Learning #12 – USP IS BS

Our light-hearted learnings for 2021

Back in the day, we used to ask clients what their USP was. Typically, a customer would reel off a load of different supposed competitive differentiates. Expertise, quality, people, culture – all the usual suspects, which are often valid, but don’t really constitute a singular USP.

We are here to tell you that that’s okay… You don’t need a singular USP.

Look at your last five client wins. I am 99.9% sure they did not all choose you for the same USP. It is much more likely that they chose you for a variety of reasons, and I guarantee the priority order of that decision criteria was different for each of them. That’s because every buyer is different… Sure, they will all have similarities, but the buttons you need to press will vary wildly between them all. 

Seasonal solution: Take the time to really understand what is important to a client or prospect, and then morph your offering around the specific needs of that client, rather than going out with the same USP-related messaging to all of them. It starts by asking good questions and really, really listening. Then, you will be able to demonstrate why you are uniquely placed to support their, equally unique, needs