High octane 4 Your unique selling proposition
On any given city block or high street, you may find two, three or four insurance brokers. You might find a couple of dentists. In any part of town, you'll find several car dealers, grocery shops, hardware stores, and more.
What are you selling? No matter what kind of business you're in, you can bet you have competitors. If you have an ad in the Yellow Pages, your prospects will find several other dealers to choose from. They're all selling more or less what you're selling.
So why should a prospect buy from you, and not a competitor? What makes you different? If you can't answer this question, you have a problem. The problem is that, in the eyes of buyers, you're just another one of 'the bunch.' Even if you're doing okay business, settling for being just another 'Me Too!' is holding you back. Changing this is a key to making your sales soar to a whole new level.
The way you change, the way you stand out from the pack, is by developing a 'Unique Selling Proposition.' What's that? It's something that you offer or do for your customers that no one else is offering or doing. It's something that makes you clearly better than the others. Interestingly, you may already be different from your competitors. But if your potential customers don't know how or why you're different, they have no reason to choose you over a competitor.
So what you have to do is:
A. Develop a Unique Selling Proposition.
B. Make sure your prospects see it clearly.
Let's look at a couple of examples, and then I'll help you find your own USP.
In a town where there are ten pizza shops, all of which deliver, only one delivers pizza for free. Of course, the free pizza delivery shop probably works the delivery fee into the price of the pizza, but if they advertise loud enough and long enough, people will get the idea they're getting free delivery. Which pizza delivery service will most opt for? One that charges for delivery, or one that delivers free? The answer is obvious. Free delivery is a USP, a Unique Selling Proposition.
Used car dealers compete heavily in the same market for business everywhere. What if one used car dealer offered the option to return the car within 30 days for a complete, no-questions-asked refund if the customer finds the car unsatisfactory for any reason? If none of the car dealers offer the same, that's a USP! Won't a lot of people take advantage of this as a way to get free use of a car for a month? Possibly, but in practice this happens very little. The car dealer with the refund offer will also sell more cars which will make up for any refunds. Also, the car can simply be resold to another customer in the future. There's little to lose, and a lot of business to gain.
So what is your USP? If you don't know, get out a clean sheet of paper and write down every benefit of your product or service. Then examine the same of your competitors. Do you have a clear advantage, a unique offer the others don't? If you can't find one, create one! It can be one of many things: a money-back guarantee, a superior warranty, a free gift along with a purchase, the fastest service in town, and many more. Just make sure you deliver on what you promise! Not delivering destroys your entire USP effort.
Second, you have to work hard at letting people know that you are different. You do that by touting your USP in all your ads. You can also send direct mail to your customer base telling them clearly what your USP is. Tell customers you meet personally why you are unique, and what they won't get if they go to your competitor.
Remember, it's not enough to have a USP. That USP must be clearly communicated to your market. When you successfully develop and communicate a USP, you have given yourself a gigantic advantage over your competitors, and you sell more products.
Continue reading here: Never underestimate the intelligence of the buyer
Was this article helpful?
