Tool Box
Issue No. 32 - December/January
Work out your unique selling point
by John Doughty
It is likely that the answer to these questions is that they know and can articulate their unique selling point (USP) to the market (customers, suppliers, staff, the general market etc). This can also be your key to a sustainable competitive advantage.
To be like them and have the world take notice of what you have to offer you need to find your USP.
A USP is not your vision for how you are going to be the leader in your field with the next best thing or your mission statement focusing on the conversion of everyone to your product or service. These are positioning statements.
A USP is a combination of factors, such as why you are in business and how you do business, which also summarise what you deliver as a business.
Finding your business’s USP is akin to getting an “ah ha” moment. It is that one statement that sums up what you do for your customers.
As Wendy Evans writes1, it is your single (simple) minded proposition.
It is also potentially your attractor to create that pot of gold.
Your USP must be genuine, not pretence, because people can sense when your actions do not support your USP. Instantly there is a dichotomy between what you say and do, (e.g. “We are here to help!” When the opposite results, don’t you, as a customer, just hate that?).
So how to find your USP?
You have two choices, from the inside (of your business) out, or the outside in!
Inside out
•List and review ...
