You see and hear them all day, every day. Those loud ads proclaiming Sale! Dirty! Buy now! We are the best! Nobody beats our quality! Best price! In fact, you see and hear those statements so often that your brain just becomes desensitized to them, right?

So what makes you think that telling your website visitor that ‘You are the best’ or that you have ‘The highest quality’ is any different? Your website visitor is just as impervious to those claims as they are to the advertising they see and hear all day long.

The key to grabbing your visitor’s attention and turning viewers into cash paying customers is to clearly design your USP or Unique Selling Proposition. Show your visitor that you are not like the others. Show them that they simply can’t get the same product or service anywhere else. When you can do that, you will have established your USP or Unique Selling Proposition.

Before you start playing around with your USP, consider the dictionary meaning of the single word. The definition is:

only [yoo-neek] existing as the only one or as the only example; single; solitary in type or characteristics; not have equal or equal; incomparable; incomparable

So if you want to be unique, it means that whatever you include as your USP simply shouldn’t be available anywhere else.

To get started, do my USP acid test. Write down the two or three things that you think make you or your company or product unique. Now, take your competition’s logo or name and put it at the top of the list. Could you say the same about them? If you can, you are not unique.

How do you create or arrange your USP? To fix or create your USP, start by looking at every aspect of your business. Just because ‘this is how we’ve always done it’ doesn’t mean it’s not unique and you certainly can’t assume your prospect understands it.

Consider the following tips to create your USP:

Don’t take anything for granted: Look at everything from their process and charges for quotes, shipping, delivery, after-sales support, training, product updates, how-to videos, their hours of operation, product setup and installation, technical support, free upgrades, extra bonuses. It doesn’t matter what it is that makes you unique. It is the fact that you are unique. You just have to show it to your prospects.

Your guarantee: In many cases, when working with small business owners, warranties are overlooked as part of a USP. As an example, I worked with a custom kitchen cabinet manufacturer to develop a new website to improve visitor response. After a review of the entire process, we decided that one aspect of its USP would be its limited lifetime warranty. They initially claimed that the entire industry offered some form of warranty, although no competitor clearly claimed the lifetime warranty. What was even better is that most of the competing websites didn’t even mention a guarantee. Can the guarantee of your product or service make it unique?

Customer Recommendations: In many cases, your customer testimonials can include helpful tips for building your USP. It’s not important that Mr. Smith said ‘you were the best’. That’s why he thinks you’re the best. As an example, a local mattress retailer ran radio ads with customer testimonials. Of course, the retailer offered free next-day delivery like the rest of the industry, but its delivery people donned ‘disposable booties’ so they wouldn’t track dirt and grime into customers’ homes. One customer testimonial proclaimed that those simple little booties showed her that “the company really cared and they were the only company I would ever buy a mattress from again.” Although it was only part of the retailer’s USP, it did make an impact.

Remember that your USP should be just that; only! Take my litmus test until you simply can’t say the same about your competitor. To help create or correct your USP, remember

– Look at every aspect of your business
– Do not take any aspect or process for granted.
– Your warranty could be what sets you apart from the rest
– Look at customer testimonials for additional ideas.

Most importantly, don’t forget to include a part of your USP in your elevator pitch. After all, your elevator pitch is worthless if you’re not remembered.

Live, Love and Benefit from your Passion; Otherwise it’s just another job!