Can you imagine what this will do to Company? It'll put it head and shoulders above its competition.

Many business owners often wonder why they should be unique. They wonder what's wrong with being a "me too" business.

The fact is that if you're unique, you're almost guaranteed to outperform and outdistance your competition. It's also a fact that a "me too" business will eventually go to wall.

Let me ask a question:

Do you set up shop before identifying and formulating your USP? If you do, don't!

Here's an illustration why...

You set up a provision shop in an area where there're already four of them operating in it.

The current market share is being split amongst four provision shops, and out of four, three of them are struggling.

By setting shop in that area, it means that current market share will have to be further split amongst five of you.

What makes you so sure that you'll be profitable if you're not unique and operate as an "also ran"?

The fact is that odds is really against you because you're no different from rest of your competitors.

The days where businesses compete on price and service alone is no longer that effective because potential customers can always get what you have to offer much cheaper and with a better service somewhere else.

What you really need is to be different and unique in order to outperform your competitors.

By now you can see how powerful a statement of USP is to your business. As I've mentioned in beginning, it is focal point around which your business is built. It forces you to be clear and define exactly what advantages your customers can expect from doing business with you.

And as such, it'll drive your marketing efforts and have a profound impact on your operations.

Coming up with a clear statement of your USP doesn't cost you money - just some of your time and thoughts. At end of day, it'll be time and thoughts well spent because of increase in sales and profits that you'll reap.

Just do it today; this step is absolutely crucial.

Copyright by Larry Lim, MarketingSphere

Larry Lim is a practising marketing strategist and tactician who dishes out highly effective marketing strategies and tactics.

Many business owners are also afraid that they'll be ripped off. Just in case you think that you'll be ripped off by offering guarantees, research have shown that this rarely happens as 99.5% of people are generally honest. Of course, there'll be a few moral rejects who'll take advantage of you but additional customers that you'll gain will more than offset few that'll take advantage of you.

Furthermore, very few people will go through process of actually returning something that they've bought, unless of course, you've infuriated them. If you're a savvy business owner or marketer, you should know better than to infuriate your customers.

Think about this - process of asking for a refund is a socially uncomfortable one; it takes confidence and self-assurance to ask for a refund even if you're openly offering one.

Now, I must add that in order for your guarantee to achieve objective of boosting your sales and profits, you'll need to bear following in mind:

1. You'll need to have a quality product and/or service

2. You'll need to address customers' deepest frustrations

3. There shouldn't be any unreasonable conditions attached to it

4. It should preferably be for at least a minimum period of 90 days or more.

An example of a strong guarantee will be:

"Try out product for a full 365 days! If it does not double your sales by end of 365 days, just return it and we will cheerfully refund your full purchase price."

I believe you can see power of above statement. It implies that you're so confident of your product that you're assuming all risks, not customer.

Once you've got over fear of reversing risk, you'll be ready to offer bold guarantees. A bold guarantee sends message to your potential customers that "you're reliable and your offerings are of high quality". It takes away risks associated with purchase of your products and/or services, and it also lends you credibility.

As you can now see, risk reversal is one of most effective ways to boost your sales and profits. Put this powerful marketing concept into practice immediately. Spend time on creating a sound and powerful guarantee, implement it, and you'll see your sales go through roof.

Copyright by Larry Lim, MarketingSphere

Larry Lim is a practising marketing strategist and tactician who dishes out highly effective marketing strategies and tactics.