What is your USP?

[imageonline]

What do you offer customers to tempt them to buy from you and not a competitor? Dicounts, freebies.
What works for you?
What have you tried that made no difference?

[RoseRover]

My USP is that we will make the furniture that the customer wants to their spec without being seen as so exclusive that it will be out their price range!! So many bespoke furniture makers have lots of pretty pictures on their sites and no prices whatsoever.

What doesn't work for me is discounts!! A couple of time I have tried limited time 10% discounts and if anything, enquiries dropped!

Rose

[TotalWebSolutions]

Our USP is that no other company in the UK offers the same range of services as us under one company - domain registration, hosting, ADSL/SDSL and PCI Level 1 payment processing.

New start up companies can come to us knowing that they have one port of call for all these services and knowing that they can pick up the phone and speak to our dedicated support team for advice or support on all or any of the above services.

[Place of design]

Our USP is that we offer professional product photography and website design all under one roof. One stop shop

[Eagle]

Mines 'commercial in confidence'. ;)

[GreatSEO]

My USP is we are the only company that do what we do totally for nothing.

Its hard to sell that concept though and it really is FREE :')

Dave

[Pilfo]

Versatility! Challenge me....I can do anything!!

Pilfo

[sirearl]

Google slaying is our USP.

Earl

[J-Wholesale]

We're all things to all people.

Seriously though - USP is a buzz word that's over used. It doesn't have a place in all businesses, and trying to emphasise a USP when you don't really have one can look more than a little tacky. The reality is that most businesses don't have a USP, and most of them get by just fine.

We were having a discussion in the office today about our own USP (the phrase was never used - we were talking about what made us different to our competitors), and the conclusion we came to was that we had no way of knowing if our emphases of this aspect of our business was really benefiting us. All we did know for sure was that it was costing us huge man hours. The plan for next year is to 'phase out' our USP and see if it makes a difference to our customers - because if it doesn't, it will save us a huge wage bill.

My opinion is that in a few years this phrase will go the way of all buzz words - it won't be used anymore, and businesses will go back to trying to stand out from the crowd. Which amounts to the same thing.

Does anyone still talk about elevator speeches? This was all the rage a couple of years ago - everyone had to have one. And blogs - a couple of years ago every business was talking about how they needed to get blogging. Now, the only businesses who blog are those that genuinely benefit from it.

Ditto Twitter, Facebook, etc.

[debbidoo]

Honesty and integrity, I think. I suppose those are not qualities that are easily demonstrated if we've not already done business, but they've got me a lot of extra work from existing clients, as well as recommendations.

[cjd]

Disturbingly good cherry pie, a keen regard for weatherproofing, dexterity and a passionate belief in passionate belief.

[My Little Customs]

Disturbingly good cherry pie

That "USP" (I hate that term) is exactly why I have my voip via you - its all about the cherry pie ;)

[directmarketingadvice]

eriously though - USP is a buzz word that's over used. It doesn't have a place in all businesses, and trying to emphasise a USP when you don't really have one can look more than a little tacky. The reality is that most businesses don't have a USP, and most of them get by just fine.

Here's a question: how much better would they "get by" if they had a USP?

There are lots of businesses that are doing well without p1 Google rankings, but that doesn't mean that SEO doesn't have value.

While I think the idea of USPs can be over-stressed, they do address a question and the question is "if you don't know, clearly and specifically, why a prospect should buy from you, how the hell's he expected to know?"

Steve

[An Oasis]

…that we don’t need USP’s, that for competitors who have to work out if they can find an area to compete in… ;)

[sirearl]

Seriously though - USP is a buzz word that's over used. It doesn't have a place in all businesses, and trying to emphasise a USP when you don't really have one can look more than a little tacky. The reality is that most businesses don't have a USP, and most of them get by just fine.



On the button ,the most usefull USP is being 50 pence cheaper than the competition for most.;)

Earl

[AerialSolutions]

Our USP is that we are a family run business. Giving customers the confidence they are not ringing a 'one man band' or for that matter a national company. Our feedback shows that this is a major factor when customers are ringing around for work to be carried out. None of our competitors can offer this.