What Distinguishes You
From Your Competitors?
by: Catherine Franz
In marketing, U.S.P. is the acronym for unique
selling proposition.
The USP process answers the distinct question: "What distinguishes
your product or service from similar products or services, even
businesses as a whole?" After continually battling my wits using
other recommended USP models, I developed my own -- a list of 50
questions -- that gave me the same results, but faster. [For
simplicity, allow the word product to mean service as well.]
First, select an equal, or as closely matched as
possible, playing
competitor. Even if you sell apples, be careful in choosing your
comparison. A Granny Smith apple is different from a Winesap. Even
though both are a snack, each taste different and cook different. If
you think there aren't any equals, be mindfully open, somewhere
there is a close match -- guaranteed.
Second, gather whatever product information is
available -- print or
electronic. Lay the material out in singles for easy viewing. I like
to color code, using highlighters, each set of USP characteristics.
For instance, yellow for features, blue for the benefits. Later,
when I'm ready to compare the apples, I use the abbreviations S and
D for similar or different to mine. Poorly written material will
produce limited results in your analysis. If this occurs, record
their limitations and choose another player. Later, use this error
list as a checklist against your own created material.
If you are a new player, select a player with fewer
than two years
in business or with the same number of selling products, otherwise,
you will be working under "measurement stress." Measurement
stress
pleases the inner critic but will challenge your focus, energy, and
your commitment.
Third, answer the following questions to create a
list of their
unique selling points:
1. How long have they been in business?
2. Where is the product on the maturity line? Is it
a new product,
old, or somewhere in-between?
3. Are there any business stories they tell? What
type of story is
it and how do they use it?
4. What is the size of their business? What are the
advantages or
disadvantages to their size?
5. Highlight all the product’s benefits.
6. What product stories do they use? How and when do
they use them?
7. Identify and list the features the product
offers.
8. What features are least important to the buyer?
9. What features may be assumed to be there but are
not stated?
10. How is each feature used by the buyer?
11. Why would buyers see the feature as desirable?
Examine one by
one.
12. What is their price?
13. Where is this price in line with other similar
products in the
marketplace?
14. What emotional needs/desires does the product
meet?
15. What customer physical needs or desires does
their product meet?
Even services meet some needs and desires.
16. Does the product sell better at different times
of the year? If
so, when, where, and why?
17. Does the competitor have an office? Any
advantages to that
location? How about their website location or domain name
advantages? Disadvantages?
18. Where are they advertising the product? Find and
keep copies on
file.
19. Do they have a media kit? Obtain a copy.
20. What are the product’s demographics?
21. What type of customer care services do they
offer?
22. Do they offer any special type of advice?
23. What is the guarantee or warranty for the
product?
24. How does the product get into their customers
hands?
25. How fast do they fulfill their orders?
26. What type of questions and answers do they offer
to consumers
about the product?
27. How long does it take for them to answer
"contact us" type of
questions? Submit a few to find out.
28. What are their payment options? Is there room
for expansion?
29. What is their customer service policy?
30. List the number of ways their customers can
contact them? Test
and track each one.
31. What are their "available"
(contact/support) hours? Their time
zone?
32. Do they offer product discounts? What must a
buyer do to earn
them?
33. How do they ship? What are the advantages and
disadvantages of
each method?
34. Do they offer any value-added incentives seen
from the customers
point of view (freebies, documentation, support, newsletters,
ebooks, or other items)?
35. Do they offer purchasing gifts? Are they
one-of-a-kind type or
generic? What needs to occur to receive one? How often do they
change and why?
36. Brainstorm a list of unique, customer-valued
gifts, that they
don't offer.
37. What special qualities do their employees
contribute to the
product?
38. Do they offer any type of training?
39. What would make you excited about selling their
product?
40. What do their customers say about the uniqueness
of that
product?
41. What statistics do they have on the product that
shows, not
tells, its uniqueness?
42. Do they have any celebrity endorsements?
43. In what ways does the product change buyers life
style or shift
their mindset?
44. How long does their product last with consumer
use?
45. Where is the product in the economic trend line?
Is it at the
beginning or end?
46. How frequent does the company change a feature
on the product
and remarket it as an update? Examine the product’s history and look
for patterns.
47. How fast can consumers obtain the product?
48. Were they the first to develop this product?
When was it
developed and first marketed?
49. What are the advantages and disadvantages the
product holds in
the marketplace now? How is that different then when it first
appeared?
50. Where are the product distribution locations?
What are the
advantages and disadvantages for each?
Always remember, people are attracted to restaurants
with full
parking lots. The perception is...if lots of people are eating
there, it must be good. This is why all restaurant employees are
encouraged to park out front. A good USP process will provide the
support you need to gather the information needed to fill your
parking lot.
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