Business Plan - Define your unique selling Proposition                                                                                                                                                                          

Why should any perspective customer buy your product or service rather than your competitions?

This is a question we could ask ourselves. However, I would propose that you should consider the customers view. In other words, you need for the customer to be thinking “why buy from anyone else”.

In this article, the fifth in the business planning series of 10, I will propose a process for articulating what makes your product or service unique, different or just plain better value for money and how you communicate this to your market place.

If we consider the customer experience of dealing with your business we need to think wider than just the product or service its self. How did the customer find out about you, how easy was it for them to contact you, what was their buying experience, what is their ownership experience and after sales service like?      

OK, a lot to think about so let’s make a start at getting your unique selling proposition statement sorted. There are just 7 steps to consider: -

Research your competition

(see article “Know Your Competition”)

Knowing what your competition can and cannot do is one key ingredient for you to be able to articulate your uniqueness. In my previous article I discussed a process for doing just this.

It is not just about knowing who your competition is and what they do, it’s also important to understand their strengths and weaknesses as well as your own.

Write down what is different, special or unique about your product or service

This is not just about your product or service. You need to consider the whole process from initial contact to after sales service. How easy is it for the customer find out about you, how easy is it for them to contact you, what will their buying experience be, what will their ownership experience and after sales service be like?               

Define these points in terms of advantages for the prospective customer

For each of the above points consider “what’s in it for the customer”. What is the advantage to the customer and will they value that?

Write a brief statement

In no more than 30 words write a brief statement that that explains what you do including the points you have now articulated above. This statement should focus on what you do and what is unique about your business, products of service.

Sanity Check

For each “claim” you make, make sure that you have processes in place so that you can actually deliver.

Get feedback

Get feedback from those critical friends (you know, those friends or business colleague that are only too willing to tell you which way is up!). What do they interpret from your statement, does it engage them, and does it get them to ask more questions about your business offer?

Refine the statement and then publish

Having received the feedback, modify your statement and, after verifying the revised statement, it is now ready to publish.

Remember, this statement must tell your prospective customer enough to get their interest in you and your business and for them to want to know more.

Of course, your short statement is not the full story of your unique selling proposition (USP). Your USP is the whole service you provide from making contact to the after sales service and experience in every detail. So, you need to be able to use your short statement to engage the customer, this is the headline.

A word of advice, avoid using vague statements like “flexible service”, “no job too small”, “unbeatable prices”, unless you can be specific. Vague statements can be off-putting and appear rather cliché to prospective customers.

Still To Come

There are just a few more articles that will be published over the next two weeks: -

• Establishing Your Sales Plan

• Establishing Your Marketing Plan

• Establishing Your Business Costs

• Defining Your Business Processes

• Plan-do-Check-Act - Keep The Plan Alive.

With these articles are free templates for you to download and use towards your final business plan.

Graham Cripps

Results Consortium Ltd

www.resultsresesults.co.uk

Sounds obvious doesn’t it? 

Everyone wants to save money. Most people realise that organised work saves money.

The point is – “How do I get to be organised?”

Two things can help.

The first is PLAN-DO-CHECK-ACT

The second is 5 Stages to Workplace Organisation.

Here, we’re going to have a look at PLAN-DO-CHECK-ACT.

(See my separate blog for 5 Stages to Workplace Organisation) http://www.resultsresults.co.uk/blog/

Plan-Do-Check-Act is a simple, straightforward and easy to use system.

Its purpose is to make sure that your actions achieve what you want them to achieve. And very importantly, that we learn from the way we do things.

Consider going out to get some milk.

You don’t leave the house without a purpose, or a target in mind. You don’t suddenly decide one day “You know what; I’m going to leave the house, drive round for a while and see what comes up.” That would be silly – wouldn’t  it?

You know that you’re going out for milk. You know where you’re going to go to get it. You also have a plan of what route you are going to take. That’s your PLAN.

So you set out – you start on your DO. But hey! There’s a “No Entry” sign on roadworks, so you have to go through a detour. But that’s Ok, you can change the plan a little so you use a different route, but the final goal is the same – get some milk.

So you get to the shop. You pick up some milk. While you’re there your partner texts you on your mobile. “Pick up some bread as well”. So you get some bread. Your plan has changed again, but the core objective is the same – get some milk.

So you drive home. Your DO is complete. Some minor changes to the plan were needed, but the core objective was the same.

So you do a little CHECK.  “I got the milk, but then I had to get bread as well, and I had to use a different route”.

So now you ACT – you learn a lesson “Maybe I could think a bit more about what I need before I go to the shops. I’m going to do that from now on. I’m going to use a different route until I know the roadworks are clear”.

This all seems reasonable here in our “personal life”. We try to do things without wasting time and effort. That’s what we do in real life. But sometimes, that’s not what we do in business.

So we need to apply that same common sense from “Real Life” to business.

• Plan what it is you want to achieve, and how you are going to achieve it.

• Do carry out the plan and allow for modifications to the plan.

• Check whether the plan is working and decide what lessons can be learned.

• Act on the check by applying the lessons.

Notice that we’ve spent a lot of time on the plan. That’s because the old rule of “fail to prepare, prepare to fail” is actually true. If you do what you planned, and act on the checks on how well it works, your success rates will improve. If you don’t plan, you won’t know what you’re trying to achieve or whether you need to change your approach. If you don’t plan, you won’t really have a concrete objective – so how will you know if you are achieving it?

Be very careful though! Only change the Plan during the Do if it is absolutely necessary, and cannot be avoided. And make sure you learn the lessons from the need to change the Plan. That should make your next Plan more robust.

Planning what to do saves time and unnecessary expense.

Doing what we planned, and allowing for necessary modifications saves us time, effort and money.

Checking what worked and what didn’t allows us to learn from success and failure.

Acting on our lessons learned allows us to stop wasting time on things that don’t work, and to concentrate on things that do.

This all saves time, effort, expense.