Hey,
Standing out in business can be hard.
There are a lot of consultants competing for attention in the marketplace.
This leads to a lot of noise… which makes most marketing efforts become white noise…
The good news here is that your market generally will ignore your competition.
The bad news however, is they will also ignore you.
One of the ways to cut through the noise is to sharpen your USP…
USP stands for “Unique Selling Proposition”… In other words, the reason why your market should be talking to you… Not your competition.
Most consultants I speak to, struggle to articulate a decent USP.
Unfortunately, “I’m More Better” is not a good one.
Signs of a shitty USP are pretty obvious…
• Your business will be hard work to grow.
• Your prospects will be shopping on price.
• They will be asking you for more information, instead of handing over the cash.
• And, they simply won’t be buying from you.
The following question I considered when crafting a decent USP…
1. Can You Simplify: Simplifying the process your prospects go through will obviously help you stand out in the marketplace.
Simplification removes the resistance your prospects go through in achieving the outcomes they’re after, and therefore makes you more appealing and valuable.
It also reduces the barrier to entry, because you’re making it easier for them to begin.
This is great if your target market it Is more of a beginner market.
2. Can You Complicate: Improving the results your clients achieve by adding extra steps and specialisation will make you more appealing to advanced sections of the marketplace.
A more advanced target client will already have the fundamentals in place.
They welcome increased complexity, as a pathway to improved performance.
By adding complexity, you can become more appealing to this type of client.
3. Can You Make It More Exclusive: Often people try to appeal to everyone in an attempt to make more sales.
However, trying to be everything to everyone usually leads to being nothing to nobody.
By making your offer more exclusive, and reducing your audience size you can stand out more in your marketplace.
Some loose examples of this are… Coaching just plumbers OR Financial advice exclusively for people 10 years from retirement.
4. Can You Innovate The Process Or The Outcome: If you can create a new way of doing something… Or help people achieve an outcome previously thought impossible, you’re going to a stand out in your market.
As always, if you need help… Let me know…