, and being confident enough to own it.

And an action for you here would be to think about what your approach to HR is, clarify this and weave it into your messaging.

Okay so what I've done here is given you a nice 'light' way to think about your USP which is something you can do yourself, clarify and weave into your messaging.

Now the more advanced way to create your USP is by using the Elements of Value framework.

This framework is created by Bain & Company, it's based off Maslow's hierarchy of needs and lists over 40 'values' that people take into consideration when making a purchasing decision.

I LOVE this framework and have used it for years.

And here are the steps I would guide you through.

Step 1: Go to each value and give your business / your competitors a score. 
Step 2: Plot the values and scores on a graph 
Step 3: Highlight the values where you outperform 
Step 4: Create specific messaging around these values (these are your USPs)
Step 5: Weave your USPs into your marketing

If this is something you're interested in, I have created an action sheet I can work you through to do this.

If you want a copy, drop me an email and I'll send it over.

Brand strategy is something that really excites me actually. As you can probably tell.

Under the umbrella of business growth, terminology can often be blurred.

For me, brand is everything you need to have in place before you can actually start marketing.

And the deliverables of brand are your brand strategy document and visual brand guidelines - the two go hand in hand.

Once you have your brand, you can then start actually marketing.

This is how you get your brand in front of people and the output of your marketing should be audiences and relationships.

And then you have sales, which is how you convert those relationships into clients.

I have SO MUCH to share about branding so I'm going to be working on lots of things to help you.

In the meantime, if there's any way I can help you to create a stand out brand and unbeatable USP then please get in touch.

I'd love to help.