Have you ever thought that for something to be a unique selling proposition it needed to be really significant, like the Craftsman Hand Tools Lifetime, Unlimited Warranty or owning a patent or having a guarantee like FedEx’s guaranteed next day delivery? I used to. Then I began to pay attention and discovered that unique selling propositions (USPs) only have to be distinctive and important to the prospect.
To give you an example of a business person doing a good job of developing his USP, I’m going to continue my analysis of restaurateur Scott Slater and Slater’s 50/50. If your uniqueness appeals to your target market, then you may have a unique selling proposition. The goal is to have some distinction that sets you apart from others so that patrons have a reason to come. Almost any branding campaign can create a unique selling proposition just by heavy and constant repetition of their brand name and tagline. The problem with such an approach is that small and mid-sized businesses lack the advertising budget to build a brand just on the repeating an advertising slogan over and over on TV. Scott Slater, on the other hand, takes the path of most small businesses. [...]
I agree; unique selling propositions are important. They differentiate you from your competition. In today’s market, though, they are extraordinarily difficult to come by.
More significantly, many unique selling propositions are wasted because they are unique in ways that customers don’t care about. They give bragging rights to the company doing the selling, but they are meaningless in many cases to the customer.
The most important thing to remember about this is that value-added is only of value if the customer perceives it as valuable to him or her. Identify your ideal customer profile first then build from there to understand what is really important to your best prospects. When you figure that out, then use the benefits they want to craft your unique selling proposition which speaks to the heart of your customers’ interests. [...]
Everybody today is under pressure to perform, to do more with fewer people. So how do you get more sales with the time, effort and money available? The key today, and always, is to focus on your ideal customer’s profile.
Everything builds from there out. No matter how good your product, your ideal niche market is something less than the entire world poplulation. So look at your best customers to help determine where your niche really is right now. One rule of thumb is that 20% of your customers account for 80% of you sales.
Your marketing campaign flows from your ideal customer description to your unique selling proposition to your benefit statements and finally to creating your marketing [...]
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