Is Genericide Killing Your Business Brand?

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Perhaps you’ve had this experience. You’ve held back instead of speaking up, or you’ve dismissed a nagging idea before pursuing it. Then you kicked yourself when you later watched someone else successfully pull it off.

Or perhaps you’ve started out strong and full of conviction, but let your fears get the better of you. You’ve diluted what you started with so much that you can’t even recognize it. You qualify your actions, speak in generalities so as to have a wider appeal, and avoid taking a definite position in fear of alienating someone.

Whether it’s in writing, in person, in small ways or big, we all do this from time to time. This holds us back from being clear in what we want, and therefore stops us from attracting it.

In business, it’s deadly! This silent killer is called Genericide. It is a crime committed against yourself, and it’s when you become so vanilla, that you have no flavor at all!

When you are a victim of Genericide, you:

• Don’t have a clear solution to an equally clear problem.
• Don’t have a single thing you are (or intend to be) known for.
• Don’t have a special something to stand out from the sea of vanilla.

Remember, business is a dish best served hot and spicy! If you don’t stand for something, as the saying goes, you’ll stand for nothing.

Here are 10 ways to prevent Genericide in your business:

1. Imagine your ideal customer as a real person and not an ethereal wisp you can’t seem to grasp. Your aim is to get to know this person inside and out!
2. Pay attention to how you feel. When you’re in the right “zone” you’ll feel it. Similarly, when you’re not being and doing what you are meant, you can feel that too.
3. Ask customers or trusted colleagues what they value about you. Now amp it up and make sure you’re delivering it and more!
4. Pinpoint what makes you different and celebrate it.
5. Build a soapbox and take a stand on it!
6. Put yourself out on a limb. Take steps that stretch you personally.
7. Meet and mingle with other business owners you consider “ahead” of you.
8. Set aggressive goals in your business. Make it a game – add zeros to your revenue targets. Then figure out what it would take to get there (make sure to check your doubts at the door).
9. Put more of you and less “them” into your business brand.
10. Stop comparing. Repeat. Stop comparing. And resist the urge to do what everyone else is doing, just because they are.

The more you find your voice, the more you’ll truly shine. This is where the magic happens!

Want to use this article? You can as long as you include this footer: Sherri Garrity is the Chief Corporate Fugitive and creator of the Five Keys Success System^TM for ex-corporate employees and aspiring entrepreneurs who want to break free from the confines of their corporate experience and  live outside of the ordinary. The Corporate Fugitive system demystifies the business of setting up, managing, marketing and growing a successful and extraordinary business. Visit www.corporatefugitive.com for information and step-by-step resources to take you from overwhelmed employee to extraordinary entrepreneur.

Five Reasons to Create Your Signature System

Many business owners have the makings of a memorable product or service but don’t quite manage to put all of the ingredients together. They struggle, and so do their potential customers – because it isn’t clear what’s being offered.

One of the best ways to stand out and to take your business from “ok” to extraordinary is to create a signature system that only you provide. This can be a certain process or approach you use when you work with clients, a single product that you want to be known for (even though you’ll also have others) or even your unique variation of a familiar theme.

When you create a system around how you work with your clients, and how you deliver your services or products, you’re doing many things:

• You’re creating consistency in how you deliver your work – so that all clients receive the same standard of service
• You’re making it possible for others on your team to give consistent service based on the system you created
• You’re elevating your status as an expert – because you’re going to be perceived as having a higher value than someone who doesn’t present themselves in this way
• You’re building a brand – one that your customers can understand and experience, and tell other people about
• You’re making it easier on yourself – because you have a consistent approach to follow – and you have a foundation of content that you can package into multiple revenue streams
• You’re making it easier to market your services – because you have a way to describe them,  and you will use this message again and again

If you’re just starting out, you’re in the ideal place to create a system. You have the benefit of being able to establish an overall system, and then developing products or services that follow the same overarching content. You can design all of your marketing to feature your signature system.

If you’ve been in business for a while and you don’t have one stand-out system, you will more than likely have a patchwork of products and services that have evolved over time. You have the benefit of experience and being able to measure what has worked and what hasn’t. Now is the time to look for a common theme or way of working with your clients that you can call your very own.

 No matter where you are in your business life, creating a signature system is one of the very best strategies you can use to accelerate your business and get more mileage out of your most valuable asset – you!

Sherri Garrity is the Chief Corporate Fugitive and creator of the Five Keys Success System^TM for ex-corporate employees and aspiring entrepreneurs who want to break free from the confines of their corporate experience and  unlock their business potential for greater  personal freedom and prosperity. The Corporate Fugitive system demystifies the business of setting up, managing, marketing and growing a successful entrepreneurial adventure. Visit www.corporatefugitive.com for free tips on how to go from overwhelmed employee and business owner to extraordinary entrepreneur.