So a client has looked through your site and is interested in what you offer and then they ask, "So why should I buy from you, what's unique about your business?"
Gulp. Do you have the answer ready and waiting? Or do you mumble something about 'good value'? If you knew what was unique about your business, you’d tell everyone wouldn’t you? But how can you find your own uniqueness – the one thing that makes your business different? It is vital to know what it is because this one thing can prevent your customers going off to the competition.
This is where we go wrong, we are looking vainly for our uniqueness in things we’ve done in the past. So we often come up with rather vague, rather lame ideas that aren’t really unique, like ‘great customer service’. The easiest way to isolate your uniqueness is to CREATE it.
Start with thinking about what kind of customer experience you want to offer. Why did you set up in business? What did you want to give your customers? What do you want to be the best at? What do most people in your sector fail to offer? If your were your customer what would be on your wish list when buying your product or service?
If you ask people what Volvo stands for, ‘safety’ will be the most common answer. This is their uniqueness. They have identified it and told people about it.
If you’re a farm shop it might be 'a potato for every dish'.
You need to expand on this and explain why that makes you unique. So you grow 12 different varieties of potatoes including popular early potatoes like Rocket, old favourites like Wilja, unusual varieties like the nobbly Pink Fir Apple for salads and even heritage, purple skinned potatoes like Arran Victory, first named in 1918.
So choose a factor you want to be the best at and build your uniqueness around that factor.
Test it. Could your competitors just as easily say the same? If so it’s not unique.
Then flesh it out, explain it. Make sure your business focuses on it.
Lastly, tell everyone about it, through your website, your leaflets and when out networking.
