Register now or log in to join your professional community.
Your product or service needs to be a better option than that of your competitors in at least one way.
But you only need to be unique in your customers’ minds.
It doesn’t matter if someone else offers the same product or service that you do if your customers don’t know about it. That happens in three ways:
Your customers don’t know about the competitors whose “unique” offerings are basically the same as yours. This is becoming increasingly rare because finding alternatives is so easy online. If you base your value proposition on this, you’re going to see your results get worse over time.
Your competitors don’t advertise. Many people don’t realize they offer something that could be perceived as valuable if they just told people about it. So, if you’re the only business who advertises a product feature that every similar product has, it can appear unique.
Your customers don’t believe your competitors can deliver it as well as you do. Sometimes it’s nearly impossible to be significantly different from your competitors by offering something they don’t. But if people believe you do something better than others, they’ll choose you even if your competitors offer all the same products.
Points of Parity (POPs)These are the features you offer that are important to your prospects that you also share with your competitors. Think of them as the basic entry requirements to the game. Your prospects need to know that you offer the POPs, but emphasizing them won’t impress anyone.
Points of Difference (PODs)Here’s where you can win the game. These are the features that are important to your prospects and not available from your competitors.
So what you should keep in mind are the following:
- Prospect's desires
- Features offered by competitors
- Your own features
In any market the emergence of a new product in the form a substitute require additional features distinct from the competitors product especially for B2B to acquire a market share. At sales the unique qualities of a product give additional space for marketing with new `interest and inquiry creation. There the Point of Difference is more favored than the point of similarities for the substitutes that can add value to the utility.
AGREED WITH MR.VINOD............
pods should be a lockin that cannot be easily copied. pop may be "N" numbers.Let's take windows and apple Macos, both are OS but the user experience they provide are quite different. The users do not worry about anit-virus. Its user experience can only be understood only after buying.
I think most of what i think has already been added by all & especially by Mr. Jetley & Mr. Mayaleh.
However would like to give my view:-
Point of Parity (POP): These are basic features of any Product. Let me tell in a Example: When you think of Cell Phone or Mobile Phone. It should minimum have messaging, call receiver - hold etc which are basic those features cannot be marketed & neither consumer could be differentiated or perceived to buy because of those features but if even one of them are not there then it was act as major setback or reason an consumer will make the decision of NOT buying it.
Point Of Difference (POD): Let's take Example of IPhone in comparison to other phones consumers already have a superior image of the product. (The only reason why some consumer's may not buy due to Ability to Pay) but 'Willingness is surely there'... Why??... It's because the perceived strong 'Brand Image' + Innovative features starting from it's platform to OD (Operating device) to additional features these differences would play a major reason for consumer's to be making the decision to buy it with premium :-).
In an Competitive Market Environment POP will act as basic requirements or implied functionality a product should have & POD would be the major driving force which would decide the brands or products success rate :-)
Agreed With Mr. Ibrahim Hussein Mayaleh Business Consultant and Trainer.
Agreed with the answers to colleagues
thanx for invitation
agreed with M r Ibrahim Hussein
Totally agree Mr. Mayaleh on the features and with Mr. Jetley specially that the product or service needs to be a better option than that of your competitors in at least one way.
The secret flavour and spices !
Sometimes just the packaging makes the difference.
Agree with you all !
