Sunday, October 29, 2006

Week 11 - Why Should I Buy From You?


Earlier we discussed the importance of being strategic, or proactive in your approach to building your business and remaining competitive. Your Unique Strategic Position (USP) is the key ingredient for achieving this. David Ogilvy, the famous advertising executive and founder of Ogilvy and Mather defines the “position” in USP as “what the product does, and who it is for.” I would take that one step forward and say “what the product does, who it is for and how it is different.”

Asking you to differentiate yourself as soon as possible is simplistic. A competitive advantage can be fleeting, we all know that. The guy across the street who offers “two for one” is soon copied by all of the local retailers. Therefore your goal should be to make your business the only choice through a totally outstanding offer, putting you out of the reach of your competitors.

Choose your niche carefully. No business can be all things to all people. Perhaps you should revisit “Week 1” to ensure your chosen USP is in alignment with where YOU want to go as a person.

If your USP has not been clearly defined, it is most likely not being communicated by your employees. That is one big problem but even worse is how we run our business in this mode: WE REACT, we lower our prices, we scream ME TOO and try to win the prospect over by promising things that we cannot deliver (ever had a contractor turn up late?).

Finally a good USP will set expectations about your product or service and position your business in the mind of your prospect.

What are some questions you can ask yourself when devising your USP?

1. What problem or problems do you solve for your customers?

2. What are the top 5 reasons your current customers buy from you
?

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