You can imagine how tight the competition is between finalists in a national awards!
In an awards process, the best of the best salons and spas are shortlisted for Hidden Beauty to visit, either as a mystery shop or as an Official Visit audit.
The beauty awards judging process
Our expert staff visit the business to collect evidence on behalf of the judging panel. Once all the evidence is collated from our visit it is presented to the panel of judges for them to assess.
Quite often it’s just a collection of tiny differences between businesses that adds up to making a big difference in the eyes of the judges. Yet sometimes it’s something that really creates a real wow factor which is often in the form of a unique selling point.
In today’s competitive climate it is not enough to describe your unique selling point as having ‘outstanding customer care’ or ‘great treatment skill’ as most other businesses who have entered an award have had the good sense to achieve this too.
A true USP for your beauty business
A unique selling point has to be something that grabs the judges’ attention, something that your salon provides that is likely to be lacking in the other finalists and other businesses in your sector or area.
For the last eight years that Hidden Beauty has been carrying out awards visits, we have come across a number of ‘wow’ factors that have helped to create a unique selling point for the winning salon or spa. Sometimes we find that some businesses do not even realise that they have such a feature and still insist that their USP is their customer service or treatment expertise! If your business has a unique selling point be sure to promote it to your clientele and use it to its full advantage in an awards process.
Unique views, revolutionary equipment and creative themes
We find that unique selling points come in a variety of different forms. It can be a setting such as an amazing view, a different or unique piece of equipment or even an unusual charity that the business supports.
Occasionally the unique selling point is a ‘theme’ that the owner has fabricated, which often works very well as long as it is well thought through and backed up with solid business principals and everything else that a discerning customer would expect from a quality offering. A ‘themed’ business can feel ‘gimmicky’ if treatment expertise is lacking or if the client doesn’t feel valued or cared for.
Ask yourself what is your USP, beauty business owner
So why not ask yourself, ‘what is our unique selling point?’ ‘why do our clients seek us out and choose us over other businesses?’ ‘what would put our business ahead of other finalists in an awards competition?’ Be creative, involve other team members and possibly even your clients and you may be surprised with what you discover.
Remember that a ‘unique selling point’ is singular, not plural, so concentrate on one key unique selling point.
To find out more
get in touch - our mystery shopping service can unveil your USP.
