Are You Irresistibly Attractive?

by: Kimberly Stevens

If you’ve done any reading on the subject of
marketing, you’ve certainly heard the term “Unique
Selling Proposition” or “USP.”

As a reminder, your USP is what positions you in the
marketplace --- are you, or what you sell, the best,
the cheapest, the fastest, the easiest, the longest
lasting, the most reliable, the most prestigious? Your
USP is what makes you distinct from your competitors,
but it’s often the thing first-time business owners
don’t fully understand.

Lara and I just started working together last month,
and one of the first things we had to tackle was her
USP. As a web site designer, she is part of a
well-developed marketplace often competing with
several other companies for every job.

“I really don’t know why they keep picking the other
guy. It’s so frustrating after I’ve worked so hard to
get in the door in the first place. The only way I
feel like I can get the job is if I underbid it, but
I’ll never be able to keep my business running that
way.”

“Well, you’re right,” I replied. “You shouldn’t have
to lower your prices just to get every job. There are
certainly web designers out there who are charging
less than you, but there are probably an equal number
of them that are charging more. So, if we assume that
there are companies hiring your higher- priced
competitors, then maybe price isn’t what every
prospect bases their decision on.”

“It sure has been for me. That’s always the reason
they say they didn’t choose me. It makes me think that
I’m going to have to lower my prices in order to get
any work, but like I said, I’m not charging anything
out of the ordinary. My hourly rate is at the market
average as far as I can tell.”

There were a couple of issues that we explored during
the rest of the conversation, including her pricing,
her competitors, her target market, her mission, etc.
But the one that really hit home was her USP.

Up until this point, Lara didn’t realize that she was
the one forcing her prospects to make their decisions
based on price. She was marketing using the
Competition Model instead of the Distinction Model.

In the Competition Model, your prospects see you as
offering the same service as your competitors. In
their mind, there is no delineation between what you
and your competitors offer and how you offer it. So
the only decision-making factor they are left with is
price.

If they think all web designers offer the same level
of web site design, can complete it in the same time
frame and will be equally professional, what’s left?
That’s right … price.

Think about how you make buying decisions. If you are
getting your clothes dry-cleaned every week and you
think that the three local dry cleaners all do a
decent job, will have your suits ready in two days,
and are equally friendly or disagreeable, aren’t you
going to go with the cheapest one?

But some dry cleaners pick up and deliver don’t they?
Some offer tailoring and mending services in addition
to dry cleaning. Others set up shop inside large
grocery stores, so you can knock out two errands in
one stop.

These things make them distinct from their
competitors. There are people who will pay a little
more in order to have their dry cleaning picked up.
There are others that will pay a little more to be
able to drop it off and pick it up at the same time
they are buying their week’s groceries.

If you don’t want to compete strictly on price, you’ve
got to be DISTINCT from your competitors. That way,
your prospects have something, besides price, to base
their decision on. By emphasizing that distinction in
your marketing efforts, you will naturally attract
those prospects who value your distinction.

And when you are Irresistibly Attractive, the sales
pressure is off. You just go out there, show them who
you are and what you can do, and they come to you!

So how do you make you and your business DISTINCT and,
therefore, Irresistibly Attractive? By creating your
Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

What makes you different than your competitors? Are
you faster? Do you deliver better quality? Are you
more responsive to their needs? Are you closer in
proximity? Do you specialize in a particular industry?

Take a moment to put yourself in the mind of your
prospects. If you were hiring someone to perform your
kind of service, what would you want?

You can practice by thinking about your own buying
decisions. If I was hiring someone to clean my house,
I would want them to:

do an impeccable cleaning job

show up on the scheduled day/time

avoid breaking/taking things

smoke outside of my house, if they smoke

charge $100 or less

If I could find someone to do these things for $65, I
would hire them. But, if I would have to sacrifice the
quality of their work or their reliability in order to
pay the lower price, I would go with someone else.
It’s important to me to have a clean house and to know
that I can count on that person to show up on
Thursdays before I have guests arrive on Friday.

So, here’s the process:

make a list of the things you would look for if you
were a prospect hiring someone to do your service

put that list in priority order

gather all of your sales materials together (e.g.
printout of web site, business cards, letterhead,
brochures, email signature lines, proposal, trade show
displays, newsletter, sales letter, direct mailers,
cold calling script, elevator speech, etc.)

set aside 1-2 hours to review all of your materials to
see what message you are sending to your prospects

revise your materials as needed

When you review your materials, try to look at them
with fresh eyes as a prospect would. After going
through them once and making notes about the
impression they set, go through them again
specifically looking for the top two distinctions from
your list.

Do your sales materials/tools really bring your
message home? Are your top 2 distinctions clearly
emphasized in your materials? Are there things you
need to add, omit, or revise in order to create your
distinct impression on your prospects?

Once you are communicating a very specific and
consistent message about yourself and your business,
you will find that you no longer have to sell.
Business comes to you – and it’s the kind of work you
like that pays you what you deserve.

About The Author

Kimberly Stevens is the author of the ebook series,
*The Profitable Business Owner: A Step-by-Step System
for Starting & Running a Successful Service Business*.
Download Sample Chapters & get her free MiniCourse,
*The 10 Most Common Mistakes Business Owners Make &
How To Avoid Them* at:
askthebizcoach

kim@askthebizcoach.com

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