Finding Your USP

So welcome back to the podcast. So today's subject quite an interesting one. We're talking about your USP or your unique selling point. Have you got a unique selling point? Is there something about your company which makes you different from the rest? So something to ask yourself and think about? Now, it's really important to think about this because what we want to do is think about the service or the product that you're offering to your clients and can we say why it's better than others? Are you able to articulate that to your clients? Or in a logo or a slogan? Can you articulate why you're better? Can you pitch your product and explain to someone in a confident and convincing way why you're better than someone else? 



Because if you want to see significant and sustained growth, then really exceptional service in your business wants to become a core value, it wants to become number one priority for you and your staff, delivering exceptional service. And really the way to do that is think about what makes you unique compared to other companies. Now, if you don't have exceptional service or your unique selling point, then what's going to happen is your company is just going to be propped up by expensive marketing efforts. You'll have to drop your prices all the time, which is, as we say, is always a race to the bottom and you'll just be relying on new business coming in, which really leaves you with low profitability. 



So the easiest way to make profit is to be able to sell again and again to existing clients and to those that you've been recommended to. We all know that, don't we? Recommendation is the best way, but the only way you're going to achieve that consistently is if you offer great service and offer something that's unique, you need to stand out from the crowd. So the purpose of the podcast today is just to find out what's the best way of doing that. How do you stand out from the crowd? Well, first of all, most service firms, whatever you're doing, whether you're a builder, electrician, carpentry firm, most service firms will claim that they offer a great product, won't they? They'll say, we deliver great quality or we're really professional, we're hardworking, we're honest. Everyone will say the same thing, won't they? 



But the reality is, if you've got nothing unique to offer, as we said, you're going to be competing solely on price and that's the worst position to be in. You don't want to be competing on price. Now, we think of other industries. You've got like discount retailers, people like Walmart's and ones like that who sell cheap products, but in huge quantities. We don't want that strategy in the construction industry, do we? We can't sell huge quantities, we don't want to be dropping our price and having that business model at all. That's not going to work for us. Now, competing on price might work in the early stages of a startup, when your overheads are low, you might get away with dropping your price and beating people. But as you start to expand and you require more staff, your overheads increase. 



You might start getting offices, equipment, computers. When your overheads increase significantly, your prices are going to have to rise just to stay afloat. Now the problem you end up having there is as you start increasing and your overheads start increasing, the problem is your clients don't care about your overhead cost, do they? When they're given a price for a job or for a service, if there's someone else out there that's delivering the same product as you at a cheaper price, then you can guarantee pretty much you're going to lose that sale, aren't you? Your customers don't care about your overheads. So it's really imperative that you stand out. It doesn't want to just be about price, you need to be able to stand out. And of course that's a lot easier said than done, isn't it? The construction industry is a crowded place. 



Yeah, there's a lot of people out there. And unless you've got an offering that's unique, maybe a specialist product that the average Joe doesn't have, then standing out is going to be a challenge. But even if you haven't got a unique product itself, let's imagine you do loft conversions and that's all you do, loft conversions. Well it doesn't matter. Even if you haven't got a unique product you can still stand out. Well how do you do that? Well, let's give you an example. Take for example, Apple phones. Now Apple can sell one of their phones, can't they, for upwards of 1000 pounds or more. Whereas Nokia, one of their rivals, might only be able to charge 350 pounds for their most expensive phone. And actually if you compared features on them you might find that the features are very similar. 



So they're offering a product that's probably very similar. They both got the camera, they both offer emails, they both offer making a phone call, obviously. But one will be 1000 pound and one will be 350 pound. Now even though Apple's product is triple the price, they'll outsell Nokia all time and time again, won't they? And they'll be hugely profitable as a company. So why is that? Why can Apple, who's selling the same product or a very similar product, outsell one of their rivals? Well it's not because they've necessarily got a unique product, because as we said, the phone features could be very similar, almost the same. But Apple has worked out a way to stand out head and shoulders above the competition, haven't they? They've managed to develop their branding, they've managed to work on their reputation. 



So it actually makes it cool now to be seen with an Apple product, doesn't it? They've got a unique following, a unique tribe that follows them. And Apple also offer exceptional service in their stores, don't they provide a unique experience. If you ever go into an Apple store, you really get looked after. And when they demonstrate all their products, so that drives sales and inspires customer loyalty. Now, you might be sitting there thinking, well, look, Greg, my company is nothing like Apple billions of dollars. Why would you even mention that? Well, the point is, really, is that you don't have to be selling a unique product to stand out from the crowd. Just remember that you don't have to be selling something completely unique. So that takes a bit of pressure off. 



Just because you're in a crowded marketplace, you can still stand out and avoid just competing on price only. And the only way to do that, as we said, is finding your unique selling point. So have you got a unique selling point? Well, if you haven't, let's hopefully find you one by the end of this podcast or get your creative juices flowing and get some ideas going. So how do you find your USP, then? Well, it's not always easy to find a USP. It's difficult, but it is something essential. Now, you'll notice that all around you, companies struggle with this subject finding their USP, because a lot of them say the same thing, the same benefits you'll get in the service industry. 



As we said, you'll get these generic USPS, like good quality and low on price or affordable since 1990 or established since 1990, something like that. Service with a smile, satisfaction guaranteed. You've tried the rest, now try the best. Things like that. Often these are just taglines, aren't they? Fancy taglines. And they're certainly not unique, are they? So they don't really deserve to be called a USP. Now, phrases like this are common in the marketplace. You'll see them on people's vans and see them below people's logos. And they're really not going to differentiate you in any way, shape or form, are they? So if you've got a USP like that, you really want to be rethinking it. How can we get you away from this generic tagline to something that's very unique and something that's good enough to differentiate you? 



Well, the first thing you've got to be able to think about is, can you actually deliver on that USP? You want to make sure that if you do find a USP, it's got to be something that you can deliver to your clients. So, number one, the first thing you want to do and think about maybe if you grab yourself a pen and paper, you need to understand who your client is and who you're selling to. So we're going to shift it around a bit. Rather than just thinking about yourself, your company and what you do and what you offer, flip it around and start thinking about your client. What can you offer them? So think about what are your clients problems, what are their fears and what are their needs? 



Now, this is really important to think about because you're going to attract the type of clients that you focus on. So if you don't like your current crop of clients, maybe it's time to start focusing on selling the ones that you do want, provided you can deliver effectively for them. So design your marketing strategy to attract your ideal client and do the following exercise when you're thinking about your ideal client, let's create an avatar of that person so we can think about what their problems and their fears and their needs are. So, to build this customer avatar, get a pen and paper and draw a picture of your ideal client. And then start thinking about questions like this and answer them on your pen and paper. Think about what's their age? Are they young? Do they have a family? 



Are they a little bit older? Where do they live? Are they affluent? Or maybe not so much? How much do they earn? Are they single or are they married? Do they have children? What are their interests? What do they do on the weekends? They into football or horse riding or whatever else? What are their interests? What magazines would they be reading? What Facebook groups do you think they'd be visiting? So it's really important to ask lots of different questions like this. Really try and build out a picture of who your ideal client would be. Now, obviously, you're not going to know all the answers to these questions, so it may be good if you've actually got an ideal client. 



If you've got one that you've recently worked for, try and build out the avatar around that person and think about these things and you're not going to know the answers to all of it. Maybe you don't know what magazines they read, but have a think about it. Think what would this person be like? What could I imagine that they would be into? So it's really important to start trying to think about those things and then you want to go a little bit deeper with your ideal client. So you've built this avatar a little bit about maybe their family life and their background. But then you want to think about what we said earlier. What are their wants, what are their needs, what do they really need in life? What are they worried about? What problems do they have that need solving? 



And what are they frustrated with in your industry? So these are really valuable questions that you can start asking about your clients. And once you start building up this picture of who your ideal client is, it can then help you to formulate your USP so that it appeals to and reaches this particular type of individual. So you want to try and be as specific as you can in this. What a lot of people do is they fall into the trap of trying to be all things to all people and you don't want to be there. You get some people that say their USP is we'll take on. There's no job too big or small because they don't want to miss out and they want to appeal to everybody. That's the worst thing you want to do. 



You want to try and really niche down and be very specific about who your ideal client is and get an exact avatar of who your ideal client is going to be. And then you want to think about what can your company do or what does it do now that is different to your competitors that might appeal to this client? What are the strengths that your company has and what are your company values? Maybe are you faster than others? Can you really deliver your work really speedily? Do you offer better quality? Have you been established a long time? So these are little things you can start thinking about to, you know, how am I different to other companies out there? And there's some great examples of some USPS to give you some ideas of. This one, I like is dropbox. 



All heard of Dropbox, the file storage solution. Now how do they there's loads of file storage solutions out there, OneDrive and lots of different others. But how does Dropbox become unique? Well, think about dropbox USSP. It says, Dropbox keeps your files safe, synced and easy to share. Bring your photos, docs and videos anywhere and never lose a file again. Now just think about that. That's a really clever USP because it's talking directly to their clients fears. Yeah. Do you notice what it says? Dropbox keeps your files safe, syncs and easy to share. Bring your photos, docs and videos anywhere and never lose a file again. What's the customer's fear? No one wants to lose a precious file, do they? That precious photograph they got and all those memories, no one wants to lose those things. 



So the USP for Dropbox is talking directly to a client's fear. It also lets them know that the service convenient. It says bring your photos, docs and videos anywhere. So it's a nice convenient service. So really clever. It's a really clever USP that is nice and succinct and it talks to their client's fear. No client wants to lose any of their files or their precious photos or another one. I don't think they use this anymore. But the AA had a brilliant the AA breakdown service in the UK. They had a brilliant USP, which was to our members, we're the fourth emergency service. Such a brilliant and short and to the point USP, we're the fourth emergency service. So again, this USP is talking to customers'fears, isn't it? Think about know, for someone who's vulnerable, it would be an absolute nightmare, wouldn't it? 



If you were stuck in your car, breaks down on the side of a motorway or on a lonely dark lane, that would be an absolute nightmare for someone. That would be someone's worst fear, wouldn't it? Someone vulnerable. Now, the AA is reassuring them that they're the fourth emergency service. They're going to come and save them like a knight in shining armor. So think about that. It's really clever. They've directly spoken to their customers'fears about being a fourth emergency service. So just gives you some ideas to think about. Now, we know that obviously these companies, they're spending millions and millions of pounds on their marketing campaigns. They got some of the brightest brains that are thinking of these USPS. But what I'm trying to demonstrate here is that you're talking to your customers fears. 



You really want to think about what does your customer really want and how can you deliver that USP? So there's five steps to finding your USP and generating it with that in mind. So just to clarify what these five steps are, so number one, you want to work out who your ideal client is. So if you've done that avatar, you've followed step number one and you want to directly talk to them, to your ideal client through your USP by using that avatar. So that's number one. The second thing you want to do is think of the challenges or the worries that your client's going to face. So think about the things that they're worried about. I've used the illustration before, it's a bit like, let's imagine you're appealing to families. 



Maybe their worry particularly is about are you going to be able to keep the building site safe while they've got their kids potentially living on site? That could be a big worry for a family. So you might have a USP around. That how you keep safety and you focus on making sure the site is safe for kids don't know, that could be one. So think about your customers fears and worries that they're facing. The third thing you want to do is explain how you solve the problem in a unique way. Now, it might not actually necessarily be particularly unique, maybe it's just something that you do that others do, but because you're highlighting it as a solution to someone's problem, it can make you stand out as unique. The fourth thing you want to do is list your distinctive benefits if you've got some. 



And the fifth thing you want to do is make a promise. So you make a guarantee to them. So we guarantee we're going to do this or we guarantee this is how we finish on time. This is what we do to guarantee that. Now, even after working through those above steps, it can still take some time to settle on something that fits. It's not an easy process. So maybe some things you could do for some ideas is maybe talk to some previous clients and ask them, what did we do that was really good? Why did you pick our company? What was great about us? What were they worried about before they made that purchase or before they went ahead with that building work. It's a great way of getting into the mind of your ideal client. 



If you just ask your previous clients directly what their worries and what their fears were and how you as a company solved them. Now, once you find your USP, I can promise you it's going to be really liberating for you. It's going to really give you some direction and clarity on how to move forward. So it's absolutely vital to do it, and you'll feel much better about your business once you've done that. It will mean that you can finally stop worrying about price all the time and having to compete on price. And what will happen is your customers will naturally be drawn to you because you're offering them the exact solution that they want. 



All the things they were worried about taking on this build or taking on this builder or getting their boiler done or whatever their fears were, they can see that you solve it, and you solve it in a good way, in a different way to other people, and they'll be coming to you. And price won't matter. Once you find your USP, price won't be the first thing that they're thinking about. It will be what company appeals to me the most. So it's absolutely vital that you try and find your USP. Now, once you've found it, so we've done stage one, you found your USP absolutely fantastic. If you've done this, you're miles ahead of a lot of other companies out there because people won't take the time to do this. So you found your USP, so absolutely brilliant. 



Now you need to communicate your USP. You need to start delivering this message out there to your clients. Let people know who you are and what you do. And it's absolutely vital that this USP flows consistently through all your marketing efforts. So the first thing you want to do, though, is make sure it flows through your company. So hold a meeting with your staff, let them know what the USP is, what your values are, and how important it is that you now start delivering on this promise. You've made a promise to your clients. You now need to deliver on it. So reinforce that message every time you have a staff meeting. Reinforce what the USP is. If you've got an office, print the USP out. 



Put it on the walls of the office, put it in the screen savers of your computers if you have to, make sure that all your staff know what it is, all your sales staff mention it all the time. If people are picking up the phones and taking calls, they can mention it as part of the sales process. Every time you meet a new client, it's mentioned. It really wants to become the absolute core of your business. So as soon as someone asks your staff, what is it you do? They can immediately say, you're USP. It should be able to roll off their tongue. So once it becomes the heart of your business, it will really start to become the thing you are known for and help you stand out from the rest. So, great, you've got it into your company culture. 



That's point number one. The second thing you want to do is make sure it's out there in all your marketing collateral. So when we say marketing collateral, we mean all your brochures, your flyers, your estimates, anything you're using. It wants to be highly visible on your website too. You can even put it at the bottom of your email signatures. What your USP is. Basically, you just want it absolutely everywhere. So it's very clear to people what it is you do that's different. Keep enshrining it in their minds. The client's got to come to see that you're better than anyone else that you're pricing against. And as we said, that's the only way to stop you competing on price. 



So communicate it effectively and then what will happen is other companies out there, they won't be communicating effectively, and you'll get the jump on them then, and you'll be one step ahead. So let's just think what we've achieved so far. Now we've found the USP, we've managed to work out what it is and now we've enshrined it in our company culture and now we've marketed it effectively. We've started banging on about it. Everyone knows what our USP is, it's everywhere on our websites and all our marketing stuff. Absolutely fantastic. The last thing we've got to do is deliver on it. It's absolutely crucial that if we say it, we've got to be able to deliver on it and offer exceptional service to our clients. 



And what will happen then is your clients will start noticing it and then you'll start seeing it in your reviews. You'll start getting reviews online and people will start talking about your USP and they'll do the marketing for you. So this is absolutely crucial. So you've got to be able to deliver on it, on what you say. And then you'll just see referrals coming in. And then people online that are looking at you at the first time they'll see your testimonials, how you're delivering on your USP, and you really will be standing out against others and it will just stop you competing on price. So USP is absolutely critical. It's a difficult thing to hone sometimes. It takes some time. You might change your USP over the years too. 



You might offer one USP at one point in your company sort of stage, and then as you get a little bit bigger, you might think, we can offer this now or we've got another service, or we do things slightly differently. Doesn't matter if it changes. But the point is, find something unique, bang on about it as much as you can and go and deliver on it.