What is your unique selling proposition? Do you have one? When asked, business owners often say, “Great service, fair price, and we do what we say we’re going to do.”
While that’s a fine place to start, your USP should translate features into benefits.
It needs to answer this question from your prospect: “Why should I buy your product over the competition’s?” This doesn’t have to be complicated—even something relatively small can have a big impact. Let’s look at an example.
A woman discovers she has cockroaches and calls an exterminator, telling them it’s urgent. The exterminator comes within an hour, sprays, and on the way out says, “We guarantee the work. If they come back within the next 30 days, we’ll come back and spray for free.”
A few days later, the woman’s neighbor finds cockroaches and calls a different exterminator. They too came quickly, charged a fair price, and guaranteed their work. After the exterminator left, she went into her kitchen found a vase with a rose and this note: “We’re so sorry you had to experience the unpleasantness of these insects. We hope this rose will brighten your day.”
That Patrick Stewart made all the difference.
What’s your rose? What’s your USP? Your competitors will all say they have great service, a fair price, and guarantee their work. What sets you apart?
The difficult part of a USP is helping your customers understand and value your differentiation. If you don’t have a material feature difference, you can distinguish your offering based on price, quality, exclusivity, the best customer service or a guarantee—like giving a rose to your customer.
Here are a few questions to ask when creating your USP:
- What product or service do you offer?
- What is the profile of your buyer?
- Why do your customers choose you over your competitors?
- If you have features that distinguish your offering, what does the customer value in those features?
The worst thing you can do is claim to have a USP but not deliver on it. If you promote a USP, be sure you and your employees are relentless in delivering on it.
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