Comments on: Steps to Starting a Small Business: #7 Your USP – Unique Selling Proposition

By: emo

emo — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 12:53:04 +0000

hi kathy, I've been blogging for 3 years and I have to confess that words are everything... but trusting the blogger is the key to success! emos last blog post..Emo can be short for “emotional.”

By: Kathy

Kathy — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:15:39 +0000

@Cath,

I agree it’s a sad day when treating people like people could be considered a decent USP.

@ Barbara,

I know – I know! On the one hand, I’m SO tempted to get an answering service to handle my calls – and on the other, I know it’s ESSENTIAL that people can talk to me and connect!

By: Barbara Swafford - Blogging Without A Blog

Barbara Swafford - Blogging Without A Blog — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:57:40 +0000

Hi Kathy - Great post! I was reading this part, "As more and more businesses set up ways to automate communication, they unwittingly (maybe not so unwittingly) set up barriers that prevent customers and clients from connecting on a personal level." and thought about how in my life offline, I encounter competitors of ours who use answering machines or some type of automated service to respond to their phone calls. I've lost count on how many calls I get (which results in business) from people who say, "finally, I got a real person". Don't businesses realize the public is totally put off by automation? And yes, in the blogging world, our readers do get an idea of who we are, based on our words. They say A LOT. Barbara Swafford - Blogging Without A Blogs last blog post..Be Careful What You Wish For

By: Cath Lawson

Cath Lawson — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:02:10 +0000

Hi Kathy – people are important. It’s definitely an advantage when real people who are actually part of a business, answer the phone.

And folk who actually work for the business – serve the customers, instead of a subcontractor, or some company the work has been outsourced to.

I guess all that is becoming so rare that it could be a decent USP.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:15:37 +0000

Betsy,

First million in five minutes makes me smile!!!

Often what makes a business “unique” is the same thing that makes a blog “unique”… the people! I’m about ready to STOP patronizing a local business because they’ve hired a sour old woman who acts like waiting on customers makes her corns ache! I like everything else about the store – but when I see her behind the counter, I want to turn and run away!

Talk about an ANTI-USP!