Step into your customer’s shoes

Every day your prospective customers are asking themselves the same question about your business. Your response to this question and how you communicate it can mean the difference between your business thriving and going under.

So, what’s this all important question that your prospects are asking? It is this – “Why should I choose your business/product/service over all other options – including doing nothing at all?”

Our world is full of choice. For any problem there are countless solution providers vying for your prospect’s attention.

With so much choice around, what is it that makes your offer stand out from the crowd – and what makes it compelling enough to overcome your prospect’s natural inertia and have them reaching for their wallets?

Here’s a task.

Grab a pen and a sheet of paper and write the above question at the top of the page. Spend the next 10 minutes brainstorming your response.

Approach it as if your ideal customer has just walked into your premises and asked you the question directly. What would you say? Try to talk in terms of benefits to the customer rather than features of your product or service. You can think of a benefit as specific outcome that the customer will get from using your product or service.

For example, a benefit of hiring an accountant is that you will not have to worry about getting a nasty call from the tax office.

Once you’ve finished brainstorming, highlight the most compelling one or two benefits and summarize them into a short statement.

If you like you can call this your positioning statement or USP (Unique Selling Proposition).

But don’t stop there. Your positioning statement won’t do any good gathering dust on your desk. It must become the central theme of all your marketing efforts and you should take every opportunity to communicate it to your prospects and customers.