Ever found yourself grasping for the right words when asked to introduce your
company in 30 seconds? Or, rambling on slightly out of control in response to the
simple question "And what do you do?" You're not alone. Services are harder to
define than products. That's why service organizations have a lot more trouble
than manufacturers do identifying exactly what they do for their clients.

One common mistake is to focus on the details of what you do - instead of
pinpointing how you can help clients... in other words, what's in it for them. Don't
instruct people on how to build a watch when they just want to know the time. To
start, it's important to clearly understand:

* who needs you most
* what benefits you provide, and
* why you're better than anyone else.

From this knowledge comes your "positioning."

At The Next Level, to hone the best marketing strategies and craft the right sales
messages, we have to first clearly identify what a client uniquely offers. So, we've come up with some
creative ways of bringing this to the surface. Here are a couple of exercises that
we hope you will find to be fun as well as enlightening.

Exercise #1: Passing the kid-logic test.

For our first exercise, we want you to pretend you're in front of one of the world's
toughest juries: a fifth grade class on Career Day.

Your assignment: Explain what your company does for clients using terms,
explanations and examples that fifth graders can relate to. Business-speak just
won't work here.

A clue: "We provide financial services for high net worth individuals" won't fly in
this crowd. But they will understand "We show people how to make and save
enough money so that they can buy bigger houses...send their children to
college...take great vacations... or travel the world when they retire."

Your grade: If your description mirrors what you say in your brochure, web site,
ads and proposals, give yourself an A. If not, you have some homework to do.
Read on...

Exercise #2: Get specific

This exercise will help you turn features into benefits - the basis for your
positioning statement.

* First, write down the names of your three best clients.
* Then, under each name, list all the things you do for them.
* Now, next to each item on the list, write down how/why that benefits your
client. (Ask yourself: "How have we made them more successful?")

We find that once we scrap the jargon, buzzwords and visionary concepts, we
can get to the basic value that our client provides. This is bedrock.

And from this bedrock, we create clear positioning that can be turned into a tag line...elevator speech...and a consistent sales message.

Move into position.

At The Next Level, our job is to ferret out exactly how each of our wonderful clients is special. Then we create the opportunities and the tools each needs to share their unique
message with the prospects that need them most. That's positioning. It's also our positioning. What's yours?

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