Parrots are very pretty as you probably have noticed. And they certainly spend a lot of time fluffing their feathers and preening themselves. The problem is that when you put a bunch of them in a cage, they really don’t look any different to one another. Beauty, it seems, isn’t a differentiator for parrots and to stand out, they really need to actually be interesting. The favourite parrot in a cage will be the one that has the most personality or which can say the most interesting things. That’s a differentiator that really helps them stand out.
So it is for salespeople. The problem you have, whether you know it or not, is that you’re just a little bit too identical to the last 50 salespeople any buyer has seen because fundamentally, nobody is doing anything different. If you really want to make a great first impression – and one that will count for the long term – you have to stand out. Doing so is as individual as you are, but like the parrot which makes itself different, you’ll always be better off playing to your strengths. What’s the one thing you do better than anyone, or the one thing that defines the most positive part of you in a unique way? That’s your differentiator.
