Business, Money, and Trading Blog

One of the reasons that many otherwise professional salespeople fail to reach sales targets is that they don’t really believe in what they’re selling. It is often the problem when you work for someone else where the sales department has little control over the quality of the products or service they’re selling.

This is the problem with the large furniture stores I mentioned previously. My experiences have been that you walk in and are pounced on by an over-zealous salesperson who follows you around the store like a puppy saying how wonderful and nice everything that you look at is. Read the rest of this entry »

Clearly John’s USP was that he was a skilled craftsman and experienced boat builder. Since meeting John I have spoken to many people who would give almost anything for his skill and experience. While the new boat market is dominated by no maintenance fiberglass crafts, there are still a large number of sailors who prefer wooden boats, and some would say there has been a high revival in wooden boats in recent years. Read the rest of this entry »

Uniqueness

Many businesses based around a hobby are successful because what they are offering is unique.

Large retailers, travel companies and the like steer clear of what is often referred to as niche markets. The last thing they want is a large amount of their store shelf space clogged up by products that relatively few customers will be interested in.

Therefore your unique selling point could be that you’re offering hard-to-find items such as books, memorabilia or even specialist holidays. Read the rest of this entry »

Quality

What makes your goods and services better than anyone else’s?

It’s not enough to simply say the word `quality’. Your USP needs to paint a picture. Bed manufacturers are a good example of this. We all know that the difference between a good and bad night’s sleep can be the quality of the bed, so a cheap bed may mean a bad night’s sleep. Buyers will therefore spend more on a bed that  promises restful sleep.

Again it’s not enough simply to promise a restful night’s sleep, as most of the beds in the shop will be claiming the same thing. The unique selling point will often be to highlight how many springs or layers this bed has over its competitors. Read the rest of this entry »

This exercise is to show you that although you made an initial choice where to buy your item, there are other places you could buy it.

In business, these other outlets are called competitors, and to survive and compete  with our competitors we must be able to offer would-be customers a reason to buy  from us.

Why did you make that initial choice? Cost? Location? Or something else? Marketers  often refer to these reasons as a business’s Unique Selling Points (USPs). Read the rest of this entry »

Ideally you should give your customers as many reasons as you possibly can for buying from you, although often this isn’t possible. But the bottom line still remains – if you don’t give a good enough reason, people will buy elsewhere.

I want you to think about something you need to buy. This could be anything    an essential item, luxury treat or something you buy everyday like a newspaper or carton of milk.

Now on a blank piece of paper write down the item you’ve just thought of and draw a big circle around it.

Immediately underneath your circled item write down where you intend to buy this item and draw a circle around it. Don’t give this too much thought; just write down where you’d first go to buy it.

Done? Read the rest of this entry »

Whatever it is you’re planning to sell, start by listing all its features and then work on the benefits.

Be imaginative here. Many of the benefits may not be immediately apparent to you even though it’s your product or service.

Start by trying to see whatever it is you are selling from different perspectives: Read the rest of this entry »

We all have different reasons for buying anything. Take, for example, someone buying a flight ticket. Unless it’s a holiday charter airline the people buying a seat on a flight will have different needs.

Some will be travelling on business, others holidaying and others wanting to travel as cheaply as possible.

To overcome the problem of differing needs, airlines target their marketing campaigns at different sectors. Comfort and getting you there on time will be key benefits for business travelers, while value for money might be the message for holidaymakers. Read the rest of this entry »