Michele Attias Life Coach

How Do I Use My USP As A Client Attraction Magnet?

The Unique Selling Point (USP) is the term used to define what makes you different, unique and more importantly, why people should come to you for business as opposed to someone else.

Wikipedia States:

 

The unique selling proposition (USP) or unique selling point was developed by pioneer Rosser Reeves who suggested that, "Differentiation is one of the most important strategic and tactical activities in which companies must constantly engage." The term has been used to describe one's personal brand in the marketplace.

 

When researching this blog article, I read through a great number of websites who all stated that the USP starts with the following:

  • Finding your ideal customer.
  • Finding out what they want.
  • Making sure you're meeting that need.

I would like to propose that you turn this on its head and you start with the following:

  • Find your USP
  • Find out what you want and how you want to put this across.
  • Communicate this to customers through your website content, branding, etc
  • Those customers attracted by your USP will follow

This ensures you are always commencing from an authentic place, because to do otherwise as the websites I mentioned earlier suggested, would mean suspending your USP to mould to the customer, which is a sure way to begin to attract customers you really don't enjoy working with.

When starting out, creating a USP might seem like you will be leaving out some potential customers. It’s a natural tendency to want to please everybody, the problem is that when you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.

The goal of your USP is to connect you more strongly with some people, and not so much with others. This is what you want because when you connect strongly with a smaller audience, your influence can spread much quicker. 

Start your search for your USP with these 6 questions:

  • What is unique about my family, place of birth and culture? This is starting from the core of who you are which does influence your business. 
  • Why did I get involved in this business? The big 'Why' of why you do this type of work is really important and will give you focus.
  • What are my strengths? These are talents and natural resources that we are born with. You might have creativity, musical or artistic ability, making people feel at ease, good organisational ability.
  • What am I passionate about?  What makes you feel alive and has the potential to make you jump out of bed in the morning. What do you enjoy doing so much that time just goes by so quickly that you are completely unaware of its passing? Essentially, when are you in the 'flow'.
  • What are my levels of expertise? This could include qualifications, courses you have been on, perhaps you have specialised in an area of your work in the past.
  • What are my skills? These include abilities like computer skills, cooking, decision-making, financial expertise, managing, negotiating, organizing, persuading, presenting, problem-solving, selling, teaching and training,
  • When have I felt like a success? Pick incidents from your life when you have felt like a success and what made this so.

This might take a few days to complete, but give yourself the time and space to do so. It is interesting to note that after you read through your lists and begin to note all the above, you might begin to notice a theme running through it that identifies where you're different to your competitors. Start crafting a statement that defines what makes you unique and special. By reviewing your lists, you should now have a good sense of this. Which of all of the words in your lists describe what make you perfect for the work you do for others? Keep refining the list

Edit your statement until it is short, snappy, to the point and describes your uniqueness.

You should now have your USP in manageable form. The final step is to make sure that it not only describes what is unique about you, but also describes what you enjoy doing and who you enjoy being. You want to make sure that you are selling yourself for a life that you will love.

Start telling potential clients what you can do for them and why you are the unique person to do it. 

Share your USP in your marketing materials, at networking events, on your business cards, on your website and any other time when given the opportunity. 

The brilliant reason why this method works is that you are using every aspect of your authentic self to carve this out, you are not copying or moulding to anyone. This is what will act as your magnet to attract the customers who are attracted to every aspect of your branding, it speaks to them.  At the end of the day, the only reason you need a USP at all is to answer that question, Why you? Why should anyone buy your product or retain your services and What do you have that makes it worth anyone’s time or money?

So after doing this excersize, what’s your unique selling proposition? If you have any great examples of your magnetic USP please share in the comments below. 

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