Market Marathon

Keynsham yesterday; Southville, Bristol (Tobacco Factory) today; we're filled with weekend market madness! We've been sales-happy flower-drenched retailers, hawking our wares (or bearing our hawks) like career carnies this weekend. Keynsham yesterday had the feel of the Roundabout Zoo about it (ref: BBC League of Gentleman)) but we covered our pitch and diesel. It looked gorgeous though; colourful, structural and exciting on the eye (there are only so many ways that pork chops can be shrink-wrapped and stacked in polystyrene, and I speak as one who respects his pork). Sunday morning and Jo was up at Hackmead cutting by 0530 hrs; I wobbled up at 0800 and off we went to bring the BOB experience to Bristol.

A slow start, a gentle middle which eased off to a stately and quiet end. Hmmm. It hit us both at about the same time; around about 11 a.m.; we'd had lots of interest and lots of well dressed window shoppers; but everyone seemed to be looking at us as purely 'sellers' and not 'growers'. At the farmers markets it's evident that Jo grows everything on our stand but today we just looked like a hungover florists (I speak for myself there, and in fact; just hung-over). It was only a couple of customers who had worked or trained in floristry that recognised what Jo's blooms represented; I reckon about 80% of our sales were purely 0n visual impact alone; which is great in itself, but begs the question that does the fact Jo coaxes these things out of our own ground in fact matter? Does it matter how, where and why the flowers have arrived? It does to us, obviously, but does it to whoever hands over the folding and chinking stuff?

U.S.P. Unique Selling Point. I think we have to work on it before next weekend's market; we know what it is, but we maybe have to spell it out more clearly for potential customers? Although I'm not that confident of my ability to spel corecttly.

USP:

or proposition - this is what makes the product offer competitively strong and without direct comparison; generally the most valuable unique advantage of a product or service, for the market or prospect in question; now superseded by UPB.
www.bizjobs.com/business_glossary.php

Abbreviation for selling point. A differentiating factor that makes a company and their product or service better than a competitor's.
www.tractionsearch.com/se-dictionary.co

A Unique Selling Proposition is a statement that identifies what makes a person, product or organisation different from competitors.
www.simply.com.au/glossary.php

Let's get spelling!
JPx