Getting rich in sales depends on the eye of the beholder

USP, no that's not a dyslexic acronym for the people that drive brown trucks. The Unique Selling Proposition is a vital ingredient in the success formula for anyone who has to sell anything - which means it is not only a skill for sales types, it is the image people who hire you, fall in love with you, and generally put up with you in all facets of life think about you.    

     To get a handle on developing a dynamic USP, just read some advertising slogans that you will see over and over that someone thought would be just the right thing to say. These are the same people that prove to themselves that advertising doesn't work when the phone never rings. In the vast wasteland of dumb cliché lines, here are a few examples:

     "For all your real estate needs," comes to mind as one of the biggest wastes of time. Buyers are not motivated by all things needed. They have one major buying need. Smart advertisers know this and write copy that addresses the one person in the market right now ready to buy. You may say, well yeah, but I have to cast a big net to reach as many people as possible. If a million people watching the hottest new sitcom are 'exposed' to your ad, but not one responds, your great claim to be all to all who are out there is wasted.

     Imagine instead a specific targeted statement such as, "Save over $300,000 on this lakefront home listed for a very limited time as a short sale."

     True, the entire audience may not know what a short sale is, can't qualify, or have no thought of investing. However, what if only one percent responds? Well, that's ten thousand  potential buyers. Of course using a national campaign is taking it to the ridiculous as an example, so what if we travel back to reality where you can make an impact. Let's say you direct mail an average zip code of ten thousand. That delivers one hundred buyers. Talk to any real estate agent stuck in an empty open house, amidst the balloons, and trays of left over cookies and ask them when was the last time a hundred for real ready to buy prospects showed up. They will stare at you like you are a frog, then shoe you away like some annoying reptile.

     Some other award losing statements are:

     "Service is our goal," another waste since no one will believe it. Anyone can claim they're great at service, but many times they are the same that will also say, "The check is in the mail."

     Consumers have been burnt. Consumers are smart. Consumers control your business.  Consumers know that, first of all, service isn't a goal, it's a requirement.

     So what does this have to do with you as get ready to order your next stack of catchy business cards. First, let's find out where all this study of slogans started. Unique Selling Proposition was first proposed as a theory of successful advertising campaigns in the early 1940s. It states that such campaigns made unique propositions to the customer and convinced them to switch brands. The term was invented by Rosser Reeves of Ted Bates & Company. Today the term is used broadly in any number of fields.

     As you recall such statements as, "M&M's melts in your mouth, not in your hand," you can thank Rosser and the legends of advertising gurus that followed in his footsteps. He believed the purpose of advertising is to sell. He insisted that an advertisement or commercial should show off the value of a product, not the cleverness of a copywriter. His most typical ad is probably that for Anacin, a headache medicine. The ad was considered grating and annoying by almost all viewers but it was remarkably successful, tripling the product's sales. In 7 years the 59-second commercial made more money than the movie Gone With The Wind had in a quarter-century. He argued that advertising campaigns should be unchanging with a single slogan for each product. Never to utter the words, "All your anything needs."

Here are some points of interest in building a perfect USP, according to the man that created it:

The product being sold must actually be superior, and no amount of advertising can move inferior goods.

Successful advertising for a flawed product only increases the number of people who tried the product and became dissatisfied with it. If advertising is effective enough and a product flawed enough, the advertising will accelerate the destruction of the brand.

It is a waste of money to claim uniqueness that doesn't exist, such as the claims about service mentioned earlier. Money is better spent developing some kind of meaningful advantage into a product before launching a costly advertising campaign to promote it.

Brand image advertising is less likely to be successful than claim-based strategy. If the claim of benefit is not clearly spelled out, consumers may get an image much different that what they intended. An example of this was a massive billboard back in the 1980's that pictured a very pretty woman on the phone with the quote, "He's great with my son, and he drinks Johnny Walker red." The ad genius must have wanted to convey that really cool people drink the best scotch. Well, the image could be stated that this unfortunate lady was a divorced single mom dating a drunk.

Every product has a number of benefits that might be claimed. The secret is to pick the benefit that will excite people positively about what you do.

And finally, Reeves pointed out that to work, advertising has to be honest.

     On that note, and this is true, couldn't make it up, a friend in Virginia comes to mind who is a successful real estate investor. His business card state, "Professional BS Artist. And dancing fool."  Even good ole' boys from the country can have a way with words. His USP let's you know right away who you're dealing with.

Here's a checklist to develop your USP:

Make a list of all the features and benefits of what you do.

How many competitors do the same things?

What do you do better than anyone?

Narrow it down to the top three features?

Of these top three features, what is the biggest benefit to your next customer?

Remember features are things, benefits are feelings.

Benefits are answers to their wants, desires, and problems.

Identify the most compelling feeling you can create in the mind of your prospect.

Once discovered, boil that statement down to as few words as possible. A good billboard uses less than eight words.

After drafting your USP, write it down in a list of bullet points to see how it competes with these slogans that have stood the test of time and earned millions in revenue.

"_______________________________________"  (My USP)

"Got Milk"   (California Milk Processor Board)

"Every kiss begins with Kay"  (Kay Jewelers)

"A Diamond is forever" (DeBeers)

"Like a good neighbor."   (Sate Farm)

"You're in good hands." (Allstate)

"Have it your way." (Burger King)

"You deserve a break today"  (McDonalds)

"With a name like ___ it has to be good"   (Smuckers)

"Just do it." (Nike)

"Be all you can be" (US Army)

"Breakfast of Champions" (Wheaties)

"Good to the last drop" (Maxwell House Coffee)

"Be there, or be square."   (Every drag strip from Southern California to South Florida)

     At the end of the exercise, it's easy to see how hard it is to create a competitive USP. Good luck an best wishes on your adventure to beat all expectations and exceed your wildest dreams of success.