in Become The Expert by Les Tatum

What Is Your USP? Don’t Have One? Good Luck!

What is your USP? USP stands for Unique Selling Position. It is the one thing that sets you apart from all of your competition. It is the thing that lets your potential customers and clients know that they should pick you, it lets them know in a minute or less who you are and exactly what you can do for them, your elevator pitch if you will. In this article you will learn what a USP is, and how to create one for yourself. You need to have a USP if you want to be remembered in the massive sea of marketers out there.

Anyone can say they are an SEO expert, or an article writer, or a product creator, etc. But, if you can say, “I’m the guy that can teach you how to get 500 unique hits to your website over night” or “I can show you how to write a high quality article in 5 minutes or less” or “My product creation method will have you creating 5 new high ticket products per week” or whatever. You want to be that guy, or lady. You want to be the one that your potential customers say, yeah I know that guy, he’s the one that can do……

Your unique selling position needs to be something memorable to your clients but also something that gives them clear and immediate benefits. If you say “I’m the guy that can help you double your business 5 years from now”, they are gonna think then I’ll find you in 5 years. You need to tell them in just a couple sentences what you can help them with right now. “I’m the guy that can get you 500 PR 5 backlinks in 7 days or less”, something like that works much better don’t you think?

How do you create your USP? Well you simply take a few minutes to think about what it is that you do and how you want your business to appear to your clients. Create a few sentences that will convey the nature of your business to your potential clients while building intrigue and interest. If I said to you, “I can SEO your site in a week or so and get you a few back links” you would think yeah whatever I can do that. But, if I said to you, “I can show you how to leak proof your sites SEO and get you 100 .edu back links in 48 hours or less” you would be a lot more inclined to listen to what else I have to say. Just think, if I was in an elevator with my perfect prospect, what would I tell them in a minute or less that would have them reaching for my business card and have them excited about meeting me.

You may even have several unique selling positions, one for each type of client or situation. You would want to pitch differently to someone at a marketing conference than you would at a supermarket. You may even want to have one for each of your products, that way you can ask somebody when you meet them, what they do or what they would like to do with their business and you can whip out the one of your USPs that most closely matches the customer. For instance, if they say that they are a real estate agent looking to advertise more online, you may say well I’m the guy that can show you 5 ways to get new clients online this week. Or if someone said to you, I’m a marketer but I’m stuck at a plateau in my income level and I would really like to break through that, you may say something like, I can show you 5 ways to turn your current products into high ticket items to be able to charge more for them and get you more income from the same basic products.

Whatever is unique about you and your business that can provide benefits to your clients will be your USP. Just think and you will find something that is unique to you. Everyone does things their own way so there is always going to be something about your business that is unique to you even if you are doing the same things everybody else is doing, you can present it in a totally unique way.

I hope by reading this article you have an understanding of what a USP is and how to create one for yourself. Here’s a challenge I want you to do right now to take advantage of this info immediately…

Take out a piece of paper, or a notepad file, or whatever you use to take notes on. First write down the nature of your business. What is it that you do in a nutshell. 3 sentences max, ok? This can be a general statement about your business. Then, under that, write as many USP statements as you can think of, number them and just keep writing for 5 to 10 minutes if you can. Keep them to a few sentences each if possible. Then, once you can’t think of anything else, go back and read your list. Pick out the best USPs that will pertain to a majority of situations and memorize them. This is what you will say to people when you meet them and they ask what you do. Pick your top 2 USP statements and keep them always on the tip of your tongue. If you only want to have one USP that’s fine, just have it ready to use when you need it. You can always expand on it later, just have something to tell people.

Another good idea is to put your main USP on your business card and website. People will remember you more when you are the guy that can do….

Thanks for reading! After you do the exercise, post your USP in the comments. I would love to hear what you came up with. If you would like a critique, say so in the comment and I would be happy make a comment. Thanks!