Let me ask you a question:

If you had to hire a craftsman to do some work for you and you get several offers from several craftsmen for the same work – they all look the same – but one is 30% cheaper, which one would you hire?

If you are going to buy something, and all products look the same, but one of them is 20% cheaper, which one would you buy?

Well, if you´re like me, given the fact that anything looks pretty much the same and the only difference that I can see seems to be price, I´ll buy the cheapest.

 

Here is the problem:

If your product or service is seen by your prospect as a “commodity”, if your prospect is thinking “they are pretty much all the same” then, to make the sale, you´ll have to compete on price and sacrifice your profits and sometimes even your business!

So, your goal must be to get out of the “commodity” perception by showing your prospects how you are different (and better) and WHY they should care about it enough to choose you and – hopefully – pay premium prices.

And that´s what the “Unique Value Proposition”, or sometimes called a “Unique Selling Proposition” (USP) is all about.

 

Your marketing should always be centered around your Value Proposition (or “Unique Selling Proposition” – USP) to avoid the “commodity-trap” and to stay in business and be profitable.

 

Your value proposition, to be powerful, should answer the following questions:

 

1. Who are your ideal clients ? (who would benefit the most from your service and product)
2. What are their clear benefits from working with YOU (if possible, concentrate on the once that are observable, specific, tangible and measurable!)
3. How exactly are you different and better? (Why should they choose you?)
4. What is the proof? (Are there testimonials and/or guarantees?)

 

Ideally, you want those 4 questions covered in one sentence, just like the famous “Domino-Pizza” example:

 

The goal is that your ideal client´s reaction to your value proposition should be: “Yes, that´s exactly what I want!”

 

Now, often it takes some testing until you find the best performing Value Proposition.

For example, when Reebok tested a new headline on the website, their sales increased by 40%!

The great thing is that today in lots of cases such testing can be done with a rather small budget of less than $100.

 

Now, if you´re in a situation where you feel that your prospects don´t seem to see the difference between you and your competition or don´t value it enough to choose you and pay premium prices, first thing you´ll need to fix (or come up with) is your Unique Value Proposition.

 

Remember the questions I asked at the beginning: that is exactly how your prospect are seeing you – as “just another product / service”, and that´s why they are buying the cheapest and haggling over price.

 

If you´d like to get our feedback on your Unique Value Proposition free of charge, or if you´d like us to help you come up with a great Value Proposition to make it more powerful in terms of revenue and profits – Guaranteed –, just Let Us Know and we´ll be happy to help.

 

To your success,

 

 

Kiril

4MyBusiness