6 steps to create a Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

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6 steps to create a Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Sell yourself in 30 seconds or less.

Scott Cantrell on October 25, 2011

One of your most important marketing tools is your unique selling proposition (USP).

Your USP is a statement of your business’s most significant benefit and point of differentiation to your target market. Simply put, it’s the reason why a prospect would do business with you and not someone else.

Follow these six steps, and you’ll have a powerful tool working to bring you new business.

Step 1 –Know your target market, write down everything you can about them (demographics, pyschographics and geographics) and what you would want if you were them. Put yourself in their shoes. Make a list of the benefits you would want from a business like yours and be as specific as possible.

Step 2 –Write down everything about the insurance services and products you offer. How does each one benefit your clients? Why is each one worth more than the required investment? How does your product or service work? How do you want the prospect to feel when they become your client?

Step 3 – Thirdly, you want to create your resume. List all the things about yourself that make you and your business qualified to solve the prospect’s problems. What experience do you have? What do happy clients most often say about you? What awards or credentials do you have?

Step 4 – Now take all these lists and analyze them. You are looking for two things. First, you are looking for specific positive aspects of yourself and your business that your competition does not have or is not telling his or her clients about. You may have to research your competition to see what specifically is different between you and them. The second thing you are looking for is the most common, most substantial benefit that you provide to your clients. Be specific. Just saying “great service” isn’t going to get you any new clients.

Step 5 – Begin to write a few sentences, statements or even paragraphs including all those great benefits for your clients. Be sure to include a couple of points about your service or product to create credibility around it and your business. Once you’ve got several written, read them all, combine the best from all of them, and then, edit the material until you think you’ve got the perfect USP, which shouldn’t be any longer than two to three sentences.

Step 6 – Finally, try it out. Let your peers read it. Promote it to your clients through promotional materials (e.g. flyers, website, business card) and ask them what they think about it. Is it effective? Is it accurate? Does it communicate a big benefit and point of differentiation from your competition? If people specifically mention something positive about it, or recall your USP on their own, then you know you’ve got a winner.

Here’s a sample USP template. This is not meant to provide an exact formula but to give you an idea of how a USP is put together.

“For the past (number of years in business), more than (number of clients helped) have been (verb of benefit – e.g. protected) by (your name or company), through (differentiation of process) to produce (biggest client benefits).”

Once you have put together what you consider is a strong USP, be sure to include in all of your marketing messages. It should become the foundation of your marketing efforts.

Scott Cantrell is the chief marketing strategist with Bottom Line Solutions, a leading sales and marketing firm providing cutting-edge methods, ready-to-use resources, and private coaching and consulting to insurance professionals across North America. To discover more prospecting methods, go to: http://www.InsuranceBottomLine.com/secretweapon.html