Understanding Your ‘Unique Perceived Benefit’

‘Unique Perceived Benefit’???

It’s not a phrase most of us have heard of so you’re probably wondering what a Unique Perceived Benefit (UPB for short) is.

It’s simple really. A UPB is just a statement that makes your business stand out from the crowd and be DIFFERENT from your competitors in the minds of your customers and prospects. Remember the Plumbing Business is HIGHLY competitive, you MUST develop your own UPB.

Wouldn’t it be great if your business ‘stood out from the crowd’? Of course it would!!

Your UPB can easily be the one thing that makes the difference between a very successful business and one that never reaches its potential!
Occasionally your UPB can be obvious – but in most cases it needs to be created.

Once you’ve done that, you just need to spread the word clearly and consistently in a way your marketplace can’t ignore.

I can't stress enough how important this is to you.
How can you expect your prospects or customers to be able to choose you, over and above any of your competitors, if they can't quickly see what it is you do that’s so unique and so right for them?

Outstanding businesses have been founded on a UPB alone. For example, here's one that’s very well known …

"Red hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less – or it’s FREE."

Tom Monahan of Domino’s Pizza created one of the most successful fast-food
franchises in the world from the strength of this UPB. Take a moment to notice the clever
things Tom did with his UPB ...
Notice he doesn't say ‘the best-tasting pizza’... Domino's pizzas are good, but not the best you can get - what he focuses on is what HIS customers (niche) really want.

His customers (students living in a 30-minute radius of each Domino’s outlet) often buy on impulse so they want ‘food’ delivered quickly, and food that is hot!
Of course they want their pizza to taste good ... but they’re prepared to ‘accept’ a slight
lower quality for the benefit of having their hot pizza delivered quickly!
Notice that your UPB is NOT about what you do. It’s about what you can do for your customers.
To create yours, simply …
Find out what your customers want
Find a way to give it to them ...

Then create a simple, easy-to-understand motto, catchphrase or statement ... 

AND
REPEAT IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN, UNTIL IT BECOMES WHAT YOUR
BUSINESS IS KNOWN FOR!

Please Note:
Having a UPB is not the same as having a USP. A Unique Selling Point is   
great in theory but in reality most of us don’t have something that ‘unique’
to shout about.

Your Unique Perceived Benefit is quite different, much more powerful and
the easiest way to create one is to combine a powerful offer with a strong
guarantee.

Have a look at the Domino’s Pizza UPB again and you’ll see what I mean.
A powerful offer ... “Red hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or
less” – A strong guarantee ... “Or it‟s FREE”

Can you think of a powerful offer, or promise, you could make to your
customers that you’re prepared to guarantee?

If you can ... you’ve just found your UPB!

Here are some additional benefits using a strong UPB can give you.
A strong UPB stops you being seen by your customers and prospects as being the same
as your competitors. 

This is critical.
Why?

Well, if you’re not seen as different ... what do you think becomes the most important factor prospective customers base their choice on?

That’s right – price!!!

And we all know a price war ends up with shrinking profit margins and more and more stress ... In the long run unless you have very deep pockets it’s hard to win a price war.

This is why it’s such great news that as soon as you create a fantastic, powerful, punchy UPB for your business, you automatically take yourself out of the ‘price war’ and into the nirvana of higher prices/fees.
In my e book Millionaire Plumber www.millionaireplumber.co.uk/index1.html
I list the top ten most irritating things that Plumbers do that the public HATES. Take a look at the list see if you can in some way use it to develop your own UPB by demonstrating how YOU do things that your competitors don’t.
When you create one, you’ll find more people choosing you simply because you appear to be offering more for the same price ... YOU CAN’T LOSE WITH A 

POWERFUL UPB!

BREAK-OUT NOTE:
It is extremely rare to meet a business owner who has a clearly planned and thought-out UPB.

Once again this plays to your advantage.
If everyone is doing it – there would be no competitive advantage for you.
It’s like several years ago when personal injury solicitors and claims management companies started advertising in the UK.

Claims Direct were the first to say ‘No Win – No Fee‟, but soon everyone followed. So even though in the early days Claims Direct had a powerful UPB, it wasn’t long before everyone was saying the same.
So what was once unique is now common and the power has gone.
That‟s why you also need to be continually evaluating your UPB and if you need to change your promise or your guarantee it‟s easy enough to do.
Having said that, the Claims Direct story is very rare, so the trick is to create a UPB that would make it difficult, almost impossible, for any of your competitors to imitate or copy.

That’s exactly what I do with all my clients in a logical step-by-step way. We get everyone together and work through a number of stages in a „UPB Workshop‟ and arrive at the most powerful UPB for their business.

I’ve never run one yet that wasn’t fascinating and eye-opening for everyone involved.