Finding your mammoth
Have you defined your Unique Selling Point? What is the USP that will bring customers to your door? The chances are it’s NOT your product. Very few businesses are unique, and most of us are in a crowded market trying to shout louder than our competitors about the same service. It’s time to think outside the box – and this summer I came across a couple of business who are truly thinking big!
The Rhône valley in the south of France is well known for its wine. Within a couple of miles of the banks of the river there is the Côtes du Rhône region, which includes famous villages such as Chateauneuf du Pape. Driving up the valley you flip in and out of regions – Costières de Nîmes, Tavel, Lirac – and every flat surface is covered in vines. Every few hundred metres there is a sign – or two or three – advertising wine tasting and sales at a small vineyard or a collective. That’s a saturated market alright, and unless you are in the “famous” villages there’s little to set you apart.
A Mammoth Effort
The Vignerons of Montfrin knew this, and took a very unusual step. They bought a mammoth. A real mammoth skeleton at a Paris auction. (“You can buy those?” asked my husband. “Oh yes”, answered Madame, “but you need the space…”.) What does that have to do with wine? Not a lot. But with the Mammoth logo on their boxes and bottles, and flyers distributed across the length and breadth of the region saying “Come and see our mammoth! And taste some wine too”, Montfrin becomes a destination, a recognisable name, a novelty. That’s what we call thinking big!
A USP from day one
A few miles north of the mammoth lies a landscape littered with caves. From the World Heritage Site of l’Aven d’Orgnac, a massive cave system with over a million visitors a year, to small prehistoric dwellings, there are a myriad similar places to visit. One site opened its doors to tourists only three months ago, but from the outset aimed to be unique. A cave is a cave is a cave. Lighting helps. But what makes the Grotte de la Salamandre unique? They focused on three things: Accessibility, Adrenalin and Sustainability. These are their unique selling points. Want some fun? Try the 50m abseil straight down through the natural entrance of the cave (it’s breathtaking). Wheelchair bound? Both the newly drilled entrance (carefully designed to allow the abseiling above) and the tour route are flat and level. Admirer of cutting edge sustainability? All the cave lighting is solar powered. From starting the project four years ago, to opening their doors, the focus was on the USP, not being ‘just another cave’.
What’s yours?
Time to think about your own business. How could you ‘think big’? Your USP doesn’t mean that your main offering is better than the rest – there will always be competition on the same level. For many small businesses, YOU are the USP!
So what sets you apart?
What will bring customers to you time and time again?
What’s your mammoth?