For years, whenever people asked me, “What do you do?” My weak reply was, “I design websites.” It didn’t tell anything about what makes me stand-out in my field, why people work with me or even why they’d want to work with me. I had to fix that, but where did I start?

Crafting a USP is about 3 things: people, their problems, and your solution.

Some folks call a unique value proposition your help statement. I like that because it really presents what a USP should be about: how you help your clients by bringing the best of your talent to the table.

Here, we’re going to super-breeze through my step by step formula to create a USP in under 8 minutes flat.

At the end, you’ll have a unique selling/value propositions that’s easy for you to say and intrigues people when you tell them about what you do.

Like I said earlier, your unique selling proposition has one job: to tell people how you help them. Now, I like to add to that a way they can measure your help along with the meachanism. I call it the H + M + M equation (Help + Measure + Mechanism).

Once I got into that mindset, I was able to break down the process of zoning in on my USP. Here’s how I started. Ask yourself these questions to begin crafting your USP.

 

People

Who are my clients? Knowing who your ideal clients is, is very different than who you are currently working with. Most entrepreneurs at the beginning and mid-level stages of building their business work with clients who buy while they build to their ideal client. The great thing about this is there’s a gem of a client or two in there who fit our ideal client profile.

If you’re not sure who your ideal client is yet, start with my Client Profile Generator to pull together the basis of what your ideal client looks like. It’s a short, but helpful exercise that will put you in the moment and coming face-to-face with your best client.

 

Problem

What do my ideal clients say I do for them? Now, for the most business owners and entrepreneurs, there’s a certain amount of blockage here (even after you’ve built up a client base). In my case, I could tell anyone the process of what I did and the technology behind my design work, but plain English-ing it wasn’t something that came naturally to  me–because I’m a techie!

Small business owners and solo/entrepreneurs, we often block the good we do in our business–and we know this–by significantly downplaying the results we get for our clients and it doesn’t always happen on purpose. Sometimes we don’t amp up the amazing thing that is our work and sometimes it’s us simply not knowing how to say what we do so someone who doesn’t do what we do can understand it.

This is the easiest way to get past that blockage: go back into client emails or recall the last conversation you had with that ideal client and copy/paste it into your USP. One client of mine told me how much she appreciated that I made the process of getting their church’s website updated and working fast and easy without making their team feel dumb–especially since they weren’t super tech savvy.

What type of problem did your client tell you that you help them with?

 

Your Solution

How did you help that client? This is, for you as the expert, the fund begins. Now is where you say how you do what you do. Saying a simple, “using X,” where “X” is the technology, method, or system you use will be enough.

If you’re an accountant who’s uses Quickbooks to help your clients, then “X” for you is Quickbooks, as opposed to, “the latest in accounting technology.”

What I Recommend: Your unique selling proposition is the bait for catching your clients’ attention. Talk their language first, then add in your industry specifics (without getting too techical).

 

Here are some USP’s that follow the outline I gave you

Here are links to wonderful USP’s the each have the 3 parts of a dynamic  USP/UVP. I’ve included some keywords to show their results and the mechanism (the how-to) of those results.

Emmy Wu Media (click to view)

Emmy’s amazing USP is to the point and pure gold for understanding the components of a USP. Keywords: “stand out,” “branded videos”

Yasmine Khater (click to view)

Yasmine’s crafty USP stand out because it’s audacious and bold, but she still has all three parts of a dynamic USP. Keywords: “make an impact,” “fearless way”

Red Bird Writing (click to view)

Megan’s USP shares with her target audience exactly how  she can help them and what she adds to their business. Keywords: “adds personality,” “so you stand out”