If you didn’t think you had something unique to offer, you probably wouldn’t be in business. There is a widespread belief that in order to be different you have to be creative, and that’s the God given gift of a few select designers.

Nothing could be further from the truth: You can find a lot of literature on how to define and pitch your Unique Selling Proposition to your clients and prospects.

But this is not what I want to talk about today. My question today is what areas of running your business do you think are fine and under control, performing well, but could still do with an X factor? This alone could be your hidden gem, your unique selling proposition (USP)

Let’s take service for example: business owners are generally very proud of the quality of service they provide. But if you start asking how you and your staff REALLY make a difference in people’s day, it’s not so obvious any more is it?

Now if you push this process one step further and ask, “what is it that we do for our people and that no one else in the region or in the country does”, then it gets really tricky!

You could make it easier by asking “what is it that we have never done so far and that we could do to be different?… Like this shoe shop owner who decided he would guarantee his clients $100 cash if they had not received a smile from each staff member they dealt with. True story! Now do you think people had a good reason to go to THIS particular shop?

If you have heard the safety briefing on Virgin Pacific, with its subtle but effective sense of humor, or if you heard the story of the plumber who always turned up at customers’ doorstep with slippers in one hand and a vacuum cleaner in the other, you will know that you don’t need to throw money at it in order to see word of mouth fire-balling in your favor.

So if you and your staff are getting a little stale about the business, why not get together with them and uncover the little gem that may be staring you in the face. It could be a very easy way for you to have a lot of fun and make a lot more money.

The quote of the day

“You have to believe in yourself, that’s the secret. Even when I was in the orphanage, when I was roaming the street trying to find enough to eat, even then I thought of myself as the greatest actor in the world.”