What is Your Secret Sauce?

04.27.10

When potential clients are deciding whether to hire you versus someone else, there is one thing they need to know that can clinch or collapse the deal: your Secret Sauce.

I'm not talking about your prized BBQ rib rub (though if you have one, feel free to post); I'm talking about what makes the experience of working with you unique from others in your field. It might also be described as your "desk side manner". Are you available for regular consults? Are you independently decisive or open to new ideas? Are you blindingly quick or methodically thorough?

For Burger King, who had an actual Secret Sauce, their experience concept was "Have it your way, special orders don't upset us." What's yours?

Of course, in order to describe your Secret Sauce, you first need to discover it. Many people have difficulty seeing their own attributes. When I ask my own clients about their Secret Sauce, the immediate response is all deliverables: "I am a realtor," "I do operations consulting," and so on. That tells clients the bare "What" but not the critical "How" of your work, which clues them into what kind of an interpersonal fit the match makes.

I like to interview my clients' former customers to reveal the Sauce ingredients, asking questions like "What has the impact on your work been? What results have you seen? How has it changed your business? How has it changed YOU?'

The results are often surprise my clients, who discover the personal skills their customers most value.

Bottom line: If you can't talk about the Secret Sauce, you risk being turned into a commodity and having it become about cost, leading clients to say "I found someone else who does that, and it's cheaper." If you have spelled out your Secret Sauce clearly, and it fits the client's needs, the client will think instead, "No one else is doing it quite like this," and have no choice but to hire you!