USPs have to be unique
USPs have to be unique
Unique selling points (USPs) are really handy in winning deals, in setting you apart from your competitors, particularly by the time you get to the bid stage. You could do with at least one, but ideally two or three USPs, particularly for key tenders.
But they have to be unique.
The clues in the title, you can't be fairly unique. You can't be a little bit unique. You're either unique or you are not. So your unique selling points have to be unique to you. Nobody else can have them or touch them.
Crucially, it all maps back to your solution and to getting ahead of opportunities. Solution is everything really in winning deals. Clients aren't buying how well you can write your responses, although that is important, particularly in the public sector - where compliance and being compelling is the backbone of good bid writing. But really what the client is buying is the value that your business can bring to them - how it's going to save them time, money, or create other value that they value. And so what of your proposition to them is unique that should probably feature in an exec summary, if you're allowed to submit one? What is really going to set you apart?
But they have to be unique. If you're going to really play something up, it needs to be unique to you. You can't be half pregnant. It's got to be unique.
The clue is in the name - your major value delivering differentiating points to the client need to be unique. If you dont have any super-discriminators that completely set you apart, why are you bidding? You are probably going to lose (sorry).
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