In today’s business environment, and especially for business coaches, there are many opportunities to set your business above your competition, in what I call, “a category of one.”

Where you and your business are the one and only choice for what it is you do.

To achieve this worthwhile goal, it’s important to make sure all your client touch-points are high-quality and focused on their pains and ultimate success.  One little slip-up, missed the call, missed email, etc. can change a person’s perception and have it go from great to good. mastermylife.com offers coaching lessons up to assistance of making a coaching business plan. Of course, perfection is not a reality, but looking at your operating procedures and business systems with fresh eyes is a worthwhile effort.

I believe being remarkable in today’s world is easy, and well within our grasp, but before I share some ideas with you, let’s define what I mean by being “remarkable.”

Something that is remarkable means you want to remark about it because it was unusual, exceptional, interesting or different; and to comment about something means to talk about it, mention it, make observations about it, etc. 

Remarkable things are things worth talking about and sharing with your inner circle. 

Seth Godin describes the opposite of remarkable as “very good” which, when you think about it for a few moments, makes much sense.  The very fact you are reading this magazine says a lot about you, what your expectations are, and the level of products/services you provide. So, in your case (and mine), if we are not remarkable, we are very good.

The first time I bought something on Amazon and had it delivered to my home that same day is an example of a remarkable service.

Flying First-Class used to be remarkable, but today most U.S. domestic First-Class air travel looks nothing like it used to.  During a recent vacation trip with my family, where we paid to fly First-Class, we were 30 minutes in the air before we even got our first beverage, from a flight attendant who barely said hi to us.  A complete lack of congruency between expectations and reality.

Remarkable “What” and Remarkable “How”

In my opinion, there are two main ways you can be remarkable in your business:

1 – Remarkable “what” as in you have a unique product or service that is special, different, first-to-market, etc.  When I brought CopyDoodles^® to the world in 2007, it was a remarkable product and unlike anything else out there.  It quickly got the attention of some of the world’s top copywriters and marketers, and they loved it so much they remarked about it to others, and sales, as well as my reputation, grew.

2 – Remarkable “how” as in how you deliver your products/services.  Chances are, this is the area where you will need to focus most of your time, and I believe it’s easy to make dramatic improvements.  The rest of this article will focus on ways you can make your “how” remarkable.

7 Ways to Be Remarkable Before Selling, During Selling and After Selling

1. Before the sale, be helpful with valuable information. 

You know I am a huge proponent of information-first marketing and depending on the complexity of what it is you sell, a helpful book, report, video, audio, etc. could be exactly what your prospect needs to make the right buying decision.  There’s a high probability nobody else in your space has this type of help before you sell information in place, so having it can make you remarkable.  Keep these in mind when physically designing your informational piece: you want it to be attractive and easy to pass around to others (for referral marketing). 

2. Before the sale, be sincerely interested in whom you’re talking to. 

Were you a fan of the TV show “Cheers?”  I used to love watching it, and if you’re familiar with it, you know Cheers was the local watering-hole “where everybody knows your name.”  What made the bar Cheers so special is that the various characters were sincerely interested in each other’s lives.  How great would it be if all business owners adopted this philosophy and were truly interested in the people they were selling to?

3. Before the sale, create remarkable offers and opportunities. 

I’m not talking about having the lowest price, but instead having something unique, different, super-valuable and worthy of others talking about it.  One way that could be new to your business is the development of special “package offers” that are designed for specific types of people (and segments of your database).   If you’ve never considered or developed such a package, this may be the perfect time to create a remarkable bundle that makes buying practically irresistible. 

4. During the selling process, create remarkable ways for the prospect to “see” or “feel” the benefits of your product/service. 

One of the best ways to get people talking about you and your business and how special it is is to make the buying process an interactive process that engages the prospect.

One of my retail clients has several strategies in place in his mattress retail business, but the most remarkable one is his world-famous Dream Room™, which is a private, luxury-style room where prospects can try out a mattress for several hours to see how it feels.  Contrast this to the traditional “sit and press with hand” method most retailers offer, and you can see why the Dream Room is remarkable and has been featured in magazines and books around the world.

The buying club Costco is famous for its food-sampling hours where they set up tables around the store, allowing members to try various food items with the hope once they taste it, they will buy it.  It works like magic (my credit card statement is proof this strategy works). 

What can you do in your business to allow a test-drive experience for your coaching products/services?

5. After the sale, check-in and say thank you. 

Every single one of us wants confirmation of our buying decisions (especially the big ones) were the right ones, and we made the right choices. Most business owners do little or nothing after making the sale, which means you have an opportunity to be remarkable. 

I don’t care what type of business you have – a dental practice, a software company, a pharmacy, a pizza shop, an online business – YOU CAN AND SHOULD BE DOING THIS, EACH AND EVERY DAY!

A simple follow-up phone call, a handwritten thank-you note, an unexpected gift, these simple gestures have a profound effect on your client and make them want to shout out your praises to friends and family.  These little gestures of appreciation are so simple to do and keep doing, so if you’re not doing them, start today!

6. After the sale, remember them. 

There is a saying you should print out and post all over your office:

“It’s not my clients’ job to remember me.  It is my job to remember them.”

So many business coaches forget this simple fact, and if they followed this simple rule, their business and profits would soar.  The power of follow-up at all phases of the sales cycle is important but staying in touch with people who are clients is critical.  Come-back offers, special client-only events, relevant news, can all be delivered by email, direct mail, and social media, so don’t ever think of the sale itself as the end of the relationship process.

7. Do what you say you’re going to do.

I intentionally left this one as the last one because it essentially sums up this entire issue. In today’s world, merely doing what you say you’re going to do and doing it consistently is remarkable. 

Nobody likes to be forgotten, and when a business owner doesn’t return a phone call or send an estimate or show up at a scheduled time, they make unnecessary withdrawals in the “remarkable bank” of their leads, prospects, and clients.  I get none of us are perfect, and mistakes and oversights will be made, but this offers another chance at being remarkable by making things right.

I hope this article inspires you to do/fix one thing to ensure your coaching business is remarkable.