There are two (2) concepts that you must understand and embrace if you want to be successful in business. These concepts are your Elevator Pitch and your Unique Selling Proposition.

Tea elevator pitch is:

1. a short sweet summary of what you do and it’s not really about trying to sell someone. So instead of telling someone “I mow the lawn,” you could say “We turn our clients’ yards into landscape masterpieces.”
2. a tone for other people’s attention
3. what you would say to people if you were in an elevator and only had 30 seconds (or 100-150 words) to impress or engage them
4. a tone to get someone’s attention by telling them what you do and hopefully they will be interested in asking you for more information. It’s an introduction to what you do, and in the process, you create some intrigue and hopefully spark some questions from the listener.

His unique selling proposition is:

1. the reason (or compelling point of difference) why your customers choose you over your competition
2. The foundation of your advertising program: It’s what you communicate to your market. It can be your catchphrase or tagline.
3. the foundation of your professional image: your image and branding are the result of designing your USP, and your image and branding is carried throughout your livery: clothing, uniforms, letterheads, business cards, magnetic stickers, motor vehicle signage, sites web, emails, flyers, brochures
4. the first impression new customers and prospects have of you
5. chances are it’s more important to have than your elevator pitch

If you avoid or skip defining your own USP, you will have a hard time growing your business.

Your Unique Selling Proposition is what you tell the market through your Flyers, Brochures, Website, Business Cards, Brochures, Radio Ads, etc. It helps remind potential and existing customers why you are different from your competitors. It’s a summary of all the benefits (as opposed to all the features) you provide to your customers.

This point of difference (your USP) that you articulate can be something as insignificant as the location of your business, the way you provide your service, or the speed of service delivery. So when you develop these concepts or slogans don’t say something like “we provide excellent service”, because anyone can say that. In other words, there is NO point of difference here!

Famous examples of good Unique Selling Propositions include: “You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less, or it’s free.”

Dominos Pizza:

Fedex: “When your package absolutely, positively has to get there overnight”

Of beers’: “Diamonds Are Forever”

You can see why Domino’s and FedEx slogans are so effective because they are very specific with their mentions of benefits and guarantees. These slogans or slogans are complete statements that can be verified by the customer and do not resort to marketing hype words like “latest”, “best”, “best”.

The “Advertising Age” voted DeBeers’ “Diamonds Are Forever” the best advertising slogan of the 20th century. Also, DeBeers would have greatly benefited from the glamorous James Bond movie and book of the same name.

In short, with both the Elevator Pitch and your Unique Selling Proposition, you are communicating to prospects and customers how you take Prospects with a Problem or Pain to another place where there is Pleasure.