“Dennis Rodman was in the National Basketball Association for several years, playing hard and posting impressive rebounding numbers. But he received little publicity and few, if any, endorsement contracts. Then he created a USP (unique selling proposition) for himself – bizarrely bright, multi-colored hair and outrageous tattoos. With that came notoriety and a fortune in publicity and product endorsements.” Jay Abraham --Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got

It is hard to believe that Dennis Rodman can provide us with such a profound lesson on how sell. Personally, I do not consider him a role model…but you got to admit…he is more successful than most of us in selling himself and getting paid for it!

Many of us would not dare mirror Dennis Rodman. Why not? He increased his notoriety and single handedly caused his income to soar. Mr. Rodman was the same athlete, posting the same rebound numbers – but he later decided to more successfully sell who he was...and the prospects bought it (prospects being the fans and corporations with well paid endorsements).

So I ask you, what is your unique selling proposition? Are you differentiating yourself from the competition? Probably not, or at least not as much as should be.

Many of us simply claim that we are the best, are the strongest, and/or deliver the most benefit. Unfortunately, when you think about it, we all sound alike -- like a broken record. When we do this, the prospect tunes out. We need to better distinguish our claims and support it with facts…not the usual generic rhetoric.

For instance, let’s examine the following statements:

We are the best in our industry. = very generic, no proof backing the claim, not appealing to a prospect

OR

In a recent survey, 96% of our clients said our service/product surpassed their expectations. = very specific, substantiated by a statistic, more appealing to a prospect.

OR

Our service/product was voted best in industry -- our quarterly survey showed that 96% of our customers felt XYZ’s service/product surpassed expectations. = Now this offers a unique selling proposition!

So I urge those of you who are reading this, make a conscientious effort to create a USP (unique selling proposition). Spell out why you are the best, provides a proof statement, and prompt more interest from prospects.

...Just don't paint your hair multi-colored.