Every NDIS provider says the same things.
“We’re passionate about supporting people to live their best lives.” “Person-centred care at the heart of everything we do.” “High quality, tailored support.”
Sound familiar? That’s the problem. If you sound like everyone else, you are everyone else, at least in the eyes of the people you’re trying to reach. And their opinion is the only one that matters.
Positioning is the art of being the obvious choice for a specific group of people, with a specific set of needs. It’s one of the most valuable skillets any business owner can have. It’s what stands between your business and your prospective customers.
You win the lottery you think to buy a luxury car. Why? A Toyota or KIA are cars too. It’s because luxury car brands have positioned themselves as cars to buy when you’re successful. A millionaire driving a Datsun seems crazy doesn’t it? That’s positioning.
In a way, it asks the question of what you’re offering. Here’s an example.
Two SIL providers, identical services and similar properties. One posts and promotes photos of the room, the living room and the staff. The other posts and promotes participants (hate that term) in the local community and having fun together. One is offering ‘SIL Services’ the other is offering a ‘lifestyle’.
That’s positioning.
The positioning statement
There’s a few frameworks for determining your positioning, most of them revolve around the same few questions:
- Who are you for?
- What do you offer them?
- How are you different?
- Why does that difference matter?
- Why now? (When)
- Where is your local community?
Example: “We support young adults with complex needs in regional Queensland who’ve been failed by risk-obsessed complex care providers, because we don’t see these people as ‘complex’ and we don’t believe that complex needs means you can’t do cool things.”
That’s not for everyone. That’s the point. Some people will disagree. That’s the point. The closer to home you get with your positioning, the better the leads and enquiries will be. You’ll be speaking their language.
Find your ‘one thing’
I don’t think I’ve ever worked with a client that didn’t benefit from this; finding their one thing. Too often, providers will spread themselves too thin, constantly adding services, locations, programs and other initiatives. It gets complicated, overwhelming and rarely does it work. Before you can be great at a dozen things, you need to become great at one thing.
One thing.
Then more things afterwards. I’m not saying fire people and stop programs necessarily. I’m saying one of the best ways to position a brand is to determine it’s one thing. The best way to find it is create three lists.
1. Write down a list of all the services you are passionate about providing. Whether it’s behavioural support, exercise programs, SIL services, skill training whatever. List the top 5 things you are super passionate about providing.
2. Write down a seperate list of services you genuinely believe you can be the best at. Services you think you could win awards with and lead the industry in. Again. List 5 or so of these and yes they can be the same as the first list.
3. Write down a list of services that are profitable. Services with great margins or you believe you can get them profitable with some focus. Once again. List 5 or so services.
4. Consolidate the lists and determine if there is any service that topped all three. If there is a service you love doing, which makes you money, and you can be the best in the world at… that’s your one thing. That’s your focus and that’s what we lead with. I’ve done this with NDIS providers and it never fails to clarify what people should be doing and as importantly, it shows them what they need to stop doing.
This doesn’t mean you can’t or don’t do other things, as long as they don’t come at the expense of the one thing. Your one thing is the flagship. What you will become known for.
Exercise
Complete this sentence: “We are the only [type of organisation] that [unique thing you do] for [specific audience] because [reason you can do it better than anyone else].”
Don’t worry if it’s messy. Draft it, sit with it, then refine it.
Complete the ‘One Thing’ exercise. I can’t stress this one enough.