Succeeding in business means setting yourself apart from any and all other competitors. Some people call this a "point of difference" or a "unique selling proposition (USP)."
For instance, a good example of a USP for a Financial Planner came from Howard Ruff.
While all of the other Wall Street professionals concentrated on impressing the wealthy. Howard Ruff built his own newsletter empire by positioning himself as the ‘common’ man’s Financial Planner.
His USP went like this...
"I am the financial advisor to the middle class. And I want to protect your interests at a different level. I know how hard you work to make a dollar. I know how important it is that you do not lose it. I know how critical your retirement monies are to you. I respect that, and I approach your situation differently from anybody else.
This little statement and some savvy marketing helped to build Howard's newsletter company into a $20 million
powerhouse.
FedEx had a very powerful USP that helped to vault it to the number one position in it's industry.
FedEx's USP was "When it absolutely, positively has to be there."
Brief, powerful, and effective.
Using powerful, direct statements that differentiate you will help people to remember you and what you stand for.
The same type of powerful statements can be used to help you generate more referrals.
I call these statements a, "Unique Referral Proposition (URP)."
A URP is a simple, straightforward statement of how you approach your business and what you expect in return.
In essence, it educates your friend or associate on why referrals are important to you and helps them to understand that if you provide a quality product or service, that you expect to be referred in return.
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A Great Example of a Unique Referral Proposition
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Not long ago I received a "thank you" email from a realtor that had this phrase under the man’s signature:
"We Only Do Business by Referral "...means: We invest 100% of our time and energy to delivering first-class service to our clients. As a result, our valued clients, suppliers, and friends refer their family, friends and work associates to us for advice on buying or selling real estate. We're interested in building strong life long relationships one person at a time."
This is a powerful URP statement.
This statement makes it crystal clear that referrals are the lifeblood of your business and that you would like and even expect your clients and business friends to send you referrals..
People need to know that you want and appreciate their referrals.
The phrase, in essence, answers the question, "What can you do for me in return for delivering high quality service?"
Here's another great example of a powerful referral statement.
"When you refer our business you are giving us the ability to focus all our energy and resources on delivering outstanding results for our clients. We measure our success on whether or not you refer our business and so we strive to exceed all your expectations so that you'll want to mention our business to all your friends and associates."
This URP statement gives the reader a reason why they should send referrals to you and it lets them know that you you measure your success based on the amount of referrals that they give to you.
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How To Put This Referral Tactic Into Action
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Now that you have a powerful URP you want to communicate it to everyone that knows you.
In essence, you want to shout it from the housetops and let all the people that you do business with, see your URP that when they think of you, they'll also think of your URP.
So you want to put your URP in every piece of communication that leaves your desk.
For example, here are a few places you'll want to include your URP:
1. Your email signature file.
2. On all the documents that you fax.
3. As a recording on your telephone hold line.
4. In any letter that you send.
5. On the envelopes of all your outgoing mail.
6. On your answering machine.
7. In your email autoreplies.
8. On your website.
9. On your social networking profile page.
10. In your greeting cards.
Here's a great example of a greeting card that includes a Unique Referral Proposition.
http://www.TheReferralNewsletter.com/a/byr.jpg
These are just a few of the places where you should place your URP statement.
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Conclusion
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Like a Unique Selling Proposition, a powerful URP statement will set you apart from most other professionals in your industry.
The more you communicate your URP, the more people will associate it with your name. Put your URP on every piece of communication that leaves your office.
If you communicate your URP consistently and effectively, people will start to believe that you really are serious about obtaining referrals and they will want to help you.
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