Your USP: Its Massive Contribution To Career & Business Success

I’ve had the remarkable opportunity in my life to be mentored by Jay Abraham, the world-renowned marketing expert recognised as having generated over $10 billion in increased annual revenues for his clients.

One of Jay’s foundational concepts is what he calls the Ultimate Strategic Position – not to be confused with the other “USP” term of Unique Selling Proposition (a worthwhile concept, but far less powerful than the Ultimate Strategic Position).

The Ultimate Strategic Position has a massive contribution to make to people who are working on their career(s) as well as those that are working on their business(es).

The Ultimate Strategic Position (USP) is about how you position yourself in regards to the minds of those who have influence over your career or how the market perceives you and your business.

I’ll use the same example here that Jay often uses about the powerful use of a USP.

The Top-Selling Suit Salesman from Nordstrom

Patrick McCarthy joined Nordstrom in 1971 and became the first sales person to sell over a million dollars (in fact, several million) in clothing in a single year – back when $1million was a great deal of money and when most sales people sold less than $100,000 in a year.  The other significant achievement was building a base of over 12,000 clients which is a remarkable record even in this day and age.

Jay interviewed McCarthy to learn what he had done to create such great success and, to cut the story short, McCarthy did four things very differently from all other sales people at Nordstrom – and perhaps all other sales people in the clothing business:

1. He provided consistently outstanding service, ensuring the each client walked out of the store with exactly what they wanted or better.
2. When engaging with each client he learned the purpose of their purchase. Perhaps it was for a wedding, an interview, a new job, a promotion or some other special event or circumstance.  McCarthy would then explore in conversation with the client exactly how the clothes would contribute to the best possible outcome for that event or circumstance.  Through the conversation, while fitting the client out with clothes to match the significance of the event or circumstance, McCarthy would learn the name of the fiancé, the background to the job for which the client was being interviewed, the role and responsibilities of the new job, etc., through dialogue with the client.  He would make sure that he really understood the value of the client’s purchase – in terms of the events or circumstances – and he’d record those details in a book that was effectively his Client Relationship Management system.
3. As a post-sale follow-up, McCarthy would then collect information about what was discussed with the client. He might have a newspaper or magazine article about the wedding, reception or honeymoon venue.  He might have material about how best to conduct yourself in an interview.  He might have obtained some information about the role the client was going to take on, or about the company he was going to work with.  Whatever it was, McCarthy would collect that information and mail it to the client as a post-sale thank you.  And, as well, he would often follow up with them after the event to learn how it had gone. [And remember, he did this before the advent of the Internet, personal computers or mobile phones.]
4. McCarthy regularly put deals together for clients where he was able to secure premium clothing and accessories with significant discounts. Having taken exact measurements of his clients, he would personally assemble a collection of garments specific to each client and would have them delivered to their home or office at no cost along with an offer.  The offer was for the client to try on the garments and return those that didn’t suit (no pun intended).  This strategy worked well as the return rates were very low and he was able to sell more to his clients without them having to inconvenience them with an in-store visit.  It was a win-win deal for all involved.

Now why did I relay this story to you?  Because it’s all about McCarthy’s Ultimate Strategic Position.

When Jay Abraham interviewed McCarthy he learned that McCarthy didn’t see himself as a sales person.  He saw himself as a success partner in people’s lives.  So everything he did was about helping people succeed in terms of the events or circumstances in their lives.  And that’s how most of his clients saw him as they provided McCarthy with repeat business over the years along with a constant stream of referrals that, in-turn, provided repeat business and more referrals ...

In the minds of his clients, McCarthy was a trusted adviser to his clients.  And he also sold them a lot of clothing.

The opportunity each person has with the USP concept is that they can determine how they want to be perceived by their “market”.

Finding Your Ultimate Strategic Position

Your USP is all about determining how you want influential people – employers (as a collective term) for employees, clients for people in business – to think about you or your business.

For example, how would it be if your employer/client thought of you as being:

• The most creative?
• The most resourceful?
• The most intelligent?
• The most innovative?
• The best leader?
• The best communicator?
• The best problem solver?
• The most reliable?
• The most productive?
• The best negotiator?
• The most technical?
• The best supporter?
• The most trusted?

Your USP could be one of the items listed above or a combination of a number of them.

The key is not the USP itself, but working to have the USP as they way your employers/clients think of you and how – when they need someone who is creative, resourceful, intelligent, innovative, reliable, productive, technical, trusted,  or is a leader, a communicator, a problem solver, a negotiator, a supporter, etc. – then you come to mind first.

Getting The Front-of-Mind Position

Getting the front-of-mind position is about using many approaches to effectively educate your employer or client so that they think of you first when they need someone who is creative, resourceful, intelligent, innovative, reliable, productive, technical, trusted,  or is a leader, a communicator, a problem solver, a negotiator or a supporter.

You must educate them as to why the attribute(s) should be important to them and why you should be the first person called upon as the preeminent possessor of the attribute(s).

That process of education is undertaken at points when you interact with your employer/client – not every interaction necessarily, especially with your employer – so that they make the connection between you and that attribute.

So, for example, if you want to be seen as the most innovative then you need to talk on occasion about innovation and its value to your employer/client.  You should provide case studies, or similar, showing how innovation can be of tremendous value to your employer/client.  The innovation might take the form of improving products, services or business/operational processes or developing replacements for the ones that exist now.  You would show how innovation in something that can be developed within individuals and across the employer/client organisation.

You, of course, will have to be innovative as well in terms that your employer/client would understand and appreciate.  I’d recommend that you chose a position that you can, personally, be strong in.  If you’re not innovative, don’t choose innovation unless you can develop it to the point of excellence.

What we’re talking about here is taking a proactive approach to gaining a front-of-mind position with your employer/client so that you stand out from the crowd and gain the attention and appreciation of your employer/client.

If you undertake the approach effectively and consistently then, over time (and it will take time with your employer), your value will grow as you gain a front-of-mind position with your employer/client and the benefits of that should flow towards you. 

This is where you’ll see the value of the establishing an Ultimate Strategic Position with your “market”.