Be Able To Recite Your “Unique Selling Proposition” In Your Sleep
By: Dave Clossey / T.J. Tedesco
For: High Volume Printing
Published: December, 2001

What are you and your company selling? Ink on paper? Printing services? Quality, service and price? Peace of mind? A good night’s sleep for anxious clients? A hard-to-find combination of services? One-stop shopping? Niche specialization? Unfortunately, many printing professionals don’t fully realize why their customers buy from them. Every company is in business for a reason – however, the trick is being able to say what it is.

Successful companies have compelling reasons for being in business. They offer reliable products and services, fill a need and offer a mix of skills that are wanted in the marketplace. Unfortunately, many key people are unable to articulate just what this skill set is.

Luckily, most of our products and services aren’t commodities – just ask any print buyer that has watched an outsourced printing job go south. Commodity sellers merely focus on transactions and therefore depend on bagels, donuts and ballgame tickets for differentiation. Consultative selling is quite a different thing altogether. It’s knowledge based selling that focuses on solutions instead of products.

Here’s some good news. Even companies offering true commodities, such as gasoline, sugar and #2 pencils, are still able to develop effective branding strategies. If not, we’d all be buying generic products and filling up our cars at discount gas stations. For example, in the service station industry, Texaco sells “speed” (fast fill-ups and high-octane products) while Mobil sells “cleanliness” (purer gas and clean restrooms). Have I fallen for Mobil’s branding strategy? You bet. When my kids are with me, I choose Mobil because clean bathrooms suddenly are important.

Understanding why you’re in business is just the first step. Articulating it is the next. Here’s an experiment: Look at a clock and in sixty seconds or less, try to say exactly why you’re in business. If you didn’t do too well, you’re not alone. Many sales representatives and business owners can’t articulate it either. Here’s the heart of my message: Printing companies will be much stronger when every employee can state what their company does … in their sleep.

I have worked with salespeople, customer service representatives and business owners who only have a vague understanding of why their customers buy from them. Imagine how focused and successful your company would be if your salespeople, account managers, administrative people and factory workers knew exactly what you do better than anyone else.

What Is This Called?
Every graphic arts company has a “unique selling proposition” or USP. USPs aren’t the same as mission statements because not many mission statements can be used during normal business conversation. Upon hearing your USP, your customers and prospects will know exactly why you deserve their business. Of course it’s impossible to paint your whole story in less than sixty seconds, but this isn’t the point. Instead, you should be able to quickly generate interest among legitimate prospects.

In the printing industry, here is a sampling of possible USP elements:

• Under-one-roof service provider (convenience)
• Niche specialist (nobody does it better)
• Ability to turn around large jobs fast (raw horsepower)
• 24-hour delivery on short runs (f…f…fast)
• Instant quotes (we mean service)
• Technical expertise (a scientific approach)
• Regional focus (you’re important)
• A key employee (i.e., Fidelity Investments has Peter Lynch)
• Specialist in certain customer segments (i.e., associations, financial services, government, design agencies, manufacturing companies, etc.)
• And more … (think!)

A Story Outside Of Our Industry
A few years ago, a leading piano manufacturing company needed a sales boost. Management knew that their pianos were special, but so were those of many competitors. Standard bragging rights ranged from “top quality,” to “the best known brand,” to “we’re in some of the finest concert halls in the world.” Unfortunately, competitors also could make the same claims. In short, their message wasn’t unique. The boss wanted a new marketing campaign and hired an outside marketing specialist.

Once on the job, the marketer learned about a huge metal piece, called a “capo d’astro bar,” which doesn’t serve much of a purpose until the piano is decades old. Expensive and very heavy, this bar prevents pianos from warping and improves the sound quality as the instrument ages. All the elements of the marketing campaign came together when the marketer discovered that a major music organization had recently moved and left everything behind, except for their old piano. Not surprisingly, the final advertising copy revolved around the following theme: The Met moved and all they took was their Steinway.

What’s Your Capo D’Astro Bar?
Every company has a capo d’astro bar; it’s just a question of finding it. What is your hidden asset that can help win you more business? It may be a process that you take for granted, but shouldn’t. It may be a key technical employee, a unique service, an exceptional ability to listen and empathize. It may be your preflighting system, or instant estimates, or an ability to deal with finicky designers. Find your capo d’astro bar. It’s there, somewhere.

I once sold for a printing company that had a prepress guru who traveled with salespeople on technical calls. “Jonathan” was a rare techie with the ability to communicate effectively with experts and novices alike. I finally understood just how valuable he was when one of my customers said, “I wish every printer had someone like Jonathan.” Jonathan quickly became my capo d’astro bar.

One Minute Manager
It’s important that every employee know your unique selling proposition. Those on the front lines need to understand exactly why customers and prospects should buy your services and products. Your truck drivers represent you and should be well trained in customer service. Your plant workers may even bring good job applicants to you, if they know what your company is really good at.

The goal is being able to say what your company does in sixty seconds or less … without straining your brain. How do you expect people to buy from you if you can’t clearly and quickly articulate what differentiates you from everyone else. Now, try the sixty-second test again. Did you do any better? Work on it. Then, ask other people in your company with significant customer contact to do the same. You may be surprised at the rambling answers you get. At least you’ll be starting down the right road.

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Testing a unique selling proposition is easy. First, it must be compelling. If you’re not excited by it, neither will anyone else. Second, it must be unique. Put your competitors’ names in it instead of your own. If it still rings true, it isn’t unique. Third, it must be able to be repeated in less than a minute at a normal conversational pace. If not, it’s too long and most likely boring. If you get your USP right, you and your company will be better off.

T.J. Tedesco is a “hands-on” marketing, sales, coaching and training consultant to the post press industry. He is the author of Binding, Finishing & Mailing: The Final Word, and Win Top-of-Mind Positioning, both published by GATFPress and available at Amazon.com. T.J. can be reached at (301) 294-9900 or tj@growsales.com.