The 5 Mistakes In Your Unique Value Proposition

When you create and communicate a value proposition to your customers, you want a statement that not only matters to them, but also boasts a few things that few, if any, competitors can claim. Many people struggle to truly understand what makes their company different and/or better than other options that customers can choose. To be clear, there are many things that make you different from your competitors that are important to your customers, but identifying and articulating them is a challenge unless you have a truly unique product, service or even business model. Customers always have options and there is a reason why they chose to do business with you. Have you ever taken the time to ask them what that reason is? You should because it will give you valuable insight into what really drives your customers and it might even make you smile.

 

There is, however, a bit of a lazy route that salespeople and others and the company take when creating a unique value proposition, and that is relying on the lowest common denominators that everyone uses: quality, service, trust, price and years of business. Why? Because these are the baseline expectations of each of your customers and your competitors will always make the same claim. It all sounds like noise to the customer and if you don’t  believe me, ask yourself, “When was the last time I chose to do business with a company because they claimed I could trust them and that they have great service?”. Now, what I didn’t say is that this isn’t important to customers, but rather that more often than not customers expect that this is part of the package. That’s not to say you can’t or shouldn’t make these claims altogether, but let’s explore these 5 mistakes in your unique value proposition. 

 

Quality – This is the big one so let’s get this one out of the way. Very rarely does a customer expect or desire to purchase something of low quality. They may choose something of lower quality if it meets a variety of needs such as price or availability, but they still expect some level of quality. Check on your competitors; how many of them advertise quality? It all sounds the same. Now if there is something truly unique about your quality that customers can understand and it means a lot to them (example fresh local  ingredients) then using quality makes sense, but you have to be very specific about quality if you are going to make this claim. 

 

Service – This is the other big one we have to deal with. Almost every company you talk to will tell you that they have great service. Even when they don’t, they still think they do and will make that claim proudly. That’s because service is a major baseline expectation for all customers. Like quality, if there is a unique aspect about your service that matters to customers and competitors can’t replicate, then by all means include it. Otherwise, focus on other things that are unique and valuable about who you are and what you sell. 

 

Trust – This one is a pet peeve of mine and it seems to go hand-in-hand with quality and service. How many commercials have you seen where the tagline is, “Quality & Service you can Trust.” How can you even back up a claim like this” I’m not calling your trustworthiness into question but it is too vague and usually meaningless to customers when they hear it in a slogan.

 

Price – Every customer expects that you give them a fair price, and although not everyone uses this as a unique value proposition, it still happens more than it should. The concept of good prices is very subjective to the customer and, unless being the lowest consistent price is part of your business strategy, you should probably move on from this. 

 

Years In Business – There is certainly nothing wrong with being proud of the legacy of success your company has had since its inception, but is that something customers are really looking for when they are making a decision to buy? Maybe every so often, but not nearly enough to invest your marketing dollars into it. This is probably something that does more to make you feel good than it does your customers.  

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