Before you pick up the phone to call a prospect to sell horse trailer insurance services, you should know your USP. However, the USP needs to be more than how your business or solution is different. If you are still calling customers with a pre-memorized 30-second pitch about your business, you are in for a hard time closing sales.
In the past, the “how we are different” type of USP worked well. However today, prospects are bombarded with sales people every now and then and will quickly dismiss you when they smell a ting of sales in your communication. So, how do you effectively get the attention of your prospects and make then give you their attention, and probably an appointment for a presentation? Redefine the USP.
Let’s look at an example. How would you approach selling to horse trailer insurance services company? Read on for some tips.
Define Your Unique Selling Proposition
To make your USP work, it has to be about the prospect rather than your business or product. Yes, you are already unique in your own way, but how will prospects benefit by doing business with you? Prospects don’t care about your product; they want to know what’s in for them. Provide this in the USP.
Due to the differences in business offerings and practices, it is difficult to define a standard process of creating a unique selling proposition. However there are factors that cut across the broad when defining a USP. To define your USP, answer these two questions:
- Who is your ideal customer?
Who is your business targeting? Which prospects will appreciate your products and/or services? The answer to these questions will help you determine your ideal customer. The ideal customer should find value in your offering, needs the offering and is capable of making a purchase decision. Not all prospects will fit the profile of your ideal customer.
- What makes your ideal customer prefer you over the competition?
What appeals most to your customer? Establish what will make a prospect choose you rather than another sales person. Leverage on this reason to define your unique selling proposition. For instance, if you have a way to make customers improve their lives, factor it in your USP.
Hone a Winning Unique Selling Proposition
- i) Solve your prospects’ pain
When creating your USP, focus on the pain of customers and how you can solve their problems.
You know who your ideal customers are and what aspect of your business appeals to them. Use this information to formulate a USP that will outrightly appeal to them. When you are meeting a prospect, don’t ask them what their problem is. You called for the meeting, so why should they tell you their problem?
Instead, bait them to tell you their pains. For example, you can say: “When working with clients like you, I’ve found many of them to have a problem with ____”. This way, the prospect can open up whether he or she has a similar problem and then you can position your product to show how it solves the problem.
- ii) Be Unique
Healthy competition is good in any industry. If your USP just slightly gives you an edge over your competition, this is good in the short term. However, you will not be able to scale your conversions past that simple edge.
Merely competing with the best is not the right way to go. Strive to be unique. It is better if your business is known for a unique aspect rather than being grouped as one of the best. When your USP is unique, you control the rules of the competition.
Remember, your unique selling proposition should tell prospects why they should choose you. It should outline how you will benefit the prospect and make them want to take action.