A Day’s Worth of USP
Every business should develop a USP (unique selling proposition). You can, and must, differentiate yourself from your competitors. You will lose business if you adopt a “me too” position. I forget where I first heard the above headline, but it’s stuck with me for over 20 years. I’ve applied it to every business I’ve worked with since. In fact, it’s one of the FIRST things I do when looking to improve sales for any business. Your USP is a fundamental building block for almost everything else we will do together. Everybody has a USP! You may not know it, but you either have, or soon will have, one too. Every business must be able to identify SOMETHING unique about the way it serves its customers. And if you DON'T have anything unique at the moment, then it's up to you to develop something unique. Do you have your own niche or speciality that maximizes the value of your own unique blend of experience, skills, interests and contacts? Can you clearly convey or demonstrate why you are the best choice for your customers or clients? Overcome their problems and you will be different. The easiest way to make yourself different is to list the problems people have with suppliers in your field and resolve to overcome them. If you are the only one that does so, consistently, then you are unique. Always be prepared for your competitors to catch up with you. Once you’ve established a superior proposition, you may not keep the advantage for long. You must constantly look for new ways to distinguish yourself.
1. Take a day, or as long as you need, to complete this. It’s vitally important in gaining that edge for your business. 2. List everything unique about your company, products or services. Do these offer the customer an advantage in doing business with you, rather than with someone else? Keep looking until you find those “uniques” that do make a difference to the customer. Don’t forget to check out your competitors’ latest ads or sales information to make sure you are still unique. 3. Make a list of the main problems customers have with suppliers in your line of business. What are the consequences of those problems to the customer? Can you overcome them? Resolve to do so consistently and you will have a distinct advantage. 4. Ask at least three of your best customers why they buy from you. Ask them to be very specific, not just “Quality”, “Service”, or “Delivery”. Look for something like “You’re the only company that guarantees delivery before 9.00 a.m.” or even “You always answer your service line with a smile after two rings.” 5. Put all this together and state the result as a single sentence or paragraph. This should convey all the reasons why a customer should choose you over someone else. 6. Use this “Unique Selling Proposition” in all your promotional materials, and in all correspondence with your customers and prospects. Make this message an integral part of everything you do. Everyone in your organisation should know and repeat the message whenever possible.
Some good current examples of products with a clear USP are:
Some unique propositions that were pioneers when they were introduced:
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