We can see that the USP in the origin has been developed for the Consumer market, the consumer who needs this message to, often in an impulse, make a choice for a specific product or supplier. The better the USP is anchored in the brains of the customer the more likely it becomes that he or she will choose that product or supplier. Now to the dilemma. In the more complex environment of B2B sales the USP is also, increasingly and more frequent, used to seduce and convince customers, and tell them about the unique products or services that are developed for them. Is this what our customers want? Another account manager who is offering the ‘holy grail’, another company that is ‘different’ and ‘unique’ and offering ‘great and unique’ products.

1. NO USP's BUT UBP's!
Rosser Reeves, born in 1910 in Danville, Virginia (USA) writes his first book in 1961, called 'Reality of
Advertising'. In this book he describes the technique that made him famous: The USP (Unique Selling
Proposition).
The USP consists, according to Reeve, of three parts:
• Each ad must make a proposition -- "Buy this product and you get these benefits".
• The proposition must be unique -- something that your competitors do not, cannot or will not
offer.
• The proposition must sell -- it must be something prospects really want; it pulls them over to
your product.
A nice example of a powerful USP was the USP that Reeves developed for M&M to introduce and
promote the first chocolate-candies: 'It melts in your mouth, not in your hand'.
Another successful example was the USP for Fedex: 'When it absolutely, positively has to be there
overnight', or for Domino's pizza: 'Hot, fresh pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed'
Since then the USP has been travelling around the globe. The Unique Selling Proposition has evolved
into Unique Selling Point or even several Unique Selling Points and simultaneously became more or
less synonym for 'emphasizing differences between us and them’.
We can see that the USP in the origin has been developed for the Consumer market, the consumer
who needs this message to, often in an impulse, make a choice for a specific product or supplier. The
better the USP is anchored in the brains of the customer the more likely it becomes that he or she will
choose that product or supplier.
Now to the dilemma. In the more complex environment of B2B sales the USP is also, increasingly and
more frequent, used to seduce and convince customers, and tell them about the unique products or
services that are developed for them.
Is this what our customers want? Another account manager who is offering the ‘holy grail’, another
company that is ‘different’ and ‘unique’ and offering ‘great and unique’ products.
The answer is probably ‘NO’. In B2B sales it is not about what you sell, it is about why customers buy
(from you)! B2B buying is rarely impulse driven en the so called ‘unique proposition’ is more often
received with cynicism than valued on its content.
As an account manager, but also as a company, do not focus on selling USP’s. Focus on UBP’s. Unique
Buying Points (or Unique Buying Propositions) are much more powerful en more effective in sales. The
UBP is the reason why the customer buys from you, or the reason why he or she buys from someone
else!
Instead of sending, steering, convincing en seducing (USP selling) start asking questions, listen, learn
en help the customer make the right decisions (UBP Selling). In fact we can say that the UBP is the
result of the decision making process of our customers.
If you know the UBP’s of you customer you can then create an offer ‘they can’t refuse’. An offer that
is a perfect match with customer wants and needs. UBP’s are not static, they come in a lot of variations
because they are customer driven instead of supplier driven.
© 2013 – Edwin Scheperman – www.edwinscheperman.nl

2. Because of this there are some challenges for sales organisations. There is no standardised customer
proposition, as a result customer engagement and sales processes need to be flexible and enable sales
people and teams to deliver ‘perfect fit’ solutions.
The role of different disciplines within sales organisations, traditionally structured around the
‘customer’ (customer centricity) needs to move to a more process orientated structure (process
centricity). Less focus on servicing the customer, more focus on executing smooth and effective sales
processes! Instead of several ‘silos’ that serve the customer (with own targets, processes and ‘rules’)
create multi-functional teams that work within ‘lean and mean’ sales processes to identify UBP’s and
structure sales activities and resources accordingly.
The role of the account manager is best described as a business-partnership with the customer, a shift
from salesperson to ‘director’ of a sales process (operated by a multi-function team).
It is beyond the scope of this article to go into detail on all of the possible sales processes. I will,
however, give a quick overview. Below you see several sales processes, sorted in the three main sales
focus areas: existing customers, new customers and internal customers.
EXISTIING CUSTOMERS NEW CUSTOMERS INTERNAL CUSTOMERS
Contract Management Lead- or Pipeline management Effective communication
Daily Sales Support Segmentation and Prioritising Multi-level cooperation
Developing Business Account/action plan Multi Level Rel.ship Managem.
Multi Level Rel.ship Managem. Multi-Level Selling Personal Branding
Account/Action planning On & Offline Networking
Information Gathering Proposal and Negotiating
Referral Management
Needless to say that these processes have to be ‘translated’ to your own company and require a lot of
(management) attention. A few guidelines to ensure a smooth transition:
• Top-down ‘visible and hear able’ durable commitment (sales is a shared responsibility)
• Highly qualified and ‘strong’ first line sales management (coaching, supporting, steering,
helping)
• Mind-set shift: customers are only human, a customer is not ‘king’, a customer is a business
partner, it’s not about what you sell, it’s about why they buy (from you), everyone that is in
contact with a customer is responsible for the final results and therefore is part of the sales
team.
Perhaps this article raises more questions than it gives answers. Feel free to contact me for more
information: sales@edwinscheperman.nl or +31 648 59 0095
© 2013 – Edwin Scheperman – www.edwinscheperman.nl