What is a Signature System?
WHAT IS A SIGNATURE SYSTEM AND DOES YOUR BUSINESS NEED ONE
Article: Angel Quintana
Photo: Dasha & Mari
If you've never heard the term signature system before then listen up because it's the secret sauce to creating a niche in your holistic business. Most new business owners start out with an idea and immediately jump to creating a website where their business will hopefully generate traffic, and alas... income.
However, skipping steps when creating a business is a sure strategy to sending you back to the drawing board once the business doesn't take off as you hoped. A signature system can set your business up for success in many ways:
A Signature System Knows How to Solve an Urgent Problem
It isn't enough to have a product or service that simply solves a problem-- with all industries becoming more and more saturated, you must stand out, and not only that you not only need to solve a problem, it needs to be urgent.
Most people when spending time Googling their problem are trying to find solutions they can implement immediately. They have a burning desire to find the answer, which is why they went to Google in the first place. Even if they aren't necessarily looking to purchase something at that very instant, you'd be shocked to learn how many browsers accidentally found more than they hoped to find and became instant customers. That's because they got sucked into a "system" that solved their problem.
A Signature System Helps You Create Niche
Most entrepreneurs are out there like Dorothy with her little ruby slippers looking to find their way back home. Turns out it's all in the perception. If you stopped looking for a niche and instead, decided to create one out of the sky, you're that much more ahead of the rest.
For instance, a fitness instructor decides wrap up her expertise in an ebook to share with her customers she's discovered a system that slims down thighs in 30 days. She then goes to create the ebook and throw up a sales page to begin marketing her holistic business. But, what she didn't realize was she was one in a zillion other fitness instructors who wrote an ebook on slimming down thighs. Guess what? Back to the drawing board.
You see creating a niche can be extremely difficult until you understand what differentiates you from all the other businesses that sell something similar. When you know exactly what makes you different, creating a niche to serve your market is easy breezy.
A Signature System is Measurable
If you had an urgent problem, wouldn't you like to know how long it would take to fix the problem? With a signature system, you have figured out just how long that will take. It's part of the system.
If you knew that your product was a 6-week course that got you beautifully glowing skin, your ideal customer is going to be a lot less likely to ask for their money back after 2 weeks when her skin doesn't glow like the sun. Being measurable not only rests your customers mind, it also requires them to invest the time and dedication to solving the problem.
When it's measurable, it also makes writing copy for your website, landing or sales pages a lot easier. Imagine breaking down your system day by day, week by week, or even year by year to show your ideal customer exactly how it's done.
If you've been thinking about rebranding or starting a holistic business, starting with a signature system is going to take a lot of the heavy lifting and head scratching questions out of the scenario. This way you can better focus your time and energy on tackling each of the items on your to-do list in an efficient and effective manner.
If you think you have a signature system, but are not quite sure, you merely need to ask yourself these questions:
- Do you know your niche?
- Do you know how to solve an urgent problem?
- Do you know how to create a product or service to solve the urgent problem?
- Do you know how to market your product or service?
- Are you generating income on a regular basis?
If you have answered I don't no or a plain NO to any of these questions, it's a good chance your signature system has not been established. The success of your holistic business is dependent on your signature system and if you're not attracting new customers on a daily basis, it might be time to hit the pause button and find someone to help you discover your signature system.