Business Advice Tip #5:
Do You Have A Unique Business Selling Proposition…And Is It Working For You, Or Against You?
It is a proven fact that every person’s DNA is unique. And we know from today’s many crime shows and the news that people’s whereabouts and behavior can be established through scientific analysis of this distinctive trait (among others). Just as we all have attributes that establish us as unique individuals, our businesses also have unique attributes that differentiate them from our competitors.
The only difference is that with a business, we have the POWER to define these attributes by establishing a Unique Business Selling Proposition (USP).
As business people, we are naturally proud of our work and our businesses. We simply just know that we have more experience than our competitors. Of course, our services are better than everyone else in our industry. Of course, we provide a better product at a better rate than our competition. The fact is that a customer would have to be crazy not to use our services and the ones that don’t are just plain stupid, right? And that’s pretty much how we approach creating our USP. And that’s the USP trap. Because the chances are nearly 99% that everyone in your industry feels exactly the same way about their business as you feel about yours.
Avoiding The Trap
There are four very simple things you can do to avoid the USP Trap and create a USP that can truly differentiate your business from your competitors:
1. WHAT DO YOU DO THAT SETS YOU APART FROM YOUR COMPETITION? What can you do to assure potential customers that they are GETTING VALUE when they deal with you or your business? The more specific you can be, the stronger your USP will be and the more you can stress VALUE with customers when they raise the price card.
2. Sit down with a long-time and trusted A-List customer and ask them all the reasons why they decided to work with you the first time around and why they have continued to work with you from that point forward. Ask them to write a testimonial about your work or service.
3. Once you have gone through these two exercises and you can redefine your USP into what YOU BELIEVE sets you apart. However, you must then test it. Put it into a 60-second elevator speech and take it for a walk at a BNI or Chamber of Commerce event. Try it out on one of your A-list customers. Put it on your website, a blog, an ad, a direct mail piece, and see if you get a higher response rate. If you don’t, it’s back to the drawing board… If your rates increase, then you know you’ve started to sharpen your USP.
4. Lastly, a USPs is not brick and mortar. A USP can be molded and should naturally evolve over time, especially if your products or services evolve. A USP requires constant attention and polishing. If you can’t remember the last time you tested your USP, it’s time that you did.
Remember to create your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and truly stand out from the competition.
Written by Coach Josh Slavitt, pictured here with his son
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