Identifying, Creating and Using Your USP?
What's your USP? Don't know, or worse still, you've
never heard of it. USP is an acronym for Unique Selling Proposition.
It's vital for every business to identify its
inherent USP or if it can't identify it, to create it. If yours is a firm that sells gold coated widgets and
there are NO other firms selling the same product,
then you need not worry about your USP - you have one
by default. The default being that you have a market
monopoly. Provided the product is in demand, you can
charge just about any price you like and you have no
worries with competition. Your product is unique - that's
your USP. But say your business is installing airconditioners and
there are six other firms doing the same thing in your
region. What's your USP? This is where it gets difficult.
You don't have an inherent USP, so you need to create
it. If the other firms provide the same range of
airconditioners and prices are reasonably comparative,
then you need to do one or more of the following: .Reduce or increase your prices .Provide better service .Add value to your products or service Reducing your price is usually unacceptable as is
increasing your price, although with the latter, you
may decide to specialise in a higher cost product and
look for a niche market with larger amounts
of disposable income eg, Baby Boomers. Alternatively,
you may decide to focus on commercial airconditioning
installation. While it's not always easy to juggle prices and product
range - after all, there are only so many different
brands of airconditioner - providing better service and
adding value to your products or services presents numerous
opportunities. Let's consider a few. Here's an example of an experience I had where a firm
added value to it's product. Although it happened many
years ago, it is still relevant. My wife and I had our
first child and realised within days that our old
twin tub washing machine wouldn't be much use washing dozens
of nappies (diapers) every week, so we invested in a Hoover automatic top loading machine. When it was delivered, the delivery man unpacked it, set it up in our laundry and then gave
us a demonstration on how to work it. We were astonished. We had expected it would have just been
dropped off and it would be up to us to unpack, set it up
and work out how to use it. That was the best service
we had ever received - anywhere! And it got better. About a week later the firm telephoned us to make sure
everything was working just fine and assured us that if
we had any questions, problems etc, we could contact them
at any time. We were again astonished. I wrote to the
manager and told him/her how pleased we were with our
purchase and associated service. Sadly, in the ensuing 28 years we have had few other
similar experiences. If you sell goods or services and you want to stand out
against your competitors and increase your profit,
identify or create your USP and make it central to your
organisational ethos. Your USP need not be expensive, elaborate or resource
intensive. The idea is to find a USP that is very low
cost, but has high customer acceptance. What do you want
as a customer? Do you want to be treated politely; as
though your custom is really valued? Do you want a free
pen? Would you like the sales people to keep in touch?
Whatever you want, your customers want the same. Find what you can do to make your customer service special,
add value, or both in some small way. Then integrate it
into your everyday operations and you're on your way. If you choose a USP that includes keeping in touch eg,
sending a reminder that a car is due for service, a dog
due for immunisation, it will help you generate ongoing
business and loyalty. Don't forget that you will also need to update, change
or refocus your USP. After a while it will become so
common that people won't see it as being special ... the
reason they deal with you. Hopefully, by then they will
be so accustomed to doing business with you, they will
stay for good. Now, once again, 'What's your USP?' Good luck with your business. Robin Henry is a HR&D specialist/Internet entrepreneur
whose business Desert Wave Enterprises focuses on
improving business and personal performance. His products
include a range of e-books, Internet marketing courses,
and health and nutrition supplements. He can be contacted
at http://www.dwave.com.au
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