Why did past customers choose to work with you? Why did they decide to hire you, and what did you do during your selling process that made them a customer? They worked with you because there was something you did or said during the sale that communicated to them something that was unique that separated you from any other competitors. Whether you knew it or not, you may have communicated your “unique selling proposition.”

Wikipedia defines “the unique selling proposition” as a marketing concept that was first proposed as a theory to explain a pattern of successful advertising campaigns in the early 1940s. It states that such campaigns made unique propositions to the customer and that convinced those customers to switch brands. Today, a number of businesses and corporations currently use USPs as a basis for their marketing campaigns.

There are some very well-known marketing campaigns you are well aware of. We could look at Domino’s Pizza as an example, but we can’t use it as a model. We can’t deliver fresh, hot remodels in 30 minutes or less, or it’s free.

That sounds silly, but we all remember that tagline. The purpose of a good USP is that it differentiates your company from a competitor. In most markets, there are a host of other remodeling companies, but your specific product or service may be viewed to be a market leader due to the innovation of an original USP.

When I ask remodeling companies what makes them unique, I hear things like “we are honest,” “we do quality work,” or “we have skilled trades-people on staff.” Is there any successful company that doesn’t do this? I bring this up because these are not examples of good USPs. These characteristics are part of any successful remodeling company. These are not unique selling points. There is no innovation in stating the obvious.

If you want to begin to define a successful USP, you have to dig a little deeper. In every remodeling company, there is a combination of skills or personalities that make each company unique. It could be an owner’s ability to communicate trust to homeowners; it could be a specific skill set of a company that delivers beautiful historic renovation work; it could be a specific building method that ensures quick completion within a remodeling niche. Every company is unique in some way. It’s not enough anymore to tell a homeowner that you are honest and do quality work.