What is a Unique Selling Proposition and Why is it Important to Your Small Business?
Posted: Sunday, November 11, 2007
by Jim Conway
SmallBusinessSalesSolutions.com
So youve just started a new business and you want to gain some traction in your market. You know, salesand fast. Or perhaps youre an existing company, youve been around a few years, but youre ready to take the next step and become a looked up to and well respected company in your chosen field of endeavor and, oh yeah, increase your customer base.
Its called developing a USP.
What is a USP, you ask?
A USP is a Unique Selling Proposition and it is quite simply a brief statement of how you differentiate yourself from the competition and what you stand for in the market. For example: "When it absolutely, positively has to be there over night." "Fly the Friendly Skies." "Pizza in 30 minutes or less." These are all very simple examples of how to define yourself against your competition. You know exactly who the company is without even mentioning the name. I recently developed a USP for a company who does last minute turn around work that is simply: "Saving your neck every time."
Thats not so difficult to do is it? What does your small business do? Are you the most reliable plumber in town? Do you offer a service that will help improve your customers profits? Or, do you think you offer more expertise in your field than the company down the street? Your customer wont know until you tell them.
Now, think about it. This simple exercise is the first step to gaining a better understanding of your business and then leveraging that understanding to beat your competition.
If you were new in town who would you buy from, Uncle Joes Pizza or the company that offers pizza "in 30 minutes or less." If you know nothing about either company odds are you are going to gravitate toward the one with a stronger sense of itself.
In other words, your USP is the feature or benefit that makes your small business stand out from the competition's. It's that difference your prospects can't get anywhere else.
Having trouble? Well, the difference doesnt really need to be a real difference but a perceived difference.
Remember the beer makers who brewed their beer from clear Artesian wells or fully kreusened their beverage? Well they werent the only companies doing it. But, once they told their story all their competitors were left to play catch up. And, even though they dont use that USP anymore we still remember it! Yes, a USP can be as simple as telling your customers what you do and what it actually means to them. Pretty easy, isnt it?
The three major benefits of a Unique Selling Proposition are as follows:
- It will establish trust by letting your customers know what they can expect from your company. Remember, while your business is second nature to you it is not to your prospects and customers. You must lead them by the hand.
- Second, a USP gives you a better understanding of your company and your position in the market so that you can focus your efforts where they will be most effective.
- The third and final benefit is the best. Most businesses dont even bother to develop a USP. By developing a USP your company will have an incredible advantage over anyone else who tries to compete with you. They dont stand a chance because none of them can tell the customer in a simple, well thought out sentence or two what differentiates them and why they deserve the business.
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