Unique Selling Proposition - Little Things Can Make A Difference

According to Wikipedia the "Unique Selling Proposition (also Unique Selling Point) is a marketing concept that was first proposed as a theory to explain a pattern among successful advertising campaigns of the early 1940s. It states that such campaigns made unique propositions to the customer and that this convinced them to switch brands." n
I'd like to take some poetic license with this definition. When you're selling I believe it's the little things you do for your sales prospects and customers that make the big difference. These little things turn heads, add value, show interest and when it's all said and done just makes people feel better about you and your company.

Last week Be
adette, my wife, and I went to New York City for the National Speakers Association Black Tie Awards Banquet. We also had dinner at a great steakhouse - Bobby Vans on 54th St. And we went to Broadway to see August Osage County. The show recently won five Tony's and after seeing the show I understand why.

During the visit however, we were touched by little things.At the Courtyard Marriott Hotel on 3rd Ave we had a late breakfast on Sunday morning. As I was signing the check the server presented us with two bottles of water and said, "You might need these today because it's going to be hot."

I've been to a lot of restaurants and this is the first time I walked out with a bottle of water to help me get through the day. A little thing and a nice touch.

The next morning at the same restaurant and with the same server, there was a little mix-up between what we ordered and what was served. Not a big deal! When the server gave us the check she told us, "Because I screwed up, one breakfast is free." A little thing and a nice touch.

One afte
oon, following another late morning breakfast, we decided we were in the mood for a bowl of chicken noodle soup. It took us awhile to find a restaurant, but T.G.I. Fridays had exactly what we were looking for. The soup was good and I asked for the check.

I saw something on this check that I've never seen before, maybe you have, but I haven't. On the bottom of the check were the words "Suggested gratuity." Then there were three lines:

GOOD 15% $1.83
GREAT 18% $2.19
EXCELLENT 20% $2.44

Remember these amounts are for two bowls of chicken noodle soup. Makes tipping easy and a no-brainer. A little thing and another nice touch.

If you don't already know this I grew up in New York. Back then the taxi cabs were dirty. Now they have to be washed everyday. When they first installed partitions separating the front seat from the backseat for safety reasons - during the summer, the air-conditioning never got to the passenger's side of the partition.

That's all changed. Be
adette and I are in the backseat of a taxi cab. Yes the partition is still there and so are the new controls for air conditioning to the backseat. VeriFone also had a built-in credit card machine.

VeriFone also had a small TV monitor so we could watch TV from our air conditioned backseat. Little things and a very nice touch.

During the last 20 years I've traveled around the world delivering my keynote speeches and sales training programs. As a result I have stayed in hundreds of hotels. Usually big associations stay at big hotels for all of the obvious reasons. These bigger hotels have banks of elevators.In the past, if you're at the Lobby level you waited, along with the rest of the crowd, for a green light and an opening door, and then you had to muscle your way into the elevator.

The National Speakers Association was held at the Marriott Marquis Hotel located in Times Square. Over the years I've stayed there at least 10 times. n
We entered the lobby and headed toward the bank of elevators. Ah, but this is a new experience for us. As you approach the bank of elevators we came upon, what looked like a very large calculator with a LCD screen. All you had to do was punch in the floor number you wanted and look at the screen for the number of the elevator that would take you to your floor.

Now that's brilliant and makes it extremely easy for all guests to find their next elevator. This is an example of another little thing that's more than a nice touch.

I guess the secret to selling success is continuous improvement. This continuous improvement should become your unique sellingproposition.

Everyday ask this question, "How can I do it better?" If every body in every company asked this question every day and followed-up with changes that made things better - guess what would happen? Your sales prospects and customers would line up to do business with you and your company.

Any company that has a Unique Selling Proposition that's focused on doing a lot of little things better than the competition would have to be, eventually, the market leader.