Setting yourself apart in today’s crowded business landscape can be a challenge. To make that happen, you need to stay agile, anticipate changes in the market before they happen, listen closely for customer pain points, and offer a unique, personalized, and consistent experience. Easier said than done, right?
Here are three tactics that can help you differentiate your business, even in an over-commoditized ecosystem.
Focus on How You Solve Problems
Every industry is commoditizing, making it more important than ever to find ways to stand out and add value. Take the payments industry, as an example. Most payment solutions on the market today have similar capabilities — like cloud-based, face-to-face implementation, account updater, and enriched payment data– so in order to compete, you can’t focus on capabilities alone. Instead, you need to focus on how you solve problems through supportive services or value-added features.
“The payments industry, in general, has become a very commoditized marketplace. Everybody has a lot of the same core capabilities and go-to market approaches,” says Mike Vaughn, COO of Paya. “The act of taking in a payment is pretty straight forward from a processing perspective. It’s how you accept that transaction and the customer experience around it that gives you an advantage over others in the marketplace.”
To set your business apart, opt for a hands-on approach. Really get to know the problems your potential partners are facing, deliver insightful assessments, and stay supportive throughout the integration process. This will help you attract channel partners and, ultimately, stand out against your competition.
Add “Cherry-On-Top” Value to Specific Industries
To diversify your revenue streams, create unique products, and truly set your business apart, you really need to specialize. Delivering industry-specific value to customers, prospects, and potential partners will help you get focused and win business.
Take today’s healthcare industry, for example. A doctor’s office has an enormous number of mandates and requirements that must be accounted for to run a successful practice. In order to adhere to new patient engagement mandates, practitioners are constantly looking at potential practice management softwares to solve these requirement changes. This represents a major opportunity for ISVs to develop a software that can safely navigate PCI and HIPPA security compliances. This “cherry-on-top” value can help prove to practitioners that your software is the clear answer to their problems.
Prioritize Personal, Strategic Partnerships
As we covered in a recent blog post, business is all about relationships, and one of the fastest ways to achieve success is by helping others succeed. As an industry becomes more complex, channel partnerships need to become more authentic and transparent. A “shallow” approach to partnerships won’t cut it in an overcrowded space. Instead, offer a personalized approach to every value offer and you’ll earn partner loyalty.
At Paya, we help our partners differentiate themselves in the market by providing secure and simple payments experiences. Simply offering a payments solution will not be enough to win in today’s market. Prioritize partnerships, deliver industry-specific value, and emphasize the unique way you solve problems — and you’ll create far more loyal partnerships in the long run.