Understanding and Using Your Unique Selling Points

Ask yourself what is there about you and your practice that makes you stand out from your competitors.

Do you know who your competitors are?

In this highly competitive marketplace that is constantly evolving you need to know who you are and consider what it is that can set you apart from the competition.

Here at Aesthetic Response we understand the importance of USPs, or Unique Selling Propositions, both for our clients and indeed for our own business.  Our USPs are features or characteristics that set our businesses apart from our competitors, in other words, what do you and I have that our competitors don’t? For example, here at Aesthetic Response here are a few of our USP’s:

• Aesthetic Response is the UK’s first enquiry handling service dedicated to the aesthetics sector here in the UK
• Over 70 years experience in the Cosmetic and Aesthetic Sector underpins our service
• We are an award-winning service

Here’s a quick look at USP’s that you can focus on:

Identifying USPs can take a lot of thought and consideration – with this in mind, a good place to start would be to try to identify a few of your competitors’ USPs by looking at their websites and promotional materials.

For your USPs, you can think about breaking them down into these three P’s: Practitioner, Practice, and Procedures:

Practitioner:

The identity of the person administering aesthetic treatments is important to clients. Prospective clients will want to know who is treating them and you need to establish trust. You should think about identifying at least four key USPs for yourself, as the practitioner – these could be based on facts or feedback. An example of a fact would be to state how many years’ of experience you have, or what qualifications you hold. Feedback, on the other hand, comes from any testimonials, articles and reviews where clients or journalists have commented on you as a practitioner.

Practice:

The place where clients receive their treatments is important to many potential customers. Think about where you are based – what are the key things about your premises and location? Think about where you are based, for example, if you practice from a beautiful, listed building, you could promote it by referring to its elegance and pedigree. Alternately if you are in an ultra-modern setting you may refer to it being state of the art, up to the minute… Again, try to identify your four key USPs using facts and feedback. Has anyone commented on the environment or the atmosphere in the clinic? Use any good feedback to your advantage.

Procedures:

Finally, the treatments you offer can also be used as your USPs.

• What makes the treatments you offer better than others?
• Do you create bespoke packages?
• Have a signature treatment?
• Think again about facts and feedback – have you won any awards for your treatments?
• Do you use awards-winning products?
• Work with award-winning brands?
• Have people commented on the types of treatments and products on offer in your clinic?
• Do you have a celebrity influencer?

Remember that clients will come to the clinic with a specific treatment in mind - it’s up to you to showcase your work.

I hope this will be a starting point for you to think about what makes you stand out from the crowd.  In our next blog, we will look at how you can use your USP’s.

We’ve recently created a short course module, sharing our years of experience identifying and using USP’s, to help clinic owners and staff members harness this powerful tool.

For further information please email clientservices@aestheticresponse.co.uk or call us on 0191 720 3000.