Finding a Selling Position for Your Business

No doubt you’ve heard that you need a unique selling position for your small business. That’s good advice. But it may not be true.

Don’t get us wrong, you definitely need a selling position. But it probably doesn’t have to be truly unique. That is, you don’t have to be the only one doing what you do.

Think for example how many soft drinks there are in the super market? How many tax advisors are there in your city? How many hotels in your community?

Any soft drink can quench your thirst. Just about any tax adviser can likely do your taxes. And the typical hotel room is pretty much like any other.

So what makes a Coke different from Pepsi? Or H&R Block different from Liberty Tax? Or Marriott different from Hyatt?

What makes a product’s selling position unique

Maybe your product has a feature you can focus on (there a dozens of search engines, but DuckDuckGo is the one known for protecting your privacy). Or perhaps your product is the only one of its kind in your area (Voodoo Donuts offers something like that in Oregon that other donut makers don’t). Or maybe you provide a different kind of experience (like the Tattered Cover book store which is very different from Denver’s Barnes and Noble locations).

What makes your small business different from other businesses with similar products or services? How do you find your selling position (unique or not)?

How to find your unique selling position – a formulaic approach

(Company name) helps (your customers) do or get (the benefit of your product or service) better (or cheaper or easier), even if (reason your customers haven’t solved their problem already).

So for LogoMaker, it would read something like this:

Logomaker (company name) helps small business owners (our customers) create their own logo easily and inexpensively (our product), without expensive software or even a pencil (why a customer can’t do it on their own).

Here’s another example for a bakery in San Francisco:

Schmitt’s Bakehouse (company name) makes the best German sandwiches (the product) for the lunch crowd in the tenderloin district (customers).

And one more, for a financial advisor:

Carlson Financial (company name) helps inexperienced investors (customers) create and grow their retirement accounts (product) even if they struggle to balance a checkbook (why a customer can’t do it on their own).

Now try it yourself. Write your unique selling position and put it to work.