USP-A Piece of Cake

USP is much beloved on the Dragon’s Den. Often you’ll hear Peter Jones saying: “I like that, that’s your USP.” USP, of course, stands for unique selling point (or proposition).

To explain USPs, I’ll tell you a personal story. When I started my first business more than 20 years ago, I went on a high-growth, business start-up programme. The guy who was teaching us about marketing was obsessed with USPs.

Problem was, he was trying to apply multi-national corporate thinking to my small start-up. His approach was totally inappropriate. I was going to be doing the selling myself and he wanted to construct a fake sales pitch for me that followed a big business template.

Glasgow approach

If you’ve been to one of these start-up seminars, you’ll know there’s always some bloke or woman standing there telling you how important your USP is. So how do you identify your USP?

Well, today, you’re going to get the Glasgow guide to USPs. In other words, straight forward, no messing around.

Basically, a USP is something that makes your product or service different. It enables you to charge more or sell more because it separates you from the competition. A USP allows you to you make more money as a result of the competitive edge it gives you.

How do you find your USP? There’s only one way – get people to sample your product or service and listen to what they say. In the words of Gary Vaynerchuk – you “conversate”. You talk and you listen. Listen, listen, listen.

Matter of taste

Making cakes was my first business and the guy who was running the start-up course I went on asked me what my USP was. I simply stuck a slice of cake in front of him, he had a bite and replied: “Ooh – that’s delicious”.

My chocolate cake was vastly rich. It was made of pure chocolate, raw cane sugar, good chocolate shavings on the top, no preservatives, no additives and extremely high quality. That tells you that my cake was special, aimed at the top end of the market. It didn’t look perfect, so I stressed its homemade qualities, giving it a sense of authenticity and wholesomeness, both powerful USPs.

When you’re trying to find your USP, you need to identify something that makes your product, service or business distinctive. How do you do it? As I did with my cake, you should take your product or service and shove it in front of people as much and as often as you can. Ask people what they like best about your offer. You might find that certain phrases and words will be repeated. In the case of my chocolate cake, it was, “My God, very rich!” and “Wow – really chocolaty”.

Ever heard of Kobi beef? It’s the world’s most expensive beef – I think it’s looked after by nuns or whatever. Actually, I’m kidding, it comes from the black Tajima-ushi breed of Wagyu cattle, which is raised strictly by traditional methods. It’s renowned for its flavour, tenderness and fatty, well-marbled texture. Its rarity and great care taken in its rearing are powerful USPs, as well as its flavour and succulence. Its price is another USP (“The world’s most expensive meat”).

In conclusion

Does your business/product/service need a USP? Absolutely. Whether it’s chocolate cake or Japanese beef that you’re selling, if you can come up with something that marks your product and business out as different – as special – you’ve already got an important head start.

Why not visit www.startupdonut.co.uk for more interesting enterprise tips?

Entrepreneurs and their diet

Entrepreneurs diet? Rather more accurately what is the diet of an entrepreneur?

My good friend DeeDee Cuddihy has been fascinated by what entrepreneurs eat for some time. I have to confess -given my interest in food and background running a food company-I too have been fascinated by this topic  and, as we are in January, I thought it would be worth exploring for 2010.

If you run your own business do you look after your diet?

Do you think it is important for entrepreneurs to have a healthy diet.Indeed are entrepreneurs slim,fit and in peak condition? I have a weak spot for cake and find a cup of tea and a scone rather relaxing in times of stress.(I suppose that is healthier than booze and fags.)

I am starting to do interviews over 2010 with entrepreneurs on what they eat and why,so if you have any stories they will be gratefully received.

Lose Weight? Stop Smoking? No Start a Business!

It’s that time of year when most of us make a New Year resolution. But forget the detox or crash diet – more and more people are choosing to start their own business.
If you type ‘Top 10 New Year resolutions’ into any internet search engine you’ll get roughly the same thing – a list that usually starts with lose weight, stop smoking and get fit.
But come the end of the year, how many of us have actually stuck to our resolutions? Research would suggest just one in 10.

But if your New Year resolution was to start your own business, the odds are considerably better. At the end of their first year, just over 95% of businesses are still trading.

Okay, this does drop to around 46% by the end of year five but that’s still better that your average New Year resolution and the South West actually boasts the best five-year business survival rate in England, at just over 49%.

So what does this prove? Well not a lot really, other than there’s probably a better chance of your business surviving than you sticking to a diet. But it does hopefully offer some reassurance to the growing numbers of people who put “start my own business” at the top of their New Year resolution list.

For anyone thinking of embarking down that route, there is plenty of technical information out there but very little that covers those anxiety-inducing worries that any aspiring entrepreneur faces.

That’s why I have been doing a regular Enterprise Agony Uncle column for my website over the last few years because a lot of the business advice out there is aimed at the head, and very often you need to start with the heart.

Anyone thinking about starting a business or looking at a new life for the New Year is certainly not alone. Previously many thousands of people who thought they had secure jobs and pensions are now being forced to consider their options.

So here are a few tips to see if starting a business is a New Year resolution worth keeping.

The first thing is to ask yourself why you are doing this?

Is it because you are excited by becoming an entrepreneur or frightened by losing your job? If it is the latter then you need to list what it is that frightens you.

The truth is very few people have any understanding of what is involved in moving from employee to employer. If you have worked for someone else all your life, it is not easy re-adjusting.

So let me demolish a myth – entrepreneurs are not risk takers, they are risk evaluators. They like to do their homework and talk to people and learn before making a decision My www.enterprisecafe.tv site is free and has lots of tips to help make the transition, and so does www.businesslink.gov.uk

The next thing to do is write a list of what you really know, and what you are guessing at. Make sure you do your homework and take nothing for granted. Ask others that have done it and ask what worried them and what excited them. Entrepreneurs are always willing to help others. Make the most of existing networking groups such as The Hub in Cornwall, which is a great place for learning from others.

Asking is usually the hardest thing to do – conquer that fear and you are ahead.

Starting out can be tough so try and build up a financial cushion. Trim back expenses and have a savings pot for ‘just in case’ because in business cash is always king.

Think differently. Many people starting their own businesses do something they love. This is vital – passion is the fuel of the entrepreneur. List your skills and interests. Identify a hobby you know a lot about.

It might sound a bit bizarre but I recently had a lady on one of my programmes whose husband bred snakes. She hated them. Then she realised she could sell them. He was not interested in that so now he breeds snakes, and she sells them. Any idea how much an exotic snake can set you back?

So if you are serious about this resolution start the ball rolling. On January 15 I will be holding a free one-day workshop at the Western Morning News offices in Plymouth for aspiring entrepreneurs.

We’ll be looking at why people start businesses, how they assess the risks, juggle their lives and most importantly, how they make it happen.

The workshop will also be ideal for someone who may already be underway with an exciting concept and hitting a brick wall and in need of a bit of inspirational about which way to go next. Or they may be facing an uncertain future in their own and job or have recently been made redundant. Whoever they are and whatever their ideas, we’re looking for serious would-be entrepreneurs.

Places are limited so please visit www.enterprisecafe.tv/events to register.

Global Entrepreneurship Week

Feeding your Enterprising Soul during Global Entrepreneurship Week

This week I am in greater demand than ever as of course we are at the start of ‘Global Entrepreneurship Week’ which kicked off on today.

Read more

The Problem with Entrepreneurs’ Clothes…

…or what not to wear at Enterprise Awards Ceremonies.

What should entrepreneurs wear to award ceremonies? I ask this because I’ve been invited to The Hub Business Awards in Cornwall later this month and the dress code is “funky casual.”

Well the invitations came out and at the bottom was the dress code.  This unusual directive is causing considerable distress to a number of male invitees who have, apparently, been observed wringing their hands and whimpering: “Does this mean I can’t wear a suit?”

Read more

Airport Delays – Good for Business?

When airport delays can be good for business growth.

Well there I was sitting at my local airport which had been suddenly and unexpectedly fog bound. I say unexpectedly because for the last week we in Cornwall have had a late, glorious summer and I was not expecting a sudden onslaught of winter.

What has this to do with business you may ask? Read more

What Now For The Skilled Professional?

Credit crunch, economic downturn, recession . ..

…call it what you will, it still means the same thing for a lot of people: unemployment. One minute you’re in a job, maybe contemplating your next holiday or possibly a promotion or career move when suddenly, without warning, you’ve got a P45. Even worse is the double whammy of your partner having a P45 as well. Read more

How Helpful Are Business Advice Services ?

Do Business Advisers Help or Hinder?

I heard recently from one of the Enterprise Islanders in Irvine Bay – Gordon Brown.

Gordon designs the most spectacular Tree Houses and he was doing a bit of market research and – well why am I telling you – when he has done it, he very well himself.

Anyone else experienced this kind of thing?

“I went to the local business enterprise office in town to take advantage of their research department. They gave us the contact details of the research department in Glasgow that deals with our request. Read more

Bad Taste Great for Business Start Up Ideas

Will Your Bad Taste Make You Money?

One of the most frequent business start up questions I am asked is “How do I find a Business idea?”
Well it’s simple-look no further than bad taste. Read more

How to Business Plan – The Iain Scott Way

Business Planning – The Importance of Cake

Writing a business plan has never been my first step towards starting a business. If you look at that hapless bunch on the Apprentice you wonder if they could ever start a business. They could probably bullshit their way through the planning stage but the truth is that starting a business is more than writing business plans. Read more