Evan Carmichael explains how to stand out when products are similar: inject personality into your brand. He shares Steve's story, a financial advisor who targeted NHL players by combining his hockey passion with his work, winning high-value deals through authentic connection instead of competing on features alone.
Chapters
How to stand out. I got a great question from one of my YouTube video watchers, Prince, who wrote in to say, "Hey Evan, you are great. I'm a businessman and I have a lot of competition with others. I always find it difficult to win them over. Hey man, I need your help." So how do you stand out? Okay, this is such an important question because it's something that we face all the time as entrepreneurs. How do we beat the competition? How do we get noticed and stand out? And so many of you are in competitive fields, and you're doing nothing to stand out and separate yourself. Nothing important. And if you don't do that, you're going to be mediocre. You're going to be average at best. The way to stand out is to make it personal. And that's not just throw a picture up, right? That's a start, but make it personal. Make me feel something. You look at industries that are super competitive, and I don't know what industry Prince is in, but you look at You look at real estate agents, you know, you look at financial advisors, you look at industries where you're all selling the exact same stuff. So you can't stand out on the product. A product is a great way to stand out, but if you are offering all the same product, then you can't stand out on that. The way to stand out is to make it personal. So real estate agents, it's not just putting your face on a sign. That doesn't make me feel personally connected to you. Tell me why you started this business. Make me feel something, right? One of my favorite stories is of a buddy of mine named Steve. I've told it a few times. Steve is a financial advisor, okay? He helps people make investment decisions. Are you kidding me, man? You know how many financial advisors there are? There are tons of financial advisors, right? Everybody is a financial advisor. Everybody's a part-time financial advisor. So how do you stand out? I was talking to Steve, like, Steve, you gotta combine your passions. You gotta find something else besides financial advising that you could tie in to make you different, 'cause everybody's doing this thing, man. You gotta stand out. And so his thing was hockey. And at the start I was like, hockey? Like, what does hockey have to do with financial advising, right? But Steve's the kind of guy who can watch SportsCenter and watch hockey replays and watch the same goal 20 times and still love it. And his wife looks at him and is like, "Steve, you're crazy. What are you doing?" But he loves it. If you start talking hockey to Steve, it's over. This is a fantastic find, and you may think at the start, what the heck does hockey and financial advising advice have to do with each other? But it's the way for him to stand out, because you know what he does now? You look at financial advisors, they try to target high net worth individuals, right? You want a portfolio of people who have millions of dollars, not $10,000. And so who does he go after now? Hockey players. He goes after professional NHL hockey players, and they have millions of dollars. And he has an in because when he's talking to them, he's a huge hockey nut, and so are they. And if he's going up against other financial advisors who just see them with a big ticket but don't really care about hockey that much, they're not gonna win. Steve is gonna win every time. And once he starts working with a few of them, they pass his name on. Say, "Yeah, you gotta work with this guy. He really gets it." That's how he stands out. And he's able to win huge deals in a massively competitive field because he is different. Because he brings himself to his business, because he combines his passions. How boring is your business right now? If I go to your website, can I click to learn more about you? What does it tell me? If you're giving me a boring corporate bio with a boring corporate picture or no picture, you're not hitting me. Tell me why you started this business. Tell me why it means something to you. If you can do that, then if I'm looking at your service compared to everybody else, I'm gonna pick you because I feel like you care, because I feel like I can connect with you. That's what you need. That's how you stand out. And it doesn't matter how competitive the field is, 'cause there's always room for quality at the top. And when you combine your passions and you find that right fit, it's gonna be more fun for you too. How much fun does Steve have working with NHL hockey players? Imagine if you were only working with ideal clients who had the same interests and passions as you. You would love your job. You would get referrals naturally. Your business would explode naturally. So stop trying to be corporate. Stop trying to be like everybody else. Inject some personality, some love, some feeling into your company, and you will stand out and start to grow. Believe. For those of you watching, like the video, give it a thumbs up below. I'm a little riled up, you got me a little angry, but it's an important topic. Let me know what you think, leave a comment, ask a question underneath, and click on my face to subscribe to the channel and see more videos like this. Thank you so much, I'll see you soon.
