Christopher Doran - www.christopherdoran.co.uk

To bring this important but hackneyed business expression up to date, this is what is reported in Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Unique_selling_proposition

EVP a new 21st Century revision for USP

In marketing terms the acronym “USP” is of great importance to any business. A new revision may bring this valued service to business up to date. It is “Exclusive Vending Proposal”* or “EVP”. This is not simply a recapitulation for no good reason.

Firstly “unique” is a hard task master and few businesses can attain it in the marketplace today. Yet all businesses must aspire to uniqueness. “Exclusive” is an easier level of achievement to gain, yet it does not diminish its value in the marketplace. Indeed “unique” has connotations of being totally singular whereas “exclusive” has a plural position, but one where the boundaries are set to avoid commonality. This has the effect of increasing the value (perceived or real) of a business offering.

The word “selling” has negative connotations in the ears of a prospective buyer because no one wants to be sold something. Therefore all reference to sales, sell, sold, or selling are less desirable words to be used. “Vending” has no such negative associations and hence from a business viewpoint will create a less vexed position of association in all business personnel involved in business growth.

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The Secret To Massive Web Site Traffic

Just last night my youngest daughter came to get me to look at a website she was looking at. At first I have to admit I wasn’t bothered to make a move to just see a web page but after a lot of encouraging I moved myself to see what all the fuss was about. Just as an aside here if you need to find the best sales people look no further than children. They simply are the best closers on the planet.

Anyway I got to the computer and she clicked on a video link that went straight through to a video on You Tube. What I saw was staggering but not for the immediately obvious reason.

Here was a short video clip of a baby. No big deal, so far. Cute yes, loved by its parents I’m sure but nothing extraordinary in the video. It was a baby boy sitting in his high chair in a room.

What was he doing?

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If you read my Twitter post just now, I said I would post two of the most vital words you need to know about producing massive profits for your business.

As with most things in life, it isn’t the words themselves of course that make the difference. It is the understanding of them, then the interpretation in respect of your business, and lastly the implementation.

“So big deal what are these oh so special words?”

Before I give them to you let me frame them, because you won’t appreciate them out of context.

Just before Christmas I presented to a board of directors. It was a long brain storm session to get to the bottom of why they were in business and why their customer’s bought off them.

On the face of it that would appear obvious:

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We’ve all heard the phrase ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.’ It is true in business as well. Often we think things are doing okay for a while and then all of a sudden we get a new inspiring thought. Be careful of this though because it may result in you wanting to change something working already very well for you.

It is very important to look at what is going on in the marketplace and adjust your offering to meet new demand. That is a good thing. However, if a marketing campaign is already working well that may not be such a good thing to change. If you do, you may just be killing off the goose that lays your golden egg.

How do we counter this? First check and see what is going on. What is really happening? Don’t just take it for granted it is a great idea to change something. It may appear old hat or boring. Boring can be very good news indeed. Profit making should be as boring (and predictable) as possible.

Just think of all the everyday items and goods sold are household names. Look at something like Marmite or Kellogg’s Corn flakes, Bic biros. These are just three lines that come quickly to mind. Why? They have kept their product and brand image the same. This is even down to the packaging. It has been the same for years and years.

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It’s interesting when someone close to you dies, it makes you take stock of your own life doesn’t it?

It happened to me last year when my father, thankfully very peacefully, slid off to another place.

Just today it happened again, sadly.

My best friend Tony (Big T) expired suddenly and quickly.

After the shock and the sense of loss and grief, you think of all the good things about the person concerned, and what they meant to you, when they were alive and kicking.

All those very personal thoughts and feelings come flooding back into your conscious mind. All the good times, and the not-so-good times, you shared together.

In Big T’s case, there were more than enough of both, but we laughed at all of it, with glasses held high.
Life, and particularly business, can be such a challenge at times. We work to give value enough to others, to hopefully pay the inevitable bills life throws at us.

We often lose sight of the fact it is the value we provide, that really only counts in the final analysis. It is through sharing ourselves, we generate the most value. In difficult times, it is easy to lose sight of this fact. If we shared more of value, we would reap a far greater harvest for ourselves.

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