Every business claims to have one, but how many ‘Unique Selling Points’ are actually that… unique?

It’s always one of the first questions I ask when working with a business – tell me what your unique selling point is.  Most of them give me very valid selling points, but often – nothing that makes them unique.

A window cleaner who says, ‘We clean the sills and corners too’; a builder who claims, ‘We leave the site as tidy as we found it’; a cleaning company who states, ‘We have trustworthy employees’ – all of these are great, but aren’t they what customers would expect from anyone in your industry?

Your USP has to be what makes you different. Why do people buy from you? What makes them choose YOU above your competitors? 

You may offer a unique product or service – fantastic! Finding your uniqueness is easy.  This always begs the question for me, however – why is no-one else doing it? Is there really a demand for your service? But, I guess that’s a whole other blog post about market research.

You may be able to claim you are the best at something – great! Just make sure you can qualify this statement and prove how or why you are the best.

The best way to find your USP is to look at your business from a customer’s perspective. What will resonate with them?

If you conducted market research before starting your business, take a look back at your findings with your USP in mind. Did a theme emerge about what is most important to people? Is it customer service, price or something else? Can you hook your USP on this?

It’s also good to remember that USPs aren’t always set in stone. You may want to use a different USP for the same product or service when marketing to a particular geographic area, for example, within a particular setting or to a specific demographic group.

The way you sell cleaning services to the domestic market, for example, will differ to how you sell to commercial customers.

Of course, there is an easy way to determine your USP… My next blog post will reveal all!