Partner Article

A Spooky (but Critical) Business Lesson

Trick or Treat!! Over the millennia Halloween has evolved from a sombre pagan ritual to a day of merriment, costumes and sweet treats for children and adults, but why do we actually celebrate Halloween?

Well, as you know, Halloween is celebrated across the world on the night of 31st October, but did you know that we have our ancient ancestors the Celts to thank? Yes it was our brothers and sisters the Celts of ancient Britain who originally had a holiday called Samhain, which was used to mark the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, but on the spooky side they also believed that this transition between the seasons was a bridge to the world of the dead! Woooooo!

It was believed by the Celts that on the night of 31st October ghosts of their dead would revisit the mortal world and the donning of masks would allow the wearer anonymity so they would not be recognised as a human by the walking dead and would therefore escape unscathed!

It is here that I believe our Celtic brethren have unknowingly taught us an important business lesson.

In business it is very easy to just follow the crowd, wear a mask the same as everyone else and walk around not being noticed. Now, you may not be doing this intentionally, but answer this question honestly:

Have you really given time and thought to why anyone should buy from you?

If the answer is no, then to use the correct business term, you have no Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and there is no reason why anyone is going to buy from you instead of your competitors. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that you will get no business, but you may get very little and you will certainly never reach your full potential.

So take the time out to identify what will make your company unique, be specific and keep it short. Effective USP’s identify the most important benefits of using your services, solve an industry pain point, and (of course) are unique. For example you may want to offer your customers the ability to contact your business 24/7 and speak to a live operator (as opposed to a ghost or ghoul!) which could be achieved by using a suitable Call Management Centre to partner with.

Whatever your USP, once you’ve determined it, the final step is to integrate it into all of your marketing collateral and customer communication tools, such as email signatures, social media sites, invoices etc. There is no point having a USP if you’re not shouting about it! It will be time well spent.

So this Halloween, whilst you are dishing out treats in to the grubby palms of children that come knocking on your door, remember the business lesson that the ancient Celts taught us:

Having a truly unique USP is CRITICAL to your business success!

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lemon Business Solutions Ltd .