Alright, ingredient one in Stages and Ingredients of Business Growth:
Your USP.
In the set-up stage – which, remember, will return when for example you add new products, go for new markets – you’re trying to create traction.
You try and identify the ideal buyers, get your messaging right, develop your processes and go-to market strategies, and so on.
And unless you get your USP right – your Unique Value Proposition – everything you will do or try is going to be much harder than it needs to be.
Now, most people think that a USP is “I coach leaders” or “I’m a consultant who implements marketing systems”, but that’s not a USP.
A real USP is the unique outcome that a buyer wants, from you and not from someone else.
In my case it’s “I help nice people sell more”.
Three of the most important components of your USP are:
1. Problem:
Which means: what problem do people want solving, urgently and badly, and why do they want it solved?
2. Promise:
What beneficial outcome do you promise these people – in what way will their life or their business get better?
3. People:
Which kind of people want your solution, what do you need to know about them and learn about them?
These three ingredients have to be addressed, otherwise, you’ll never be able to land a client that wants to pay for your work.
So how do you do this?
Simple:
You ask questions.
Do market research.
Get on the phone – or, if you’re uncomfortable with that, you set up a questionnaire and you ask people to fill it out.
For more resources on how to do that, Google ‘customer interviews’ and ‘product-market fit interviews’.
You’ll find a ton of smart thinking on how to ask the kinds of questions that will tell you what your USP is.
Because here’s the secret of figuring out a USP:
For all your thinking in your bubble, your USP is what buyers tell you it is.
So to find that out, talk to people.
And tomorrow, we’ll look at the next ingredient:
How to define your ideal buyer.
Cheers,
Martin
P.s. I’m also recording short (2min) videos on this topic of growth stages and ingredients, so go here to watch them and follow me on Youtube to get notified.
