LO2 — Explain what makes a business stand out from othersOpen your Topic 1 Workbook alongside · submit to Teams at end of this lesson
Stimulus — watch together
8 min
Workbook check: Open the Topic 1 Pair Workbook for the last time. Today's USP goes in the Lesson 5 section. At the end of this lesson, one of you uploads the completed file to the Topic 1 Teams assignment — that is your final submission for Topic 1.
Today's stimulus is a real Dragons' Den pitch — capped at 8 minutes. As you watch, listen for four things: what they sell, who pays, how they make money, and the new one for today — what makes them different from the competition.
Teacher notes — Stage 1
Before playing
Tell students up front: the pitch is capped at 8 min — they will not see the Dragons' deliberation. Don't apologise for cutting it; the pitch alone is the lesson.
Hand pairs four sticky notes: SELL / PAYS / MAKE / DIFFERENT. They write one keyword per note as they watch.
Timing cue
Around 8 minutes including settling. The 4-question framework feeds straight into Stage 2 block A — don't dwell on the video itself.
Whole-class discussion
12 min
Two discussion blocks. Pairs first, then class. No workbook writing yet — the workbook starts in Stage 3.
A · What did the pitch tell us?
1. Compare your four sticky notes (SELL / PAYS / MAKE / DIFFERENT) with your partner. Are you describing the same business, or did you each hear it differently?
2. Of the four — which was the weakest? Was it weak because the pitcher didn't say it clearly, or because it genuinely isn't strong?
B · Logos & adjectives — what does a brand feel like?
3. On rough paper, sketch the Apple logo and the Facebook logo from memory. Around each, write 4–5 adjectives the company makes you feel — e.g. premium, simple, addictive, untrustworthy, friendly, cool, dated.
4. Pick a successful business you admire. Sketch its logo and write 4–5 adjectives for it too. Then in one sentence: what would competitors have to do to make customers feel those things?
A brand is the feelings a business triggers before you even buy. A USP (Unique Selling Point) is the one specific reason a customer picks you over the competition. Brand is emotional; USP is rational. Strong businesses have both.
Teacher notes — Stage 2
Running block A — pitch debrief
Don't validate or invalidate the pitch. The point is to surface how clearly the pitcher communicated, not whether the business is good.
If most pairs agreed on three notes but disagreed on DIFFERENT, that's diagnostic — the pitcher didn't articulate the USP clearly. Use this as the teaching moment.
Running block B — logo adjectives
Don't let students download a perfect logo — the rough sketch matters because it surfaces what they remember (= what the brand actually projects).
Watch for negative adjectives, especially around Facebook. Don't shut these down — they're evidence that brands carry risk as well as value.
Connect: the adjectives are the brand; the one-sentence reason from prompt 4 is the USP.
Pair task — {}
15 min
Now write a USP for the business you've been developing across L1–L4. Use the format below — it forces specificity. Then in Stage 5, your peer pair will tell you whether it actually works.
USP format
The single-sentence USP template
"[Business name] is the only [type of business] that [specific unique benefit] for [specific target customer]."
Example — Island Eats
"Island Eats is the only Jersey hot-lunch service that delivers still-hot local food by bike to St Helier office workers within 15 minutes of order."
Why it works
Specific benefit (still-hot, <15 min), narrow type (Jersey hot-lunch by bike), specific customer (St Helier office workers). A competitor can't claim this without copying the bike-delivery model.
In your Topic 1 Workbook, go to
Lesson 5 — Stage 3 — Pair task
Write your USP using the format. Then in the box below it, draft the final v1 of your whole business plan — pulling together: idea (L1), ownership (L2), top objective (L3), one risk + success measure (L4), and your USP (today).
Teacher notes — Stage 3
Circulation priorities
Pairs writing "We are the best…" — that's not a USP, it's a slogan. Push them to say what specifically they offer that the competition cannot.
Pairs whose USP could fit any competitor (e.g. "fresh ingredients, friendly service") — ask "would your three biggest rivals also claim this?" If yes, it's not a USP.
Stretch: "If you opened tomorrow, what's the first thing a customer would notice was different?"
Self-check — is this a real USP?
8 min
Four pitches. Decide which are real USPs and which aren't. Click to answer — you'll get immediate feedback. No writing in your workbook for this stage.
Answer all four to see your score.
Teacher notes — Stage 4
Common wrong answers and what they tell you
"Really good coffee" → marked real USP: students treat any positive claim as a USP. Push: would competitors disagree?
"Cheapest" → marked real USP: students forget that price-led strategies usually trigger a race to the bottom. Cheapest is rarely defensible.
Jersey-caught sushi → marked NOT a USP: students underrate place-based USPs. The "only in Jersey" angle is genuinely hard to copy.
After the quiz
Have a pair convert one of the failed USPs ("really good coffee") into a real one on the board, live. The move they need: add specificity, narrow the customer, name what's hard to copy.
Class discussion — what's Jersey's USP as a place to start a business?
Q. Some businesses are easier to start in Jersey than in mainland UK; some are harder. In pairs, name one type of business that has a natural USP because it's based in Jersey, and one type that struggles because it's based here. What does Jersey itself give you, and what does it take away?
A great USP often connects a business to its place — Jersey produce, Jersey craft, Jersey financial services. Something competitors elsewhere physically can't claim.
Peer critique — swap and review
10 min
Swap laptops with the pair next to you. Read their locked-in business idea in their workbook. Then give them structured feedback by writing in your own workbook.
How the swap works
Physical swap. Pick up your laptop, take it to the pair you've been assigned (your teacher will direct). Read their idea from their workbook on screen. Come back to your own laptop to write feedback in your own workbook. Then do it in reverse — they'll critique yours.
In your Topic 1 Workbook, go to
Lesson 5 — Stage 5 — Feedback we gave
Answer the three critique questions below for the pair you were assigned. Then, when they critique you, you'll record what they wrote under Feedback we received.
The three critique questions
Q1. Could three of their direct competitors also claim this USP? (If yes, it isn't one — a real USP is something rivals can't honestly say.)
Q2. Is the unique benefit specific, or vague? Pick the vaguest word and demand a concrete replacement. (Tests whether they've done the work or just used positive adjectives.)
Q3. Does their final business plan v1 hold together — does the USP follow from the idea (L1), ownership (L2), objectives (L3), and risks (L4)? (Tests coherence across the whole topic.)
Teacher notes — Stage 5
Pair assignment
Quickest method: pair 1 ↔ pair 2, pair 3 ↔ pair 4, etc. No one pair critiques alone. If odd number, one trio swaps in a triangle.
What to watch for
Students writing "nice idea" or "good" — that's not critique. Push for specific observations.
Students unable to answer Q1 in one sentence — that's useful diagnostic information about their partner's clarity, not a failure.
Iterate — rewrite with feedback
10 min
Now use what your peer pair told you. Rewrite your business idea so it's sharper. Both versions stay in your workbook — that's the evidence of thinking, not an admission of getting it wrong the first time.
Worked example — Island Eats USP v1 → v2
v1"Island Eats delivers great Jersey food fast."
v2"Island Eats is the only Jersey hot-lunch service that delivers still-hot local food by bike to St Helier office workers within 15 minutes of order — for under £12."
Why we changed it: peer pair said v1 was three positive adjectives ("great," "Jersey," "fast") that any competitor could claim. v2 names a number (15 minutes), a method (bike), a price ceiling (under £12), and a specific customer (St Helier office workers). Competitors can't claim this without changing their model.
In your Topic 1 Workbook, go to
Lesson 5 — Stage 6 — Final iteration
Fill in three things: v1 (your original USP + plan), v2 (rewritten using peer feedback), and what you changed and why. This is the FINAL v2 — what you submit becomes your end-of-topic plan.
Before you finish — submit Topic 1 to Teams
This is the last lesson of Topic 1. Your workbook now contains five lessons of evidence (idea → ownership → objectives → Sue case study → USP). Three quick steps before you submit:
Each of you writes a one-sentence reflection under Reflection — Student A / Student B.
Check both your names and your pair code are on the cover page — without both names it doesn't count as joint evidence.
One of you submits the file to the Topic 1 assignment in Teams. That completes Topic 1 — one workbook, one submission.
Teacher notes — Stage 6
Plenary
Last 3 minutes: ask two pairs to read out their v1 → v2 and the "why." This makes iteration visible as a skill, not just a task. Reinforces that feedback isn't criticism, it's data.
Looking ahead — Topic 1 is done
That's the end of Topic 1. By now your pairs should have a complete one-page business plan from L1's idea through to today's USP. Their workbook collection across the five Teams assignments is their evidence for LO1 and LO2.
What's next: CeFE Unit 3 Topic 2 — Entrepreneurs. They'll meet real founders, study what makes one tick, and start framing themselves as potential entrepreneurs.