Canadian Small Business Women

Connection, Synergy, Community

What’s YOUR Unique Value Proposition?

When was the last time you reviewed your Unique Value Proposition, or made sure it applied to your new products or service? Now is a good time to make sure your proposition speaks to the audience you intend to serve.

It’s tough to experience the success you’ve looking for if you don’t have something that sets you apart from your competitors. In case you’re new to this concept, we are referring to your unique value proposition (UVP), also called your unique selling proposition. Why should someone buy from you vs. anyone else? What’s the extra value can you offer? Take a close look at what you want to offer to people as part of your business model, then be prepared to answer the following questions from the start of your business, and continuously thereafter. These seemingly easy questions need to be answered:

1.     What do you offer?

Lay out the details of the product or service you plan to sell. What are its features? What does it do and what does it look like? For example, is it a 7-day e-course on how to set up a WordPress blog? Is it a 6-month coaching program that gives people direct access via email and Skype to you personally? Be very specific.

 

2. How does it solve customers’ problems?

How does your product offering solve your customers’ problems? State the problems your customer is facing, which you know from doing your market research. Describe how each feature of your product or service solves those problems. Think about how your customer would see your solution, not knowing you at all. If you can answer the question “What’s in it for me?” (WIIFM) from the customer’s point of view, you’re already halfway there.

 

3. What’s different about it?

You must create a product or service that is distinct from your competitors. While it is possible to be successful by creating a “me-too” business, it will be much more difficult. How is your solution different from other people’s solutions? Are you offering something extra, such as training or additional services? Do you offer your product in multiple formats, such as audio and video? Do you provide extra tools to make your solution easier to use? If you can’t identify any features that are different about your product, now is the time to go back and create something.

 

4. Why should someone buy from you versus your competitors?

This will be one of the most important parts of your sales copy. It will also be the toughest part of creating your UVP, by far. Connect the problems your potential customers are facing, the features of your product, and how they solve those problems. Then pull in your extra “proof” of why people should buy from you.

Your testimonials of how well your solution works is great social proof. You might have a track record of experience in your industry. You could also have great examples of your solution in action. Which of these are most important to your market? Pick one or use them all depending on what you think your prospects need to hear.

If you really understand what your target customers want, and what your competitors are already offering, you’ll be able to identify just what you can add remarkable value, because you took the time to do your market research. When you put these pieces together, you’ll have your Unique Value Proposition. What’s Your Unique Value Proposition?

 

 

Barbara Jemmott is the founder and business strategist at Your Entrepreneurial Spirit. Her 4-point YES to Customer Acquisition Program (C.A.P.) allows her to work her passion which is helping entrepreneurial women grow their audiences and income, online. She got here through her 20+ years of experience helping businesses understand and implement systems, strategies and procedures to increase productivity as well implement change and streamline operations. With experience and responsibilities to design, develop and deliver training for small to large technology training initiatives for Fortune 100 companies, she brings “Big Business” expertise to the small business space. Learn more about Your Entrepreneurial Spirit and the YES to Customer Acquisition Program at www.yourentrepreneurialspirit.com

 

Are you obsessed with time management?

I think we can all agree that time management is a very good thing, however, there are situations where people tend to take the whole idea of using their time wisely to the extreme. When this happens, the crucial goal of managing your time gets lost in “the busy” and the drive to cram too much into too little time. When it gets to this point, the process of managing your time ceases to be a help and becomes a burden instead. It may be that you can become obsessed with managing your time!

There are several early warning signs that you are may be on the edge of abusing time management rather than use it to your best advantage:

 

Multitasking is your thing

In today’s world, as women we tend to pride ourselves at being able to multitask our way through the day. It’s not unusual for us to handle more than two or more tasks at a time, and we start to do this without thinking. If the tasks in question can be conducted concurrently without causing a great deal of stress we tend to overlook what’s really going on and work on autopilot by dividing our focus and our talent to get through the day. How often, for example, do we participate on a webinar or conference call while also sending instant messages and email to keep things flowing? Ok, two activities can actually work together without any real difficulty.

Things can get tricky when you attempt to take on two or more labor-intensive tasks at the same time, however. This can lead to a great deal of inner conflict and possibly have a negative impact on the quality applied to each of the tasks involved. In other words, instead of ending up with one task done well, you have two (or more) tasks that may be completed but are barely acceptable.

Some people find they just can’t stop multitasking even when it is not necessary. The idea behind this approach is that the multitasking will make it easier to finish all the action items currently on the agenda and enjoy some well-earned downtime. Unfortunately, when you become obsessed with multitasking to manage your time you’ll never really get around to having any downtime. Instead, you’ll finish one set of projects and immediately start looking for another set to do.

Multitasking as part of time management is fine, provided it’s done wisely. When it becomes an end in and of itself rather than a means to reach a goal, it is time to step back and re-evaluate your approach.

 

You Feel Guilty If You Are Not Doing Something

Many of us live our lives from the edge of guilt. We worry about doing the right thing, for the right people, at the right time and we often find ourselves agonizing over the way we do things. Guilt can be an effective tool when it comes to keeping us on track, but guilty feelings when there is nothing to feel guilty about is another matter altogether (and we’re very good at finding those matters). When guilt creeps into the time management process, it is usually an indicator that you have begun to believe on some level that unless you’re are not actively engaged in some task, you’re are not managing your time well.

While it is important to take care of necessary tasks in a timely manner, you do need some time to simply relax and recharge. If you look at it from this perspective, failing to include time for rest and recreation is a breach of good time management policies. If you deny your mind and your body of what it needs to be healthy, you are defeating the purpose of time management, and setting yourself up for a fall at some future point.

 

You become annoyed with others who don’t do as you do

One of the ways people validate their actions is by comparing them with what other people do. After all, if others are using the same approaches and methods to time management that we are, that means we are on the right track. However, when you’re in your zone and people do things differently, we may assume they are wrong and we are right, something has gone wrong with our sense of time management.

We know that everyone brings different talents and abilities to a given task, so taking this to the next level means there are in fact more than one right approach when tackling the same tasks or projects. People who have a balanced view of time management realize this and even welcome the opportunity to learn something new. However, if you assume your way is the only right way you may be on the defensive and find fault with as many aspects of the alternative method as possible.

Again, this negative point of view isn’t really in keeping with true time management principles. Not only does this mindset make it impossible to be exposed to new ways of managing tasks and possibly saving time, it also can create a great deal of stress and friction for everyone concerned. If you are working with a team or delegating responsibilities, having this mindset can upset everyone’s ability to manage time effectively, meaning no one progresses as quickly as they would if all parties could learn from one another and respect individual working styles.

It may be time to check in with yourself and the way you manage your time! The bottom line is that you can become so obsessed with time management that the good you’ve created may start to unravel, putting you in a position where you are more likely to struggle and fail. When this happens, you’ll find your obsession with structured time management may be worse than when you didn’t attempt any time management practices at all.

 

Barbara Jemmott is the founder and business strategist at Your Entrepreneurial Spirit. Her 4-point YES to Customer Acquisition Program (C.A.P.) allows her to work her passion which is helping entrepreneurial women grow their audiences and income, online. She got here through her 20+ years of experience helping businesses understand and implement systems, strategies and procedures to increase productivity as well as implementing change and streamlining operations. With experience and responsibilities to design, develop and deliver training for small to large technology training initiatives for Fortune 100 companies, she brings “Big Business” expertise to the small business space. Learn more about Your Entrepreneurial Spirit and the YES to Customer Acquisition Program at www.yourentrepreneurialspirit.com