Match Your Message To Your Market - A Unique Selling Proposition

To start off, let's understand what a USP is. A good Unique Selling Proposition should answer the question "Why should I do business with you, now, above any and all other options available?" Now, think about that for a minute. If you can't answer that question - and you own the business - then why should a prospect even consider bringing you their business?

It goes even deeper than that though. A good USP is going to come from actually talking to your customers to find out what they want. You want to make sure that you match your message to your market. What good does it do if you stand on the street corner offering people black umbrellas if they are all looking for red ones? Oh, you may sell some because you are there, you may see a small increase in sales if it is raining out, but what if you actually had exactly what your customer was looking for? The only way you can do this is to first know what it is that your customer wants.

A Unique Selling Proposition should also be, well, unique to your business. Do you know what your competitors are doing? What are they known for? Do something different, stand out. A consulting client once was working on his USP. They were an industrial parts supplier. Once we went through the process of building a USP, we found that one competitor had a huge warehouse and high inventory levels - their USP was that they had everything you could need. So we decided not to compete on stock. Turned out what his customers were looking for could be oiled down to one word - reliability. This company had been in business for over 30 years, had a good reputation in their marketplace and we were able to build on that. They customers wanted parts - the right parts, good quality parts, delivered on time. Once we found that out, we had a place to work from.

When you start the process of coming up with your USP, be prepared to actually make changes to your business to support it. See, a USP is not just something you say, it is not even something you do, something you are. When you can become what your customers want, you win. In my example above, it would do no good to claim the USP of reliability if orders were being shipped incomplete or late or with poor parts. You have to be able to deliver on your USP. It becomes a point that you can build your business around. It must be reflected in your appearance, your presentation, your customer service, your sales people, your post-sales follow up, etc.

Find out what your market wants and deliver it consistently. Find something that you can focus on that will set you apart from your competition and have your message meet your market. Just that can turn your business around.