Whether you work for a global corporation, a growing regional enterprise or you are the sole proprietor of a home-based business, you must help your potential customers answer one definitive question: why should they do business with you?
The answer you provide to this question is what sets you apart from your competition. This becomes your Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
Building a USP requires you to:
#1 ask assessment questions of yourself, your staff, your customers
#2 review your total business operation
#3 develop a message that you pass along to your target market (your prospective customers)
#4 evaluate results
#1 Assessment Questions
Asking questions is a proven method for uncovering useful information. To build a USP, you might use the following questions:
What needs do I/we solve in our business for customers?
What service do I/we really provide?
If you're a tax preparation business, you're not really offering help preparing taxes. You're offering people a speedy way to get their refund. This makes you a "money tree," for example.
What personality do I/we convey and how does this attract people?
A good example is the informal, congenial atmosphere of Southwest Airlines by dressing flight attendants in casual clothes. The way the airline employees conducted themselves was unique and set them apart from other airlines.
Why do we provide this service? What were the principles that led to the founding of our company and do they hold true today?
Do I/we provide any innovation or unique services?
A global telecommunications company I know had their people tell me, "innovation is our soul."
But this could work with a local real estate agent as well who specializes in a particular niche business and helps provide a network of vendors to solve the needs of families moving from one house to another.
What do we say about ourselves when we're on the phone is this different from what's in our sales or marketing materials?
Is our business our passion? If so, why? If not, why not?
#2 Review your total business operation
I've encountered an interactive agency that has achieved what many other web development companies could never achieve the ability to service and deliver complex projects to the satisfaction of clients. They've build a solid team with a clear internal process so project coordinators, designers and programmers all know what is expected on a project.
This internal process uniquely sets them apart from many other similar service providers.
How do you service clients? Your internal operation itself may be a unique differentiating factor that you can tout on how it sets you apart from the competition and solves a need your customers face.
#3 Develop a message for your target market focus on benefits
Gather the information from your assessment questions and your internal review, then use this to develop a message for your prospective customers. Remember that you're in business to solve needs and when you can communicate how you solve those needs then you're most likely to win new business.
Focus on the benefits you offer.
How do you help them: save money, make money, save time, communicate locally, market globally, find the right toys for their children, find the right anniversary gift for a spouse?
Is your company's personality involved in the benefits offered? Customers often buy "you" even if you represent a global brand.
#4 Evaluate the results
If you're in a networking group, do other people understand what you do?
Is your Unique Selling Proposition easy to remember? Does it state how you solve the problem for your specific customer?
Do people tell you whether or not they like what you have to say? And, finally, look for an increase in sales.
The more you can communicate your unique abilities, the greater your chance to win new customers and retain them.