You’re unique – So sell it like it is!

What is your point of difference or your unique selling proposition (USP)? It’s a question that haunts many business owners. It seems in today’s highly competitive world most similar businesses, on the surface at least, offer virtually the same things: money back guarantees, free newsletters, exceptional service, value for money, the best products of the finest quality. Basically, the list of standard promotions and their accompanying phrases is endless—and repetitive.

Yet, your USP isn’t just about what sets you apart from your competition. In fact, your competition can become a red herring. You can become so focussed on out-marketing your competition that you forget who you’re marketing to—your ideal target market. They are, after all, the ones who are going to buy from you.

So consider this as a definition for your USP:

The attributes that make you the supplier of choice in the eyes of your ideal customer.

Does that make it easier to determine what your USP might be? To begin with you can ask each customer or client: Why did you choose our services or products? Ask them to be specific, delve deeper to find what precisely they appreciate about your product / service. For example, if they say, “We liked you”, ask: “How is your experience of meeting me / working with us, different to your experience of meeting other people in my industry?" Or “What is it that you felt you got from us that others didn’t offer.”

And here’s why you need those details. The specifics are the evidence that will make your promotional material more credible, they’re your irrefutable proof, the corroborating evidence of any claims you make.

For example, if my car mechanic asked me why I do business with him, my answer would be:

“Well, you were recommended by a friend. Then you serviced my husband’s truck and we were so impressed that you gave him a lift to the station and dropped the truck back at our house that afternoon that we brought you my car. When I got the bill I was amazed. I’ve never had a mechanic service my car so well for so little—and drop it off at no extra charge.”

Now he could use that as a testimonial and he could pull it apart to find those gems that attract customers. Let’s take a closer look and highlight the important parts:

“Well, you were recommended by a friend. Then you serviced my husband’s truck and we were so impressed that you gave him a lift to the station and dropped the truck back at our house that afternoon that we brought you my car. When I got the bill I was amazed. I’ve never had a mechanic service my car so well for so little—and drop it off at no extra charge.”

Okay, so that’s the bones of why he’s attracted me as a customer. So he could market his business with:

We’re convenient (lift back home, vehicle dropped off) and value for money (smaller than usual bill, no charge for drop of). In fact, most of our business comes from referrals (he was recommended to us by a friend).

Powerful stuff? With some specifics it could be better. For one month, this mechanic might do some research on those potential USP ingredients. He might go back through his records and calculate exactly how much business he gets from referrals. If he hasn’t kept records, he’ll start and for one month, he’ll ask each customer, “How did you hear about us?” At the end of the month, he’ll have a specific figure he can use in his marketing.

He’ll also record how far he travels to pick-up and drop-off customer vehicles. Since most people use a mechanic close to home or work, these distances are probably minimal.

He’ll determine how long he spends on each vehicle. What are the main services people ask for? How long does each of those take?

When you do the same for your business, you might be surprised by the results.

With that information at his fingertips, my mechanic’s marketing spiel might become:

• Free pick-up and delivery from within 20km from our workshop (because his research indicates most of his customers are within this area)
• Same-day service for brake repairs, standard servicing and wheel alignments (because he knows exactly how long each of these will take—he’s recorded it over the last month)
• 95% of our business comes from customer referrals – thank you! (Wouldn’t you want to use a mechanic that can boast that figure?)

So if you’re struggling to find a USP to use in your promotional material try these steps:

• Ask every customer / client why they chose your service
• Ask them to be as specific as they can be and really listen to their answers
• Research the responses to determine some impressive statistics
• Use those statistics to give your promotional material more credibility

And remember: Your USP isn’t so much about differentiating yourself from your competition; it’s about differentiating yourself in the eyes of your ideal target market.

Saying to Soar By

It's not what ends that matters so much as what continues.

Terri Irwin

Make the connection

We humans are interesting creatures. We say we value life, yet it is sometimes only in death that we truly acknowledge those who’ve contributed to our life’s journey. Recently my father-in-law, Al Boothby, passed away. He had been many things in his long and successful life: a husband, father, radar instructor with the Army Air Corps, cartoonist, architect, teacher, active church-goer, vibrant story-teller and of, late, a conspiracy theorist (particularly with regard to the current US administration).

Over 200 people attended his funeral. And while that is clearly a testament to the man he was and the many, many lives he touched, I wonder where these people were during his final years when he was largely confined to his home. How wonderful it would have been for him to be able to share his many stories with former students and how enriching it would have been for them to reconnect with such a strong and loving soul.

Looking a bit closer to home, perhaps we can offer our partners, spouses, children and extended family more attention. It seems doable, doesn’t it, to allocate say 15 minutes out of the 1440 minutes in each day to a child or spouse. That’s 1.04% of a day. And yet, how often does a day pass without some meaningful time together?

And we’re all guilty of not having the time to sit a while and listen, really listen and truly connect. We get caught up in the sticky web of our daily lives and think, “I’m too tired or busy or grumpy today. They’ll be there next week”. Yet next week, like tomorrow, rarely arrives. It’s always out there in the future, a future as activity-filled and stressful as our today.

I heard once that we only regret the things we never do. I’m not convinced that’s true, though what I do know is that we truly do regret not following our hearts and sharing meaningful moments with those people that are most important to us. Life overflows with urgent, yet honestly unimportant tasks. What you’re wearing isn’t important. Whether you can offer a snack or a three-course meal is irrelevant. Where you go to have coffee simply doesn’t matter. What people crave, now more than ever, is a sense of real connection, a belief that they are a vital part of someone else’s life, a cog in a machine that’s bigger than themselves.

Why wait for a tomorrow that never comes? Make a meaningful connection today.

Email: mandy@talkingturkey.com.au
Web: www.talkingturkey.com.au

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