How to show you deliver better quality than your competitors

July 24, 2019

By Kreston CEO, Liza Robbins.

Last week I left you with a question .

When all your competitors claim that they offer top-quality audits and the best-quality advice….

…How can you use “quality” to differentiate your firm, and to win more business?

Is it even possible?

The answer I want to offer you today is slightly counter-intuitive.

In order to demonstrate quality, the best approach is not to talk to your prospects at length about your methodology, how you work, and what your deliverables are.

The truth is that even though we know that a robust process is key, the client usually can’t tell whether your process is really good or not.

They just don’t know auditing well enough – Why would they? They’re not auditors!

And technical information about auditing, as well as long lists of deliverables, are often deeply boring to them (harsh but true).

It’s important to us… but it’s not really what they care about.

So how do we show we deliver quality?

By focusing on the things that matter to them.

And that means, showing them how your services will deliver deep business insight that will really make a difference to their organisation.

That, to them, is the real meaning of “quality” – not the way that we work, but the long-term impact on their business, after we’ve gone.

To do this, you need to show that you are intimately familiar with the local and international environment in which they operate.

What’s going on in their industry? Who are their competitors? What pressures are they under, what challenges?

Clients will feel confidence in you and in your ability to deliver good work, when they feel that you really understand them…

…because that means you won’t just tick boxes, but deliver genuinely helpful advice that they need in order to grow.

And you must continually emphasise the value that you will bring to them.

Think about the audit (or your other services) from their point of view.

How will it help them make better decisions in the future? How will it help them operate more efficiently, become more profitable, lessen their risk?

That should form the core of your proposal and your discussion with them….

Just like, when you buy a sofa, you don’t really care how it was made – you want to know, will it look fantastic in my living room and be comfortable to sit on?

And just like, when you go to a real-estate agent, you don’t care too much about how they are going to sell your house. What you really want to know is: “What kind of price can you achieve for me, so I can make the maximum profit?”

Yes, it takes a mindset shift – from “what we do” to “the lasting, deep impact you will feel on your business.”

But this is what your prospects really want to know.

And this is what will differentiate you, and convince prospects that you truly deliver better quality than your competitors.