"Help, Mrs. Porsch, our company no longer stands out from the competition, what can we do?" Questions like these I hear over and over again. And it is logical that we ask ourselves this, because the classic Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is dead. It used to be different. It used to take a decade for knowledge to double. It used to make sense to rely on one's know-how, product, and service. But today? Today it only takes 24 hours. We live in this fast-paced time where everything can change in the blink of an eye. If we do not change with it, we will be left behind.
What was yesterday no longer matters
In 2000, I started in sales at a real estate company doing cold calls. The phone book was my best friend back then. From my competitors, I always heard the same thing: "Focus on your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and sell it." However, internally I learned something different. My sales manager said to me: "Porschi, sell what it does first, and then what it is. Emotion always beats rationale." And he was damn right. The success spoke for itself. My competitors were struggling with closing rates of 1:10, while I was at 1:2. In my sales conversations, the focus was not on the property I was selling, but on what the property emotionally meant for my customers - beyond the location or return. For me, the focus was on the other person and not on the product. I sold the emotion first, then myself, and then the product. I was successful because of my personality, not because of the company I worked for. Instead of the USP (Unique Selling Proposition), I sold the UPP (Unique Personal Proposition). And as "old school" as this strategy may be in terms of years, it is still very relevant today in terms of the topic.
Handy vs. iPhone - Cutting a slice of Apple
Products and services are more interchangeable and comparable than ever, thanks to the internet. Who buys the expensive Product A when they can have Product B cheaper? If you feel resistance and think, "Wait a minute, of course we also buy the more expensive product," then I agree with you. We buy, but only when we have an emotional attachment to Product A that is so strong that the price is irrelevant. Look at Apple. Whether you like the company or not, one thing they always manage to do: Adults stand in line for hours, camp outside a closed store to buy a mobile phone. But they don't want a phone, they want an iPhone. Apple has managed to turn a phone into an iPhone, a product into a feeling. And with that, Apple has used one of the most important strategies: People don't buy products when they have the chance to buy emotions. Apple has achieved exactly what every company wants. Apple has understood the shift from the USP, the Unique Selling Proposition, to the UPP, the Unique Personal Proposition. Not selling what it is, but selling why people want it. Apple has succeeded in allowing people to identify with them. Apple sells to the limbic system, the seat of our emotions and (purchase) decisions. Many others sell to the neocortex, the seat of our rationale. And what does rationale say when Product B is more expensive than Product A? Exactly! We buy A. The only chance to counteract this and not sink in this fast-paced time is: become visible as a personality. Throw the right relationship into the market, not just the product. Find your UPP and make yourself unique. We need to become more tangible, unique, and perceptible, and not hide behind anonymity, interchangeability, and information.