Why would a prospect buy from you rather than from your competitor?

How do you outsell your competitors?

Your unique selling proposition (USP) is very important as part of your business planning. This is especially so if you decide to set up a home business in the highly competitive internet arena. What in your product or service creates the "incentive" for prospects to do a click through to buy?

Here are a few specific examples that you can consider in creating your own USP...

* Providing better quality product. For instance, your competitor may offer 10 features but you offer 20 for the same price.

* Lower priced product. For the same product or service, you offer it in a lower price. For instance, your competition offers to arrange and deliver a bouquet of flowers for $50. You offer the same for $40.

* Your guarantee is better than your competitor. Your competitor offers a 30 day trial versus your 90 day trial.

* Better customer service. You offer online email support and a guarantee that you will answer all emails within 24 hours. However, make sure that you are able to deliver on your promise!

* Special knowledge or tool that no one else have. You may possess some special knowledge or proprietary tool which is of value to your customer. This is especially if you also give your customers F/R/E/E and specialised information they can't find anywhere else, they'll buy from you.

* Give people added-value related products eg. software. Most people like to find good deals on software for their computers. If the software is free, that is even better.

* Your product is niche and tailored to the specific need of a particular group. For instance, if you are in the business of selling garments, you may wish to cater to the group that wears larger sizes. Your USP is to provide quality and yet trendy clothes for this target market (whose needs have been sadly neglected).

* Better value packaging. You may throw in more freebies, bonuses or even, consultancy services to create a premium packaged solution for your customers.

Obviously, in order to create your own USP, you must first research on what your competitors are doing. Study their sales proposition intensively. Also, find out what your customers need and what problems they are facing. See if your better value product can meet their needs or fill a gap. Get feedback before launching your business. To do surveys, you can check out www.createsurvey.com or www.surveymonkey.com.

After deciding on what your USP is, you may even include your proposition as part of your headline copy. This will be what makes the prospect decide to read the entire copy of your sales page.

In conclusion, taking your time to evaluate and doing plenty of research to create your USP will definitely pay you dividends. You want to have the greatest possible chance of success once you roll out your product or service.

Evelyn Lim is an Online Business Entrepreneur. This article is extracted from her regular newsletter that teaches readers tips & strategies for Mapping To Success. To subscribe to her newsletter or to find out more, please visit http://www.e-BizMap.com or her blog at http://www.EvelynLim.com .

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