Do You Know Your USP, Unique Selling Proposition?5 min read

Your USP, Unique Selling Proposition?

What does your company offer that your competitors don’t? If your sales team doesn’t have a solid understanding of what makes your company unique, your USP, unique selling proposition, how will your clients know?

Do your sales people believe they represent the best solutions in the marketplace? If not, it’s time to start to building something for them to be proud of. Not only do you have to be good at what you do, you must differentiate your organization from the competition.  Your Unique Selling Proposition.

You sell a roof. They sell a roof. You sell warranties. They sell warranties. You sell access control systems or CCTV and so do they. What makes your offering unique? Whats your unique selling proposition?  Arm your sales team with solid reasons prospects and clients should do business with your

Unique Selling Proposition Sales Management Workshop

company and not the competition. If price is your only differentiator, you’re in trouble. If you can’t identify what makes your offering unique and superior to the competition, how will your clients be able to?

To help develop your Unique Selling Proposition, USP, look to four sources:

1. Your salespeople.
2. Company leadership.
3. People from other departments within your organization.
4. Your customers.

Start With Your Salespeople

In today’s world, you can walk into a prospect’s office and offer the same product and services the last salesperson had. If you’re responding to a bid, the product may have been in the specifications. In this case, your unique selling proposition may not be the product, but your experience, service, track record or client list, among other assets.

Develop a list of questions to ask each of your salespeople. Here are three sample questions to get you started:

• “What makes doing business with you, not the company, an advantage for your prospects and clients?”
• “What makes doing business with our company an advantage for your prospects and clients?”
• “What makes our product or service unique from the competition?”

This list can be long or short; it’s up to you. The goal is to develop a consensus from your sales team of what they feel is your company’s USP – as well as their individual USP. After the salespeople have given you the list, schedule time to review it with the team. Talk about it as a group and then give them a few days to resubmit their answers after they’ve had time to think about what they heard. By the way, this is a great way to get them to think about how they’re differentiating themselves in their client presentations.

Company Leadership

Now that you have completed the initial stage of the process with your sales team, move on to the company’s leadership. Your leadership should have a clear vision of the company’s purpose and direction. As leaders, they’ve thought long and hard about what they see as the company’s unique selling proposition. Talk with them and ask questions like:

• “When you look at the organization, what do you see as our unique selling proposition?”
• “We represent very similar products, and in some cases, the same products as our competitors. Why should someone do business with our company?”

Listen to what they have to say and be as accurate as possible in recording their comments.

People From Other Departments Within Your Organization

Now, ask the same questions to others in the organization. Your objective is to gain an understanding of what everyone in the organization sees as your unique selling proposition.

Your Customers

Your current customers are a valuable source of information. Ask them questions like:

“Why did you choose our organization when you decided to make that initial purchase?”

“What do you like about the way our company operates?”

“What changes do you feel would make our company better at serving your needs?”

In Conclusion

These questions represent a good starting point for establishing your unique selling proposition from inside and outside the organization. The process allows you, your sales team and your organization gain a better understanding of what sets you apart from the competition. Collect all the data and bring your team and those within the organization together one more time to review the various ideas. Compare what different groups saw as clear differentiators. Pay close attention to what your customers saw as your unique selling proposition, and discuss how you can better develop your offerings.

Once you understand what makes your company the best in its market, your salespeople can develop better strategies to attract new clients, support those currently doing business with you and close more business.

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SMW 002 Developing your strategic sales plan – Part One

SMW 003 Developing your strategic sales plan – Part Two