How To Make Sale After Sale After Sale After Sale – For Ever ! (Part 4)

Develop A USP

But – What is a USP?

If you don’t know the answer to this question, you’re business is in serious trouble! Again, an entire book can be written on this subject (many have been).

Your “USP” is your “Unique Selling Perspective”. In other words…Why is your business Unique? What does your business possess that separates it from the rest of your competition? Why should a customer buy from you instead of your competition? What do you offer your customers that your competition doesn’t?

Here’s a good example…. Amazingly enough, a once failing pizza shop used the power of a strong USP to turn their struggling business into an empire. They decided to become unique and capitalize on one specific aspect of their business that no one else had yet capitalized on. Once they did, their profits soared!

Who is this pizza shop? The Answer? A very well known – Internationally Recognised Name NOW but I can’t tell you in the article – (considered as advertising & forbidden.)

So, how did they turn their business around? With a simple, clever, slogan combined with a USP…. Delivered Hot And Fresh In 30 Minutes Or Less… OR IT’S FREE! The young owner of this Pizza Business didn’t capitalize on fresh ingredients, the ripest tomatoes, 5 different cheeses, or special offers…. Everyone else was already doing that! This “college student” realized where the need was and hammered home his simple message! What did folks want from a pizza place? They wanted their pizza FAST! This simple slogan and USP alone turned a once failing business into a MEGA MILLION DOLLAR FRANCHISE!

Don’t Sell Products… Sell Content – This may sound a bit strange… After all, you’re in business to make money, right? Absolutely! You want the sale…Right? Of course! But just as I touched on this same issue previously, the best way to sell a customer is by first gaining their trust and reassuring them that by making a purchase from you, it will be a decision they won’t regret. The only way to really do this effectively is by pre-selling. Yes, you want your website visitors to ultimately click the “Buy Now” button on your website, but you only want them to do so AFTER they’ve come to know your business and respect you as a business professional.

So why not put some articles or valuable content on your website that will interest readers in your niche’ market? For example…..

— Offer free downloads for visitors to read at their leisure.

— Get them to sign up for your newsletter so you can stay in touch.

— Place a web poll on your site to get visitors involved – make sure the questions relate to your site’s theme

— Put a feedback form on your website for readers to offer their suggestions

— Put a testimonials page up to show your visitors how much previous buyers enjoyed their shopping experience

— Offer a “Shopping Tips” or “Helpful Hints” page to give your visitors something of value for free

Why MgO products Are Preferred For Construction

Magnesium Oxide products are widely used in construction business. When it comes to MgO board products there is on company you cannot ignore and it is Magnesium Oxide Corporation Pty Ltd. Their products can be easily used for residential, commercial and industrial building and constructions. The MgO boards are fireproof, water resistant boards that are commonly found in internal and external wall sheeting, partition walls, flooring systems, paper coated, laminated or decorative finishes, suspended & acoustic ceilings, xps/eps sandwich panels, etc. A major USP of the product offered by Magnesium Oxide Corporation Pty Ltd is that these are in tandem with the AS/NZS standards for being mold resistant, fire resistant, water resistant, and impact resistant properties.

The reason why these products are so widely being used is because these are flexible, lightweight and pliable systems. These are of superior acoustic values and completely environment friendly with zero carbon impact on the building construction. The cost of construction also reduced significantly and you can save between 20 – 80% of that of competing products depending on the applied applications. As far as the company is concerned, their products and services are available in various parts of the globe- , WA, NT, UK, USA and ASIA.

You may ask that in what kinds of buildings one can use the MgO board products. Well they can be used in the construction of the following:
High-Rise Commercial and Residential Buildings
Schools, Hospitals and Government Facilities
Hotel, Resorts and Restaurants
Airports, Train Stations & Emergency Services Buildings
Theatres
Residential Homes
Transportable Homes & Mining Community Developments

Thus, whether it is the hospitality industry or simply a residential area, the MgO products from Magnesium Oxide Corporation Pty Ltd will be of great help.

If you are genuinely interested in using these products then a little knowledge on how these are manufactured will help you in choosing and correctly using them. Mineral components are used to make the MgO Corp products. These components are fibrous in nature and are reinforced to assure that the bonding process is top notch. These products are completely free of toxic ingredients or asbestos and have been certified and registered under the AS/NZS Standards and the BCA Codes of Australia. Keeping in mind the taste of the customers a lot of variety has been introduced in these products. The panels and boards are generally available in natural beige to cream colours. But these can be customized too depending on the requirements of the customers.

These products are also shaped and trimmed by using usual hand tools or power tools. The installation system is easy too. If you are planning for any kind of paint, wall paper, rock or skim coat, tiling or laminate finish, the MgO Corp products will accept it. Here’s a list of basic ingredients included in the MgO products offered by Magnesium Oxide Corporation Pty Ltd:
MgO (Magnesium Oxide)
Mgcl2 (Magnesium Chloride)
Alpha Cellulose Material
Perlite
Glass fiber mesh and non-woven fabric

All the MgO products are available with a manual that will help you with the settings. If you are searching for waterproof, mold and fire resistant solutions for your buildings then Magnesium Oxide Corporation Pty Ltd. is the place to be.

The Small Retailer’s Survival Manual

In this tenth and final part of a series of articles about how to survive as a small retailer, I will summarize the main points from the articles and have a look at what the future holds.

Retailing is one of the toughest businesses there is. The reason is that, although trade may be steady, it is a low margin business. This means you work long and hard for little reward. You are in a market where the customers are very knowledgeable about the products they are buying and the have a preset idea of what range of price they are prepared to pay. You are in a business where “the big order” never comes. All you can do is grow your business steadily and hope that a superstore doesn’t open over the road and steal your customers. If you seriously struggling as a small retailer, the first thing to ask yourself is “am I ready for the fight?”. If you have doubts, it may be time to quit right now. On the other hand if you are up for it, by working to your strengths as a small retailer and by hanging in there, the rewards may be better than you imagined.

Some people bemoan the demise of small stores and blame the large chains for their downfall. Superficially this is true, but this is like Yahoo! blaming Google for its downfall (should it ever happen) or radio stations blaming television for losing audience and advertising revenue. I suspect that few of the people who want small stores kept as museums would be prepared to support them by buying goods from them if they are given the choice of better value for money in a chain store over the road. So get real. Forget blaming the opposition. You need to do this for yourself. You never know, you

may one day expand your business into a large chain yourself – and then the little guys may all blame you!

If you are struggling as a small retailer then the most obvious thing you need to do is to change what you do. Some changes may be low cost and easy, others may require you to invest in the business and will mean a lot of effort and commitment. The key thing is to compete with other stores by working

to your strengths. The greatest strength a small local retailer has is that it is small and local. Large chains cannot be small and, although an individual branch is local, it’s primary focus is to the company and not the community it serves. Large chains will never be good at buying local products. Fragmenting buying power from localities is a contradiction of the way large chains are structured. They buy in bulk for a large customer base spread over large areas – that is why their prices are competitive. On the other hand, a small retailer can forge links with local producers. There may be a factory down the road that makes toy cars (OK then, a factory down the road that imports and packs toy cars that are nowadays made in China). You may also have a local dairy that sends their milk to a large store chain but may be happy to sell you a few pints each day. Explore your locality – you may be surprised at what you discover, and the bargains that you can negotiate by going straight to the source rather than through a wholesaler. Offering your customers local products is a good way of demonstrating one of your greatest strengths and having your own unique selling point (USP). You may even be first in the queue for new product trials. This will give your store a very specific and potent USP.

A Unique Selling Proposition

Every product or service should offer a unique selling proposition (simply referred to as USP) to its potential customers. Whats a USP?

The USP is an acronym for Unique Selling Proposition or Unique Sales Proposition. Every business, product and service needs to have a USP.

The unique selling proposition is best described as the main thing separating you from everyone else who does what you do. It tells why your widget or service is a must-have. Its so important many marketers consider it to be the #1 detail in successful advertising copy.

To begin thinking about a USP you should imagine youre answering (as clearly, directly and simply as possible) a few questions for a potential buyer. Write these out on paper and your USP will be embedded somewhere in the contents.

Why should I buy from you and only you?

What can you offer me that competitors can’t or wont offer me? (Could be a company or product guarantee, specialization or special service, number of years as an expert, better price, etc.)

Tell me why I should read your sales message what does it tell me that I wont find in other sales messages?

How will I personally profit (or benefit) from doing business for you (whats in it for me… what do I stand to gain or what pain will you remove for me)?

Whats the single biggest benefit of your product or service?

Is there one thing unique or different about your product or service? Is there a unique combination of benefits you can create for me as your customers? (If not, how might you be able to make yourself unique?)

Now… pick out the most important elements of your uniqueness (or how you want to position yourself as being unique). List these in clear and simple language.

Okay. Thinking cap still on? Good.

Try to boil this down to a single statement. (And definitely no more than 2 sentences at most).

1) Make it benefit-oriented (tell your client whats in it for her or him). 2) Be specific (avoid generalities). 3) Use simple language. 4) Be direct and to the point (be concise). 5) Make your unique selling proposition “unique” (tell her why she needs to buy from you and no one else… if your USP can be adopted by anyone else then you dont have a USP yet).

“This food processor is the best?” is not a USP.

But…

“This food processor breaks down hard nuts and vegetables 16% faster than any other, and I promise you its motor will NEVER burn out or you can send it back for a free replacement. … is a USP.

The car-rental agency of choice. is an empty slogan.

But…

The only car rental agency in Florida open 24/7 with luxury models at discount prices … is a unique selling proposition.

Heres a unique selling proposition marketing expert John Carlton says could be used for a hamburger business in competition against McDonalds…

Best-grade hamburger grilled by owner-chef when you order, delivered hot and ready-to-eat within 2 minutes… or you eat for free!