How Your "Unique Selling Proposition" (U.S.P) Can Make You Huge Profits.

Once you've identified your "unique selling proposition," have a clear understanding of what you're selling, and are able to communicate it in an effective manner, your business will grow.

What is a Unique Selling Proposition?

A U.S.P is a single distinguishing feature or quality that makes one company stand out from its competitors. A U.S.P may not be the only thing that sets the business apart from other companies in the same industry, but it should be significant enough to set them apart for practical purposes and give consumers reason to choose them over their competitors.

A U.SP does not have to be complicated or expensive for it to work... What's important is that it has to be unique and must differentiate your business from the competition.

I wrote an article on this years ago titled, " Why Your Business is Unique, and How to Get Customers to Buy Into It ." If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it.

By now you know at least one thing about your business that makes it stand out from the others in its industry... That may be your location (as in "we are located here" or "we serve here"), something about your services (as in "we provide professional, competent services that are unmatched by our competitors"). What if you could get people to recognize this quality as their U.S.P? Would that make it easier to sell your products and services? Of course it would.

It's important to recognize that the U.S.P is not just one characteristic of your business, but rather the overall brand message about what you are selling and how you are selling it. It is not just about a tag line or just about a brochure or just about the website, but rather about how all of these things work together as a focused strategy to promote your business. Once understood, your U.S.P should be used on everything you do: website, mailings, booklets, ads etc...

Good Corporate Camouflage Is the Key

A friend of mine has an exceptional speaking voice. He could be a professional announcer. His voice is deep and resonant and dulcet. It's the kind of voice that people remember, so I wasn't surprised when he told me he was an announcer before going into the business world. I often wonder how many people would still be willing to listen to him if they knew that... Our clients are not interested in us; they want the best results for their money. They don't care if we've been in the industry twenty years or just started yesterday... If your credibility depends on being successful, then you're in trouble, because you might never be successful .

If your business were a celebrity, you wouldn't want people to recognize that you are a celebrity. Your business would like to be recognized for its contributions, not for being a celebrity. That's why we want our businesses to have corporate camouflage . It isn't about hiding the fact that you are in business; it is about emphasizing the results of what you do rather than what you do.

When someone comes across your website, they should immediately know your U.S.P—that is the first thing they should learn about your business... And if your U.S.P is unique and differentiates you from the competition, it will be easier to communicate and easier to sell...

The U.S.P is the key to your success. Your primary focus should be on developing this single strategy that you can use as a basis for everything else you are doing in your business... So make sure it's a unique selling proposition and be sure it is different from everyone else's.

"What Is A Products-Based Business?"

You might be surprised to learn that selling products is extremely difficult these days... But if you have something people want, they will buy it from you… And if you have something they want and one other thing they need, then they will buy those too... You need to find out what people want and then give it to them in the best possible way at the best possible price...

When you sell products, you need a product-based business... A product-based business is one whose raison d'être is what it sells… This means that you make your money from selling your products and services. There are three ways to sell products...

The first way is to contemplate, analyze, plan and then manufacture the best possible product at the lowest cost. The second way is to contemplate, analyze, plan and then manufacture a product that isn't as good as the first—but will be cheaper for you. The third way is to have your customers contemplate, analyze, plan and manufacture the best possible product as they see it.

We'll call the first Way #1... A business that works by itself… In this case you are selling your products, not other people's products… You may need to offer some sort of service to support your customers in their use of your products, but if you do, then you are no longer a product-based business; rather you are a services-based business... And that's okay.

A service-based business can make enormous profits because it has nothing else to do but sell its services... But a service-based business can't make nearly as much profit as a product-based business can. It's possible for a service-based business to make $20 per hour for its workers, but it is not possible for a product-based business to make $20 per hour in profit... A product-based business is the only kind of business that can actually make money from providing products and services...

Customer-Based Versus Employee-Based

When you launch a new product or service, you will find some customers who will use it once or even twice, but most customers are going to use that new thing on the average of each and every day. And when these people no longer need your product, they will no longer need your services either. The average business only has a 50% repeat business rate… So for every two customers they have, they lose one. Of the two original customers, one is going to leave the business and one is going to stay... But if a customer does not leave for any reason, you can be sure that their need for your product or service is going to drop significantly.

Following on the heels of this observation, we find that the average business loses about half of its customers each year... Actually 90% of businesses lose half their customers every 18 months . And with this in mind, we can see that the average business is only profitable for about 18 months.

"Why I Don't Recommend That You Go Into Business With Retailers"

I often get emails from people who want to open a retail store... They need to make an extra $100 a day so they can pay off their debts. But retail isn't like any other business...

Conclusion

A few successful businesses are actually in business to sell products... But more often than not, successful businesses are really in business to sell services... Sometimes when you're selling products, the sale of your services is an added bonus. That's just how it goes.

Analysis is never done by looking at what you've already accomplished… It's done by looking at what you have left to accomplish . If you don't know where you want to go, then I'm afraid that—like most people—you'll never get there… You have to be able to visualize your end result before anything else—before you can even begin planning your strategy...