Our prospects are more skeptical than ever. They are hit by hundreds of thousands marketing messages each year… all promising more than the last. How do you break through their skepticism?
A study in Harvard Business Review gives us some help.
First… DON’T pile on benefits. You would think the more benefits the better… but in actuality adding more benefits actually dilutes the power of all the benefits.
Instead, find that one thing you do better… and different… from all your competitors. You can do this by thinking like a client. This is the question you need to answer:
“What is the MOST important thing to keep in mind about what you are proposing?”
By focusing on this question, you’ll be able to create a much more effective Unique Selling Proposition because…
- It will put a laser-like focus on the one or two things that make you different from your competition.
- It will prove you understand the client’s real pain.
- And it recognizes that people don’t have time to do a lot of research… they just want the bottom line.
To construct your answer to this question, think about structuring it around three points:
- How are you similar to your competitors? —By doing this you remove any arguments that your competitor is making about how they are different or better than you. You make the point, “Yeah, we do that too.”
- Make a point of how YOU ARE different. What are the one, two or three things that you do… or offer, that none of your competitors do?
- Make a point on how you view the client experience differently than all your competitors.
You must get to the point where the client no longer thinks, “Yeah, my guy does that too.”
And instead says, “Wow, nobody does that! I need that!”
If you do not put the time and effort necessary to really lock this down, you will forever be just another voice… in the crowd of voices, screaming for your prospects money.
