Are Unique Selling Points a Thing of the Past?

Absolutely not. Let me elaborate a little. If you look at most industries now as opposed to maybe 10 or 15 years ago, it seems obvious that there’s a lot more players in each space.

This in itself I don’t view as a problem. It’s just how it is and there’s no point worrying about things you can’t change. USP’s are certainly becoming harder to define.

In my mind, the challenge comes in the fact that there are fundamentally more players than ever before doing a very good job with great products, prices and services.

Now don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that genuine USP’s are a thing of the past because there are some great businesses out there that do have them. For many of us though, that’s simply not the case and we find that we struggle to come up with a selling point that is truly unique to us.

To that end some may feel they’re at some kind of competitive disadvantage, although if I’m honest, I don’t think this is the case and I don’t actually view the lack of USP as a problem either.

My advice is not to worry about it

I don’t think you need to be a pioneer or have reinvented the wheel to make your offerings, and more importantly the prospect of doing business with you attractive.

I work with a lot of companies hunting for new business in competitive landscapes and one thing people don’t seem to do enough of is positioning themselves as experts and really selling the value of working with them or other key people in the business .

It’s always important we position ourselves and our colleagues as experts and if you’re going to be that customer’s account manager, use that to sell the fact that they’ll always get an awesome service from your company. Think about it differently…

You don’t need a USP to win business. You are the USP, you need to win business.

It’s all about your attitude, credibility and ability to connect with your prospects on the right level that determines whether you win the business.

Check out this great example. This probably could have gone either way at this point but I think the salesperson did a really good job of selling himself and his company. (There’s also another good point in here about never being negative about your competitors!)

On 14 Mar 2010, at 11:17, Keith wrote:

Subject RE: MATHCAD Quote

“Hi Simon

Appreciate your quick response on this, much appreciated.

A simple question!

Why wouldn’t I purchase this same product from XXXXX at the same price and deal?

After all aren’t they the company that developed MATHCAD in the first place?

Sorry that was 2 questions!

Cheers

Keith”

On 14 Mar 2010, at 12:14, Simon wrote:

Subject RE: MATHCAD Quote

Hi Keith,

Not a problem, glad to help.

Good question! XXXXXX are a great company and I know several of the people there who I have always found to be very helpful and professional. MATHCAD is one of a whole host of Mathematical solutions XXXXX provide support for. We only provide MATHCAD.

Also, I will be your sole point of contact throughout the setup and managing your account personally going forward.

As a side note the software was created by Mathsoft whom PTC acquired in 2006.

I hope this helps . Any further questions let me know.

Regards

Simon

On 14 Mar 2010, at 12:14, Keith wrote:

Subject RE: MATHCAD Quote

Hi Simon,

Please find attached our PO for the Mathcad software as discussed.

Please don’t hesitate to call me if you need to.

Best Regards

Keith

He’s done a good job of creating additional value in the prospects eyes by using his existing credibility to re-enforce the fact that he’ll receive a good, headache-free service and will manage their account professionally, as he had up to this point, going forward.

The point is that YOU will often be the unique element that wins deals and often the only way in which we can differentiate ourselves is with our sales approach and the quality of our customer interacrions. There are some incredibly talented people out there that don’t do a good enough job of selling themselves.

Make sure you’re doing yourself justice.