Do you have a USP – a Unique Selling Proposition? You should…

I hear salespeople complain about this all the time. “All my prospects care about is getting the lowest price,” they whine. “I can’t compete on price – Company X has deeper pockets and is forcing me out of business…”

They might be right, if they’re dealing in a commodity business. With commodities, ir really doesn’t matter much who you buy a given product from because all the products are the same.

If you want to know how most markets look to consumers, picture a paintball gun set on rapid fire, aimed at a spinning fan in front of a blank wall…

USP - Do you stand out?

The spatters on the wall are marketers’ products. If you want to be a more effective seller, for better prices, consider this…

How can your business be the blue paintball in the load of red ones?

What makes you different than your competitors? What do you do better than they do? What sets you apart?

Can’t think of anything? Sorry, pal, you’re a red paintball with no Unique Selling Proposition (USP), and until you find one, you’re doomed to compete on price…

For help findong a USP for your business, we offer one-on-one consulting by email, telephone or in person (within our local area).

Popularity: 28% [?]

Have you claimed your free copy of "Three Ways to Multiply Small Business Profits and How to Cash In On Them" - FREE by email yet? Do it now, before you forget...

You'll never miss any of the good stuff if you subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Do you ever wonder if people are talking about you or your business? Would you like to know what they are saying?

Google Alerts are a simple, effortless way to track your online reputation. If you run a small business, you should have alerts set up for your business name, as well as the names of your major products. Once in place, Google will email you every time they index something that matches the criteria you set.

Why would you want to know that? Consider…

You run a restaurant, and you get an alert that someone has posted a review on a popular site. You check it out, and it’s not flattering. Now what?

If comments are available, add your own comment. If you screwed up, ‘fess up. Mention what you’ve done to correct the situation, or explain how the experience was an aberration.

Ask your happy customers to go to the site and leave positive reviews.

Maybe the reviewer was very happy, and posted glowing comments. Use that review (with permission) in your other promotions. Print it out, frame it and hang it near your register or hostess station.

Similar strategies would work for any service business.

Another example…

You sell products for maintaining swimming pools, and you get an alert that Wile E. Coyote of ACME Pool Supply has introduced a new chemical that not only eliminates algae, but does it in a “green” way. ACME is one of your suppliers.

You can use the news to promote the new product to your current customers. Maybe you could run a pre-launch special and take orders for the product before it’s even available.

You can use the news in your regular advertising. Point to the announcement and let people know that you will be stocking the product.

As before, this will work for anyone selling products.

So how do you set up these web alerts?

1. Go to http://www.google.com/alerts . You should see some copy and a box like this:

Google alert form

2. Fill in your search terms.

3. Select the type of alert:

• News – scans Google News
• Blogs – scans blogs
• Web – scans websites
• Comprehensive – Scans News, Blogs and Webl
• Video – Scans for videos. As Google works on its technology to extract meaning from video content, this one will be important.
• Groups – scans Google Groups

Most alerts scan the top ten results (essentially, the ‘front page’ of a Google search for your terms). Groups scans the first 50 pages.

4. Tell Google how often you want your alerts. Your choices are:

• as-it-happens
• once a day
• once a week

5. Tell Google where to deliver your alerts.

• Have your Google alerts delivered to the email address of your choice.
• You can also have alerts delivered to the feed reader of your choice. I use Google Feed Reader, which I use to monitor RSS feeds anyway.

6. Click the “Create Alert” button.

You can find a pretty decent FAQ at http://www.google.com/support/alerts/.

Popularity: 32% [?]

I just published a new piece on my personal blog, From the Desk of John McCabe, offering 6 easy tips for making an effective speech.

Here’s the link:

Public Speaking Tips

While the piece was for someone giving a talk to a local business group, the same advice could be applied to prospecting seminars or in-store demonstrations. Doing this kind of presentation gains you leverage by letting you talk to groups of people at the same time.

Popularity: 46% [?]

Talk show host Oprah Winfrey got a public relations windfall when Ford chose her show to showcase the launch of their new Focus model. During the show, Oprah built up the idea that someone in the audience would go home with a new car. She instructed audience members to look under their seats for a box with a key in it. Whoever got the box would get the car.

The cameras panned around to the audience as one member after another held up their boxes. The excitement turned to pandemonium as member after member held up their key.

Yes, Oprah announced, everyone in the audience was getting a new Ford Focus!

The media, from news shows to talk radio to late night chat shows like Leno and Letterman, buzzed about how “Oprah gave everybody a car.”

What really happened?

Ford gave everybody in Oprah’s audience that day a new car. Oprah simply handed out the keys and accepted the credit. For the wholesale price of a few hundred cars, Ford got publicity they could not have bought at any price.

So how does this relate to you?

You can do the same thing. Set up a seminar or workshop with a vendor that has a new product coming out. Tease potential attendees by hinting that someone in the audience would land one of the new, yet-to-be-released products free. At the end of the seminar, announce that everyone in the audience gets the product free. Use a “secret code” to give the 100% discount.

Leverage the giveaway by releasing the mp3 recording of the seminar or workshop– with the “secret code” bleeped out.

Send out a press release.

Depending on your approach, you could play the role of Oprah or Ford. For next to nothing you can get people talking about you and your new product.

Who knows? You might even get your own joke on late night TV…

Your comments and questions are always welcome – just play nice…

Popularity: 62% [?]