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Tuesday 19 May 2015

What's your USP?

Share it Please


A large company recently chose a good friend of mine (Martin) to be their keynote speaker at their global conference.

Because he didn’t tell them his Unique Selling Point (USP). Here’s what happened…

Them: We’re looking at a number of speakers for our event. You’ve been recommended to us. Make your pitch. Why should we hire you? What’s your USP?

...Martin: I don’t know.

Them: What? We need to know your USP, so we can choose between you and the other speakers. What do you mean you don’t know what it is?

...Martin: Well, it depends on what you want your audience to do as a result of attending the conference. If we could explore that first, I’ll then be able to tell you whether I can help you achieve that. And, if so, what my best, most relevant USP is, to prove I can.

We then had a peer-to-peer conversation about their conference, their hopes and aspirations for it. What they wanted it to achieve for their business. And for them personally.

It turned out that Martin could help them. So he told them about other companies he’d spoken for – ones who’d had similar needs – and the results they'd got as a result of his keynote. He explained how he’d helped them, the value it had brought, and what they’d learned with him. He then gave them a couple of relevant USPs about his ability to do the same for them.

They chose Martin as their speaker. The reason they gave him? “Because you didn’t tell us your best USP”.

When you think about it, this approach is the more sensible way to sell something. Unless you know the other person’s agenda, your ‘best’ selling points might not align with it. I’ve seen…

… A PR company talk about their USP of building long-term relationships - to the organisers of a weekend-long event

… A global company focusing on their USP of a map of their global offices - to a company who only trades in Spain

… Loads of companies bang on about the fact they were founded in year X – to companies who (believe this if you can) don’t care how old they are

And the best way to find what someone’s most interested in hearing from you?

Ask them.

You’ll both be glad you did.



Action Point




You’ll have to sell something today – yourself, your company, your idea…

… So, do everything you can to find their agenda first, before deciding what your best selling points are.


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Native English Spain is dedicated to make learning English simple, fun and affordable for Spanish people.

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