What Distinguishes You From Your Competitors
By: Catherine Franz | Posted: 26th August 2005
U.S.P., in marketing, is the acronym for unique selling
proposition. This is asking, "What distinguishes you from
similar products or services, even businesses as a whole.?"
Even after going through the regular method of finding out
what was unique about several of my products and services, I
still found it difficult to name them. Because of this I
developed a list of 50 questions to help me in easy to
answer format.
Always compare apples to apples -- at least as closely as
possible. Open your mind to the fact that somewhere there
is a similar -- guaranteed. Find the similar, or as closely
related to, competitor's product/service. Sit down with
their product or service material and review it line by
line. Look for an apple with the same target market.
Narrow down to one. If a service, chose a successful
service provider, higher revenue generation, with the same
target market.
Here are the 50 questions. Allow product and service to
mean the same for simplicity sake.
1. Make a list of their product benefits?
2. What are the benefits your product offers?
3. Identify the features they have that you don't have?
4. Identify the features that you have? Compare.
5. What features are better in their product.
6. What features are better in yours?
7. Why are they better (from a buyers perspective)?
8. What is their price?
9. What is your price?
10. Why is your price different?
11. What emotional needs/desires does your product meet?
12. What physical needs/desires does your product meet?
13. Does your product sell better at different times of the
year? And if so, why?
14. Are any of your competitors local? If so, where are
they?
15. What is the size of your competitor's business?
16. Where is this competitor marketing? Find their ads,
always keep them in your file.
17. What age and gender are they marketing to? Is the same
as yours?
18. What income level are they marketing to? What are you
marketing to?
19. What type of customer care do they offer? Research and
find out.
20. What type of customer care are you going to offer?
What's different about your customer care or how can it be?
21. Do you offer a special type of advice that they don't?
If so, what?
22. If you offer confidentiality, in what ways do you offer
this?
23. How is your confidentiality different than your
competitors? Or is it the same?
24. How fast does your competitor fulfill orders?
25. What type of answers do they have for their product?
Do they offer a FAQ (frequently asked question page)?
26. How fast do they answer questions? Submit one and find
out.
27. Do they offer a range of payment methods or are they
limited? What will be yours?
28. What is their customer service policy? Write yours and
know the difference.
29. How many ways can people contact them?
30. What are their "availability" hours?
31. Do they offer product discounts? What are their break
points?
32. How do they ship? Is it fr*ee or discounted in some
way?
33. Do they offer value-added incentives? This could be in
the form of complimentary documentation or time,
newsletters, or other items. What can you offer that is
better?
34. Do they offer gifts? Are they special or common? What
do customers have to purchase to get them?
35. Create a list of unique, customer valued gifts, that
you might use make theirs eat dust?
36. What special skills do their employees offer? What are
yours?
37. Does their staff have some special type of training?
Do you or can you get?
38. What makes you excited about selling this product?
39. How long have they been in business? Where are they on
the product maturity line? Where are you?
40. If you haven't been in business as long, can you
explain your quick success?
41. What do customers say about them? What do yours say?
Similar is good but unique statements help more.
42. What statistics do you have on your product that you
can use to show your uniqueness?
43. Do they have any celebrity endorsements? You can you
get that is already known by your customers?
44. How many ways does the product change people life
styles or mindset?
45. How long does their product last by the customer? And
yours?
46. Where is the product in the trend line with customers?
47. How frequently does your competitor introduce something
new in order to stay on the cutting edge? And you?
48. How fast can they get their product to their customers?
Can you do better?
49. Were they the first in developing this product? How
long ago was that? Do you have newness as an advantage?
50. Location can be a key. Where is your office or
distribution house located? Can you create more than one
location? Do they have other locations?
Everyone wants to eat at restaurants that have the most cars
outside? They trust that if other people are eating there,
they have to have good food. What can you do to have the
most cars in your parking lot?
About The Author:
Catherine Franz, multibusiness owner, previous CPA, veteran entrepreneur, speaker, marketing expert, author: http://www.AbundanceCenter.com
About the Author
Occupation: Writing Production and Strategic Coach
Catherine Franz, a Certified Marketing and Writing Coach, specializes in product development, Internet writing and marketing, nonfiction, training. Newsletters and articles available at: http://www.catherinefranz.com
blog: http://abundance.blogs.com/intothelight
blog://abundance.blogs.com/31dbbs
blog://abundance.blogs.com/pronfwriter
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Tags: perspective, marketing, acronym, competitor, unique selling proposition, target market, desires, similar products, service provider, apple, different times, revenue generation, customer care, apples to apples