Have you ever asked yourself the question, “Why do my customers buy from me?”

Take 5 minutes now to list down the reasons.  To help you get started, here are some of the common reasons we hear:

1. Convenience - I’m the closest provider.
   
2. Price - my prices are lower.
   
3. Customer Service - I provide better customer service.

Now keep going.

Did any of your reasons begin with, “I’m the only one that...”  Underline those reasons.  In doing so you have started to identify your Unique Selling Proposition (USP).  Your USP is the reason why your customers buy from you.  By focusing on this and developing it further your sales and marketing efforts become infinitely better.  If it looks a bit “thin” then maybe you need to consider what you can do to strengthen this essential feature.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when working on your USP:

1. Your USP needs a specific benefit.  Buy from me and you will get…. Or Buy my product and you will get….

2. Your USP must be unique.  Otherwise it would not be!  You may be able to foster a unique image, of course (Volvo is a good example of this).

3. Ideally, your USP needs to be strong enough to make people switch to your product, but certainly it needs to create customer loyalty.

In addition to the list you just worked on, another way to uncover your USP is to ask your customers.  This can help you fine tune your marketing message and identify areas you need to improve on to really take advantage of your Unique Selling Proposition.  Rest assured, you do have at least one USP: this can be simple like location or image, or service or, hopefully, attitude, but it is there.

Dominos Pizza guaranteed their pizza delivered hot and fresh in 30 minutes or it was free.  Their USP moved the masses enough to make it the dominant force in its market.

Part of the strategic review we make available to our clients is to help you define your businesses USP and in so doing help you become the envy of your competition.

You may need to step back from the business to consider this (not necessarily an easy thing at the moment), but please do let me know if you are interested in discussing this further. I used to say that when you are up to your neck in alligators may not be the best time to think about draining the swamp, but I now think it depends on how long you want to continue wrestling alligators.

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