| Let me start with a premise that I trust you’ll agree with: “You are better than most of your key competitors.” Better designs, better build, better quality, better value. Better “bedside manner.” Overall a better experience.You are at least some of these, if not all of these. Am I right?
And yet, when you meet with a homeowner, they struggle to see the difference between you and the other guys.
Sometimes they fuss when your price is just a few thousand more than the others.
Why can’t they see that YOU are the better choice?
Well, I have an opinion on that.
From my personal vantage point, as someone who has looked at literally THOUSANDS of pool builder websites over the years, I see one glaring issue showing up over and over again. And it’s exactly what leads you straight into the price fight.
I’m talking about platitudes. “Trite or banal remarks or statements that are used so often, they’ve lost their meaning and impact.”
Here are some real examples taken from the internet TODAY:
- “Dive into the pool of your dreams.”
- “No matter what shape or size pool you have in mind, we can build it.”
- “Our team brings precision, creativity, and decades of experience to every project.”
- “Turn your backyard into something to talk about.”
- “We are your trusted partners in all things pool related.”
- “We bring your vision to life with precision and care.”
- “We build our pools with the finest materials and most advanced construction techniques.”
- “We can turn your existing backyard into a delightful backyard escape.”
- “We don’t just build pools—we build memories.”
- “We look forward to helping you with your pool construction needs.”
- “We offer pools that will fit any backyard landscape.”
- “We specialize in building custom swimming pools tailored to your home, lifestyle, and outdoor space.”
- “We transform ordinary backyards into extraordinary escapes.”
- “We’ll make your backyard dreams come true.”
- “We’re pool people!”
- “Welcome to !”
- “Your trusted pool builder serving “
Many business owners think they sound profound and professional by saying these things. They think this is what the homeowners want to hear. But these statements ring hollow, because YOU SOUND LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.
And what happens when everyone looks and sounds the same?
The homeowner defaults to PRICE.
If I’m looking at 5 different 100-inch televisions, and they all look and sound the same to me, then I’m naturally going to buy whichever one is cheapest.
That’s exactly what’s happening to you. If you look and sound like everyone else, the homeowners will naturally choose whoever is cheapest.
Not good for the homeowner, and not good for you. But that’s what happens when you try to explain how great you are using platitudes.
Do you have platitudes? Here are two ways you can find out:
- Take any profound claim or statement on your website, and scratch out your name, and write in the name of your most hated competitor. If it still sounds believable, then you’ve got a platitude.
- Better yet, read the statement as if you were a homeowner, and then ask yourself, does it make you want to say “Well, I would hope so!”?
If you re-read the platitude statements above, you’ll have to agree that every single one of them would make you say “Well, I would hope so!”
So if you find yourself in a price-fight more often than you would like, take a look at your website (and your brochures, and your online profiles, and your business cards, and at what your people say when they talk to homeowners), and see whether you’ve got platitudes.
We have the cure, by the way.
More about that next time.
To your success… |
