That dairy sounds interesting – never thought about what they do with surplus cream when they’re making skimmed milk. Reminded me of the wood mill that sells waste chippings and sawdust to pet shops for use in rodent cages.

The speedy delivery angle worked so well for Fedex and Dominos because it was a key issue for customers. Having said that, Dominos dropped it in ’92 because of accidents and running red lights. Apparently their delivery drivers got too competitive against the clock as a matter of pride. They still deliver very fast though – those systems they developed for mean they can fly food out of the door.

I always like to focus the USP at something that’s very important in the buying cycle to the customer. If you can definitely do something that your competitors can’t, and it matters to your customers, you get a real edge for your unique selling point.

One of my all time favourite businesses I ever did any work with was Birmingham Dairies about 25 years ago. I was sent in to do a profitability study and found it fascinating as they went to market through so many different channels. Because skimmed milk was so popular, they started a small chain of bakery shops to use up the excess cream in their cakes.

I believe all businesses have some ability to differentiate themselves. Sometimes it happens by accident. I go to my newsagents because it is the nearest and fits in with walking my dog. I used to buy petrol from one service station because they had a very pretty woman as cashier.

Other times differentiation happens deliberately but that means you have to make some tough decisions about what you will do and what you won’t.

Classic examples of USPs are Dominos Pizza and Fedex and both use the strong appeal of guaranteed fast delivery. It’s easy to promise but harder to do and that’s why your Unique Selling Point has to move from a marketing promise to a business promise backed up by the right systems and processes.