Got one? Two? Three?

If you have competitors, then you should have at least oneUnique Selling Proposition (USP). The more REAL ones youhave, the better - for your Branding, your businessrecognition, and your sales!

We all have competitors, and the more you have, the moreimportant it is that you have a Unique Selling Proposition(at least one).

Allow me to explain. Let's use a recent example of a companythat sells laser toner cartridges... Do you think they havecompetition online? You bet they do, another category thatis swamped with resellers. Sound like yours?

The task of coming up with a USP can sometimes be tough. But every company needs this, it sets you apart from yourcompetitors. Let me stress this again, it is one or morereasons why prospects should work with you, or buy from you,or do business with you, instead of your competitors, period.

Let me narrow this a little further, it used to be if youhad the best price, - you got the business. Although stilla minor USP, price alone should not be the only consideration,it's not really that unique... Yes, you still need to becompetitive, but I don't want to be the cheapest guy...we're in this to make a profit, right? So don't make priceyour 'only' USP. Combine it with more value, somethingyour competition doesn't do, or doesn't offer.

O.K., back to our example. This company needed more thanprice, their product pricing is right inline with everyoneelse, so now what?

First of all, you need to know what your competitors do offer.

This is not a new concept. You can't compete if you don'tknow what you're up against. So take a little time andcheck out what they have. Do some research, you'd be surprisedwhat you might find - or not. Special offers, free shipping,a contest, great customer support?

Take a step back, imagine you are the customer and you do buytoner from someone a few times a year. If they do not get greatservice or it's just average, then chances are you can sway themyour way. This references "customer loyalty" another chapter,but it follows first getting the customer. So, let's get theprospect as a customer first.

Now, what do we do to sway these prospects? We offer them whatthe competition doesn't. This can be discovered with yourcompetitive research. Oh, and if you still haven't found aUSP or a few - then Hyperformance Media can help you withthis as well.

Write down every idea that you and your team come up with. Please don't worry about how silly they might seem (at the time),just brainstorm with the data you have gained. The reason I sayto include the silly ones, and others is because sometimes thoselittle ideas that you laughed at can actually be morphed tocreate your USP. No idea is too far fetched at this point, andusually the ideas you laughed at are, in fact, some things yourcompetitors don't offer. That's where we go next.

On the toner company we came up with all kinds, some were alreadyoffered by competitors, some were not. The idea is to initiallycome up with as many as possible. Here are some of what wenarrowed the field to (we started with about two dozen);

* Price (of course) * Free Shipping (varied by quantity/price) * Great Customer Service (so everyone says) * A Contest / Promotion (a what?) * Free Gifts (vary) * Referral Savings (with parameters) * Reminders? (to buy)

The next step is again to nail down our list, get creative, reallythink here. This alone still makes us more competitive(once implemented), even if others use the same approach. Why? Because before we did this, there was a ton of competition, andas we add these USP's we now narrow the list of our 'real'competitors. We are now more competitive within our industry,because we now offer things that (most) of our competitors do not!

We are getting more competitive immediately by implementing somesimple offerings. Let's take each one in this example and seehow we can use it or discard it to our advantage.

* Price - Still very important in any market, but very tied tocustomer value (or perceived value). If your product or serviceis not competing here - it does not necessarily rule you out,more on this later. However, this is usually where a shopperstarts (because it's easy), and you want to be considered withthis group. In this example, we agreed that (based on our research)we were in the market on price. So our price is competitive andthat's great, but not unique enough to get the business.

* Free Shipping - In our research, we found that most of thecompany's who were offering this service were just a coupledollars higher in price (covering their "free" offer).So while it may have some perceived value, it was not enoughfor this company to offer that, so we discarded this one. If however, your costs are such that you can ship for freeand still be competitive and profitable, this is a worthwhile USP.

* Great Customer Service - This is stated everywhere, making ittough for the consumer to know what is reality. It is hard tojudge until you are a customer. It would be more valuable tooffer testimonials of Great Customer Satisfaction. Not CustomerService, but Customer Satisfaction. There is a big differencehere. So we DO want to take some of our really satisfiedcustomers and put together, or request their testimonials. This is much more powerful than the words or promise of"Great Customer Service". So we will use this, but focusingon satisfaction with testimonials in our advertising piecesand website, etc.

* A Contest/Promotion - This covers a broad area, but can beextremely successful when implemented and marketed properly,so be creative and if possible, develop one for your business,product or service. After our discussions, and research,we have begun developing this idea. Example: Every time youbuy from us, you get another chance at winning "Free Tonerfor a Year". I know you're saying... free toner for a year- what are you crazy? Bear with me on this... first of all,most of their customers use 4 to 6 toners in normal use inone year (In our contest, we can actually cap that in ourrules, i.e., "Not to exceed 6 cartridges". So we associateour costs to that, which does not make this a cost prohibitiveprogram at all, depending upon the program success.Again, the mileage and customers we gain from our contest ispotentially huge, and if it works well, we continue it... ata maximum cost of 6 toners per year for a Grand Prize.

* Free Gifts - Don't discount this one, many people grab holdof these 'offers' to feel like they are making out. All elsebeing the same, the customer does get something for nothing. Now, if the item truly has no value, then the customer haslittle to no interest. And, it actually 'cheapens' the image

of your firm (be careful). We decided with our products andbusiness customer profile, this would not work for this business. But it could work for you or your products.

* Referral Programs - Another potential attraction (savings) foryour customer. I say potential because this type of referralprogram, like price, should not be the only USP. When used inconjunction with others, this can steadily grow your business(sales) as well. You need to develop a program that somehowrewards referrals. For example, it can be something simple like"Refer a customer to our business and when we ship their orderyou will receive or accrue credits, dollars, points, or 5% offyour next order". Get the idea? The key is to make it of value,and still keep it cost effective.

* Reminders - This was it! The big one, it was unique, it hasgreat value to the customer, and it reinforces our CustomerSatisfaction! This was also laughed at when first mentioned.

So? What was the plan? We acquire a software program that canbe set to automatically e-mail each customer based on their ownusage when their toner and supplies were potentially running low(i.e., 30 or 90 days or any date we choose. Once set-up it isall automated (cost effective)! It also gave us their e-mailaddress (important anytime) and with our reminders we could includeany special or seasonal offers that might further attract more sales.

So, what did this company find?

In a nutshell - Their products are priced well to compete. In thiscase, we discarded free shipping as not really cost effective. We stressed Satisfied Customers in all of our marketing materialswith testimonials and real-life examples. We are also developinga contest to further set us apart from our competitors. We couldnot find a free gift we thought would add any value to the customer(but continue to look). They are considering a Referral Program as well.

The real USP in combination with the others was our unique E-mailReminder System. At that time, no other competitor was offeringanything like this! This IS a Unique Selling Proposition and wasperfect for our example. Put all these together, and this companyhas numerous 'edges' on their competition. Once customers are awareof these differences that set you apart from all the rest - growthis almost certain! That company is in a much better position to 'own'their market online, or at a minimum increase their market share.

The more you get the word out, the more you're sure to benefit fromthese type ideas.

I understand this was a pretty broad example but you should get the idea.

You won't always come up with an idea that no competitor has or offers,but if only 3-6 competitors offer that same USP, you are still inthe top tier of your competition instead of lost somewhere un-noticedwhile buyers continue to purchase through your competition. You decide.

Use this article for your training, website, or newsletter by simplyadding the following footer;

Written by and Copyright © Scott Sedwickhttp://www.hyperformancemedia.com ss@hyperformancemedia.com

About The Author

Scott is the Founder and Sr. Project Manager forHyperformance Media, Inc. a website marketing company since 1996. His 24+ years experience in the computerindustry can help your business succeed online!

Copyright SS ss@hyperformancemedia.com http://www.hyperformancemedia.com