5 Ways to Really Stand Out In A Crowd

By Eddie Renz

February 1, 2017

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Stand Out and Others Will Take Notice

As a business owner I am always trying to grow my business and how to set myself apart from the fray. If you look out into the sea of businesses how do you stand out? At ChemistCreative we provide a variety of services, but the services we provide are offered by numerous other businesses also building websites. Why choose ChemistCreative over someone who does the exact same thing? I like to think that we provide the best customer support, the coolest websites, great communication – but once again, those are services that may or may not make my business “special”.

When I was in a sociology class years ago I had to read the book “The McDonaldization of Society” and it talked about how much people like consistency. Humans will invariably choose what they know over something that they don’t. We are less concerned with quality and more concerned with what is “known”. That book is over 20 years old, but I believe the principals learned in that book still apply today. As someone who has been in group recovery programs and many community groups it seems that what keeps people on the right track is a consistent, easy-to-follow, routine.

Here are the ways to set yourself apart from the crowd in business and in life:

1. Take the high Road – when someone does you wrong, don’t let them steamroll you, but if a situation arises where someone else hears about the situation you want them to be wowed by your emotional control and restraint. Don’t write emotional emails. Don’t make heated phone calls. Remove emotion and state facts. There have been a number of instances where clients felt like I wasn’t being fair or they were billed incorrectly. I had, IN WRITING, all of the communication that we made for the projects and explained what was going on with the project and in most cases the client apologized and realized that I was right and they had asked for the changes and even approved the cost increase. There have been times when I communicated poorly and so I had to eat costs or charges because of a mistake on my end. In business always take the high road.
2. Deliver – I like to tell people my nickname is Fed Ex because “I always deliver.” (Insert laughter emoji here) This is a key piece of any business – be a man or woman of your word. When you do what you say you are going to do, you build trust. People will return to you because they know that you are trustworthy and dependable.
3. Communicate Well. Communicate Often. – I like to update my clients often and I’m working on improving this all the time. If I haven’t touched base with my clients for a few days I like to let them know how the project is coming along even if I have told them it will be 30 days before the website is complete. Sometimes when you have dropped a few thousand dollars on a deposit you like to know that someone is working hard for you. You want to see progress or at least get a status update. Even if the project isn’t moving along quickly and you have no progress a quick update that says, “Hey, I’m in a holding pattern on this and wanted you to know that things are still on schedule” will build trust and good will with your clients.
4. Be Honest – As business owners it can be easy to over-promise or over-commit. Don’t do it. I’d much rather someone just tell me, “It’s going to take 3 months” and get to me early than to says three weeks and then drag the project out.
5. Work Hard, but don’t Overwork it – when you work hard it normally shows in the end product. However, know when to say “when”. Have you ever seen a poster or haircut that looked like someone put in too much extra time and the end result was a crap basket of ugliness? It happens in all types of businesses where a person doesn’t know when to stop or how to edit.

Your brand, your attention to detail, your customer service – those hopefully are “givens” and you are already excelling at those things. All of those are “must-have”, however, those things are supported by a foundation of integrity, communication, hard work and emotional maturity.

• Entrepreneurs
• Startup Advice

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About Eddie Renz

Owner and Creative Director Eddie Renz is passionate about God, great design and Denton, Texas. Whatever he attempts to do, he works at it to achieve excellence. If it is not excellent, he is not finished with it yet. You can often find him working from Shift Coffee or hanging out with friends at one of the local breweries.

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