Start from scratch. Go back to the basics. If there is something you are doing wrong, change it and improve it and improve your profits!
If you want people to come to you and do business with you ask yourself this question:
“Out of all the businesses out there in the world, why would someone come to me instead of my competitors?”
In the past it was enough just to have a business with a half decent website or an open door at the front of your store, but things have changed and have changed permanently. Although everyday we hear about the recession and how no one has any money, this is rubbish, people do still have money! There are still Billions of pounds out there in the economy to get your hands on. However people are, now a days, more careful in regards to where, how and who with they spend their money. People want more “bang for their buck” and want to spend it with someone they know will deliver.
Due to this is it no longer enough to say “We will give you great service and quality second to none” Why? Because these two statements are the minimum requirements for any business in today’s economy, which renders putting them on the front of your brochure and bragging about them all the time rather pointless and meaningless. You don’t want to be making a song and dance about how your business provides your clients with the minimum requirements all the time do you?
To put it into an everyday example for you, if you walked passed a restaurant and it had “We have never poisoned any of our customers” across the front windows you are most probably not going to eat in there.
So instead of saying the same as everyone “Great service, Great quality etc.” You need to come up with a USP. A unique selling point is exactly what it says on the tin, something that sets you apart from your competitors which is one of many answers to the question I asked you at the start of this article. Sounds tricky? But it isn’t. Just by the fact that you have read this far into this article means that you are already streaks ahead of most business owners out there, as most business owners will not have even taken the time to sit down and even come up with a USP. It’s like the old tale of out running the lion, as long as you can out run the other guy you will be fine!
One easy way to create a Unique Selling point is to sit down and make a list of all the things that people in your industry, including yourself, really hate and when someone mentions them they, and you, walk away without doing any business. Then simply use these points and promise you will not do them even work it into a guarantee. Take an example of a garage, which one would you do business with. The garage that says “All payments are final and we cannot be held responsible when your car has left our premises” or the garage that says “If something goes wrong, we will fix it”.
Always remember that if you wouldn’t sell it to a friend then you should not even think about selling it to a client. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful tools out there, never under estimate the power of a recommendation. And always remember bad news travels a lot faster than good news.
