How To Grow Your Business by 40

How to set yourself apart from your competition at zero cost.

How do you differentiate your business from the rest? This is done by creating a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) Clearly conveying your USP in both your marketing and your business performance will make your business great and your success inevitable.

What exactly is a Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?

Some businesses are successful because they not only imitate the good parts of competitors but they improve upon those features and distinguish themselves above all the rest.

A USP is a tool used to communicate a message to every single prospect and client before, during, and after your contact with them. It sets your business apart from the rest, from every other generic competitor. Your long-term marketing and ultimately your operation success will actually be determined or damaged by the USP you decide on.

The possibilities for creating your USP's are literally unlimited, but the goal is to construct one that addresses exactly what you want your prospects and clients to ultimately expect from your business, service or product.

I mentioned that you can ultimately help or hurt your business by the USP you build. If you don't have a USP then you are in all honesty communicating a "me too" rudderless, nondescript, unappealing business that feeds solely on the momentum of the marketplace. Why should people patronize your services? Is it because you are just there at the right time at the right place? Are you convenient? Do you have the cheapest price? Its hard to find a justifiable reason.

Its not a surprise why so many businesses just get by, they simply survive from year to year, the failure rate is high and the owners merely scrape by from year to year never making a great impact in their market. Imagine what you could achieve if you could communicate an offer with an appealing promise, a unique feature or a special service.

Ask yourself this? Would you want to patronize a company that simply "exists" and with no unique benefit to you, no special service, no great selection, no specific counsel or guarantee? Or would you prefer knowing exactly whom you are dealing with, knowing what the offer instantly, or how they back it up, or how much better it is then the rest or what they charge in comparison to the competitors?

How do I start to make my USP?

The point is to focus on the one niche, the need or gap that is most sorely lacking in your field of expertise. For instance in Toronto, Canada we all know to call "Pizza Pizza" at 416-967-1111 because we all know that our "Pizza Is At Your Door In 30 Minutes Or Its Free".

This was the single sole reason Dominos rose to the top in the USA, they invented that USP and used it until the car accidents occurred with the delivery drivers but it was this Unique Selling Proposition that propelled them to the top spot and kept them there for years.

KEY POINT: Don't make a promise you can't deliver or it can do you in. Be honest, don't say you have the largest selection and then only stock 15 out of 50 items. Be sure that it is unique and that you can fulfill the promise or your marketing efforts will fail you.

So, first start by witting a one or two paragraph description of what it is that you actually do for your clients. If you have trouble at first make a list of the benefits you provide, the benefits your product provides. Make it tight and as specific as possible. If it is long at first don't worry. Start editing ruthlessly, get rid of generalities and focus to come up with the crispest message you can in the least sentences possible. Get rid of the haze and come up with a proposition your potential customers can immediately seize upon.

One of the best-known examples of this is FedEx. They built a multi-billion dollar business on one tight, crisp, precise USP. "If it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight!"

You must reduce your USP to its absolute bare essence in order that it becomes effective.

To make a good USP you need to first get a feeling of what they are. Here is an example of how we constructed one of our main ones so that you have the inside view of what is involved. It is hard and it is easy.

The easy part is writing points about what your product does, actually what the BENEFIT is to your client. The hard part is the editing, to get to the bare bones it make take a week or two of looking at it until one-day it becomes clear as whistle.

First of all, we knew all the things that our embossing machine could do. Half of them were not embossing, rather debossing, screen printing, flocking, foil stamping, clicking & die cutting, etc. We also know that the Permaboss.com machines could decorate all kinds of materials, finished goods, leathers, PVC, Vinyl, etc.

At the end of the day we had almost two pages of lists. This all needs to be hammered down to the minimum words with the maximum effort.

After some serious hacking and elimination of the fat we came down to:

"One machine, 18 Different Profitable Decorations, on Over 77 Various Materials and Hundreds of Items, Using Less Than 4 Square Meters of Floor Space!™"

Then out of the blue one day we realized that what we really did was sell "The Swiss Knife Of Apparel Decoration Equipment™"

The first version above is still used in all our brochures and is incorporated into all of our communication with prospects be it in writing, print ads, direct mail, or verbal communication. It has become a total turning point when prospects consider our products.

Throughout our sales pitch we refer to it, its benefits and advantages, and explain to the prospect why it is vastly superior to take advantage of our USP than our competitors.

When a tired old company creates and adopts a new USP it gives it new life, excitement, interest and appeal. Suddenly you are different and no longer an interloper preying on customers you have trapped into hearing your sales pitch. Now you are on the customers' side.

But remember you will not appeal to everybody. In fact you will sometimes eliminate certain segments of the market. For example, its virtually impossible to please bargain hunters with an upscale product. You have to pick your niche and go for it. If you try to ride both horses at the same time you may end up biting the dust.

Carry this out across your whole company, the entire staff needs to convey your new USP. Make cooperation a condition of employment if you have to. The ENTIRE company must adhere to the USP. Hold contests for who can present it the best in 90 seconds. Give them a spa certificate or a new boom box or whatever it takes. But just don’t try it for a week and then give up, you won’t see the difference if you do!

Above everything else, never ever loose track of the fact that your USP is all about the customer or the client. It is not about me, you, the company or your profession. Don’t make the mistake of aggrandizing your company, instead make it about aggrandizing your customer or client.

For our pad printing machine line:
"NEW! Advanced, Accurate & Easy To Use Pad Printing Equipment"

For our laser line
"Lasers That Increase Screen Printers Productivity Instantly"

************************************************

IN THE NEWS:

Custom rhinestones and nailheads hot fix heat transfers come to North America. Now for the first time an amazing robotic arm can place 3600-4000 stones per hour on transfer paper for any logo or design.

Previously, rhinestone or nailhead heat transfers came from Asia in large quantities only and took 3 or more weeks. Small custom orders cost a small fortune, if you could find someone to do them. That has all changed with the new Libero machine. With the first unit already installed north of San Francisco in California. For more details go to http://www.permaboss.com/nailhead

Did you enjoy this issue? If so I would really appreciate if you would pass this along to your friends and acquaintances.

You are also welcome to post this issue to your website on the condition that the contact info and information stays in tact as it is.

We respect your privacy and your wishes. This list will never be sold or rented to third parties. If you no longer wish to receive The Embossible Times, please send a blank email to unsubscribe@permaboss.com

Robert Harbauer
Permaboss.com Inc.

220 Industrial Parkway S. Unit 15 (Mon.-Fri. 9-5 EST)
Aurora ON L4G 3V6 CANADA
Tel: 905-713-6504 Fax: 905-713-6506
e-mail: info@permaboss.com
web: http://www.permaboss.com

Related Sites:
http://www.mboss.com embossing showcase
http://www.textilelasers.com laser aiming products
http://www.cadcamfx.com die making equipment and software