Irresistible

Value Propositions

JILL KONRATH
 Irresistible Value Propositions

Table of Contents
What is a Value Proposition? 3
The Epidemic of Weak Value Propositions 5
Customer-Attracting Value Propositions 8
Value Propositions & Service Businesses 11
Clarifying Your Value Proposition 14
Ask Your Customers 16
More Ideas to Find Your Value Proposition 19
Value Propositions & New Products 22
Using Your Value Proposition 24
Exercise I: Finding Your Value Proposition 25
Exercise II: Writing Your Value Proposition 27
Sales Tools 29

© 2012, Jill Konrath. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced
without written permission from the author.

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 Irresistible Value Propositions

What is a Value Proposition?

Without a strong value proposition, it’s much harder to sell your products or services in
today’s economy, much less even get in the door of big companies. But what
exactly is a value proposition? And how is it different from other commonly used
terms?

A value proposition is often confused with an “elevator speech” or a “unique selling

proposition.” It’s essential to understand the difference between these terms
because their purposes and sales impact are very different.

An elevator speech is a short, 1-2 sentence statement that defines who you work
with (target market) and the general area in which you help them. About 10 seconds
long, it’s used primarily at networking events to attract potential clients and stimulate
discussion. The following elevator speeches show you how some people describe
what they do:

● I work with small businesses who are struggling to sell their products or services into
large corporate accounts.
● We help technology companies effectively use their customer information to
drive repeat sales.
● I help small-to-medium sized manufacturing companies who have difficulties with
unpredictable revenue streams.

An elevator speech is the foundation of a value proposition without the specifics that
are needed to sell into the corporate market.

A unique selling proposition (USP) is a statement about what makes you and your
company different from other vendors. Its primary value is to create competitive
differentiation. A USP is often used in marketing materials or in talking with customers
who are ready to buy.

Here are a few good USP examples:

● We specialize in working with financial institutions. (specialty)

● We guarantee service in 4 hours or your money back. (guarantee)
● We use a unique tool called SureFire! to analyze your critical needs. (methodology)

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 Irresistible Value Propositions

Helping customers understand your USP is imperative when they’ve already

decided to make a purchase decision. But USPs have absolutely no impact when
customers are satisfied with their situation or when they’re frustrated but haven’t
yet decided to change. USPs are far more effective in the business-to-consumer
market than in business-to-business sales.

Both the elevator speech and the USP are cousins of the value proposition, but
lack the punch of a value proposition when selling to the corporate market.

A value proposition is a clear statement of the tangible results a customer gets

from using your products or services. It’s outcome focused and stresses the
business value of your offering.

A strong value proposition is specific, often citing numbers or percentages. It may

include a quick synopsis of your work with similar customers as a proof source and
demonstration of your capability. Here are several examples to stimulate your
thinking:

“We help large companies reduce the cost of their employee benefits
programs without impacting benefit levels. With the spiraling costs of health
care today, this is a critical issue for most businesses. One of our recent clients, a
large manufacturing company similar to yours, was struggling with how to
reduce spending in this area. We saved them over $800,000 in just six months.
Plus, they didn’t cut any services to their employees, nor did their employees
have to pay more.”

“I help technology companies who are launching an important new product

into the marketplace – and need it to be successful to achieve their sales
forecast. Where I help my clients is in the often dropped hand-off between
marketing and sales. As a result, they’re able to more easily meet projected
sales goals and significantly shorten time-to-profitability.”

Again, notice the specificity of the value proposition and the use of business-
oriented language. Prospective customers should be able to visualize exactly
what value you could bring their organization.

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The Epidemic of Weak Value Propositions

If you’re selling to the corporate market, one of the biggest challenges you
encounter is getting face time with decision makers.

Stressed Out Buyers

Corporate buyers, after years of continual downsizings and reorganizations, have
way too much work to do and not nearly enough time to do it in. Under constant
pressure to deliver “results,” they zealously protect their schedule, refusing to meet
with anybody who can’t help them achieve their business objectives.

Busy decision makers screen all callers, using an administrative assistant as a

gatekeeper or their ubiquitous voicemail. And, if you’re selling something – you’re an
undesirable interruption. Customers don’t have time to update you on their
company, sit through an extended needs analysis or explore the possibilities of
working together.

They don’t want to learn about your products or services just so they can know
what’s out there. With every dollar they spend being scrutinized by higher-ups,
wasting money on frivolous products or nice-to-have services is out of the question.
So unless something can be cost-justified and provide a significant return on their
investment, they don’t want to take time to hear about it.

Not only that, but they’re also bombarded with people and companies trying to get
their attention. It’s not unusual for corporate decision makers to average over 100
emails per day. Their voice mailbox is flooded with calls from co-workers, customers
and outside vendors.

And what do they usually hear from people like you who are trying to get in and sell
their products or services? A typical phone message sounds like this:

“Hi Mr./Ms. Decisionmaker. This is Tony from Super Duper Products, Inc. We
specialize in leading-edge financial software applications and have been rated
as having one of the best software by Krumstock Research.

“The reason I’m calling is that I’d like to set up an appointment with you to
introduce myself and to tell you more about how we might be able to help your
company speed up your reporting capabilities.

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 Irresistible Value Propositions

“I’ll be in your area in two weeks and was hoping to sit down with you for about a
half hour. Please let me know if that will work for you. My number is …”

Why in the world would corporate decision makers take time out of their already
overcrowded schedule to meet with this seller? They wouldn’t. Pure and simple. Even
though the seller mentioned a benefit, it was weak – very weak.

Ineffective and Unappealing

One of the biggest reasons businesses struggle in today’s market is because they
have weak value propositions. Over and over again, I hear people who sell deliver
ineffective statements about the value customers get from working with their
organization. It doesn’t matter if these sellers are from big companies, small firms, or
are independent professionals. They just aren’t saying things that get prospective
buyers to say, “Come on in. We need to meet.”

And the worst thing is that many of the products or services these people sell have
extremely high value to corporate accounts! But their failure to articulate it in words
that appeal to corporate decision makers is their downfall. Instead, they limp along
trying to drive sales but unable to even get in the door.

For example, in discussing their company’s products, many people use weak value
propositions such as:

● It’s the most technology-advanced system in the market today.

● We offer the most robust enterprise system with the widest range of capabilities
available.
● Our system was rated best-in-class at the recent Big Deal Conference.
● We are the low-cost provider of this kind of product/service.
● We offer one-stop shopping.
● We have a full range of products to meet your every need in the manufacturing
area.

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Service firms and independent professionals often say:

● I’m an OD consultant. I do team building and process re-engineering.

● We design brochures, web sites, and packaging materials.
● We help improve creativity and innovation in organizations.
● I do sales training.
● I help companies decide which technology best meets their needs.
● I’m an attorney. I do corporate tax work.

BORING! If you’re like most people, you’re saying, “So what? Why should I waste my
valuable time talking to you?”

Plus any time people hear words such as best, leading, superior and so on – they
immediately dismiss them as self-promoting aggrandizement. These words are simply
not believable and detract from your message.

So now that you know what doesn't work, it's time to figure out what does attract the
attention of busy corporate decision makers.

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Customer-Attracting Value Propositions

With today’s tight economy, a strong value proposition breaks through the clutter
and gets the attention of overburdened decision makers. If you haven’t found a way
to state your value in business terms, you’re in for a never-ending struggle to get
business.

Strong value propositions open doors and create opportunities for you to sell your
products or services. They’re financially oriented and speak to the critical issues your
target market is facing.

I recently read an article in a magazine about a company whose software

calculated exactly how much retailers should charge to squeeze the maximum
profit from every product and at any time.

During an 8-week test with one retailer, revenues jumped 10%, unit volume increased
6% and net profit grew 2% due to their price-optimization capabilities. Payback was
expected within 12 months. That’s their value proposition!

What retailer wouldn’t want to learn more about what this company does! As I was
reading the article, I could almost see the retailer’s senior management team
salivating over the information in it.

That’s the power of a strong value proposition.

A while back I had lunch with the president of a $1/2 billion business unit of a major
corporation. She told me that if someone contacted her and said he could reduce
waste by just 1%, she would meet with him immediately. Why? Because she knew
exactly how much her company spent on waste – and it was a lot of money. Every
penny she saved would go right to the bottom line.

Again, powerful value propositions open doors – quickly! Taking time to really clarify
yours is well worth the time invested in the process.

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Business-Oriented Terminology
Strong value propositions are always stated in business terms. Corporate buyers are
particularly attracted to phrases such as:

● Increased revenues ● Faster time to market

● Decreased costs ● Improved operational efficiency
● Increased market share ● Decreased employee turnover
● Improved customer retention levels ● Increased competitive differentiation
● Faster response time ● Decreased operational expenses
● Increased sales per customer ● Reduced cost of sales
● Improved asset utilization ● Faster collections
● Reduced cost of goods sold ● Minimized risk
● Additional revenue streams ● Increased market share
● Improved time-to-profitability ● Increased billable hours
● Reduced cycle time ● Increased inventory turns
● Faster sales cycles ● Reduced direct labor costs

Can your business do any of these things? How about something similar? Perhaps
you’ve never really thought about your products or services in these terms. But this is
what corporate decision makers want to hear so it’s time to revisit your value
proposition.

Think about translating what you do into the language of decision makers.
Remember, they don’t care about your product’s speed or efficiency. They don’t
care about the wonderful methodology you use. They only care about the results it
delivers.

When you find the right words to describe your offering, you’ll immediately notice a
change in how you’re treated. Corporate buyers will want to learn more about what
you do.

Tangible, Measurable Results

The very best value propositions deliver tangible, measurable results that are highly
desirable to prospective buyers. Yet many companies fail to extend their “benefits”
into actual numbers. If it’s possible for you to do this, it is highly recommended.

Specificity sells. The more specific your value proposition, the more attractive it is.
Stories are another way of providing specificity, enabling you to get your message
across but without having to make unsubstantiated, across-the-board claims.

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I recently wrote a comprehensive manual called Winning More Sales: Take Your
Business to the Next Level with Insightful, Powerful Questions. One of the first people to
purchase it from my website wrote me a note saying that my advice helped him land
a $26,000 sale the very next day. With his permission, I’m using that quote to promote
my book. It makes the price seem miniscule compared to the value received!

Sellers as the Real Value Proposition

In today’s market, with less and less differentiation between products and services,
sometimes the seller is the real value proposition. Customers buy the knowledge,
expertise and ideas he or she brings to the relationship.

For many salespeople this is a totally new and unfamiliar paradigm – and they’re
unprepared to sell their own personal worth. But many sellers do bring extraordinary
value to their customers – sometimes in easily quantifiable ways, sometimes not. A
woman I know is a sock salesperson who does business with major retailers. Socks are
commodities and pricing is often the primary criteria in decision-making. But not for
this salesperson. She helps her customers increase sales to their clientele by:

● Regularly shopping the competition and advising her customers about market
trends.
● Designing packaging alternatives to encourage customers to buy more socks at
one time.
● Developing creative displays that entice customers to buy socks more often.
● Creating unique designs for trendy sock styles for special occasions and seasons.

These things are NOT part of her job description. She’s chartered to sell socks. But
instead she’s bringing her knowledge of design, color and style to the customer
relationship. Her customers reap huge benefits. Inventory is turning faster than ever
before, sales are up and so is profitability.

Her value proposition is highly personal, but it’s what differentiates her from everyone
else in the marketplace. When she’s in a competitive situation, she needs to share
what she herself does for customers – and let them know they’re getting a business
consultant in addition to a sock supplier.

This is the new and emerging reality in value propositions. In a world where products
rapidly spiral into commodities and service offerings can be copied overnight, the
only real difference between suppliers is the people involved. You, the seller,
become the value proposition – and a huge factor in the decision that’s made.

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Value Propositions & Service Businesses

Many consultants and professional services providers find it difficult to quantify the
measurable results customers realize from using their offerings. Because of this, they
think they can’t come up with a strong value proposition.

I understand why they feel this way. With 15 years of consulting under my belt, none
of my product launch clients measured or assessed the effectiveness of my work.
There are many reasons for this — not enough time to compare before/after results,
the lack of a benchmark and the multiple factors that impact a new product’s
market success. But like many of you, I lacked good hard data.

However, this did not stop me from talking about what I did in business terms. Rather
than giving exact figures (which was impossible), I emphasized the:

● Lag time between product launch and achieving projected sales results.
● Critical need to shorten time-to-profitability.
● High costs of sales rep downtime preparing PowerPoint presentations and
proposals.
● Inconsistent messages delivered to customers and channel partners.
● Lost “windows of opportunity” enabling competitive inroads.
● Inconsistent messages being delivered to channel partners and customers across
the nation/world.

This value proposition was extremely attractive to senior marketing and sales leaders.
As a result, I had a highly profitable consulting practice in this area for years.

The other day I talked with an independent professional who also works with sales
organizations. She told me she did training based on the appreciative inquiry model
which builds on what salespeople are already doing right. I asked her what the
outcome was of her methodology. She replied, “It energizes the sales force.”

After 25 years in the sales field, I can assure you that I’ve never met a sales manager
or sales executive who wanted their salespeople to have more “energy.” They want
results – pure and simple. More orders. Fewer losses to the competition. Bigger or
more profitable contracts. Better customer retention. These are the words that
belong in your value proposition if you’re selling to sales management,

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How could you describe your firm to prospective customers if you did web site
design? You might talk about:

● Driving more traffic to the web site.

● Decreasing the number of customers who abandon full shopping carts.
● Increasing the transaction value per customer.
● Improving search engine rankings.
● Freeing up corporate resources with improved online capabilities.

What if you do something more nebulous like team building or organizational

development? Perhaps you could talk to your customers about:

● Reducing the high cost of employee turnover.

● Speeding up time spent on making critical business decisions.
● Eliminating management time spent on handling employee conflict.
● Maximizing employee productivity at work.
● Streamlining processes to increase operational efficiency.
● Creating a work environment where creativity flourishes, enabling customers to
create a competitive business advantage.
● Minimize destructive turf issues that cost companies millions each year as
management scrambles for power.

Here’s one last example: I have a Mentoring Program that helps individuals and
companies boost their sales. I could easily describe it as “telephone consulting.” But
it’s far more effective to tell about the regional engineering firm that called me in to
help on a Request for Proposal. They were a major underdog – a regional firm
competing against all the big players in their industry.

The buyer was conducting one-hour interviews with eight firms. Only three would be
invited back for the second round. My client’s only goal was to make the first cut – to
prove they could compete with the national consulting firms.

Winning the contract wasn’t even a possibility in their minds. They were delighted
when they were invited back for the 2nd presentation. Several days later they
received another call from the customer. They’d decided the second round of
interviews was unnecessary – everyone wanted to work with my client.

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With my help they landed a large contract that grew to over $1 million in just 6
months. Now, wouldn’t you like to work with me if you could achieve similar results?
This story significantly enhances my credibility and demonstrates I know what I’m
doing.

Whatever profession you’re in, it’s critical to talk about your work in business terms. As
a result of working with you, what are the outcomes? What business results are
attained? They’re there! You just need to find them.

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Clarifying Your Value Proposition

So how does your value proposition look? Can you describe what you do in terms of
tangible business results? Do you have documented success stories? Or do you need
to do some work to enhance your value proposition? If it’s not strong enough yet,
don’t despair. Like I said earlier, most people and companies have a much stronger
one than they use. They just get caught up describing “what” they make or “how”
they do things.

Both hard values and soft values need to be considered as you work on
strengthening your value proposition. You’ll want to explore how you impact
customers in each of these areas.

Tangible Value
This is the most easily identifiable because it’s directly related to your offering and is
highly measurable. Tangible value is typically expressed in numbers or percentages.
Examples might be:

● Reduce cycle time from 3 days to one.

● Cut labor costs by 25%.
● Save $100,000 in energy costs.
● Increase market share 5%.
● Improving productivity 17%.

Typically tangible value gains also have related intangible value gains that aren’t as
obvious, but help strengthen an already strong value proposition. For example,
improving productivity means fewer workers. With a smaller workforce, the company
saves a significant amount in the benefits area. Less money is spent in recruiting and
hiring. These savings can also be quantified as part of your value proposition.

A well-designed web site may cut the need for customer service staff. A more
efficient JIT ordering process decreases the amount of warehouse space and its
associated costs. A digital asset management system’s ability to repurpose data
reduces advertising expenditures. Always try to quantify the indirect values as well as
the direct ones.

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Intangible Value
Sometimes the value of your offering is not quite so measurable – such as lowered
risk, increased teamwork, improved marketplace image, or better morale.
Intangible value doesn’t sell well in today’s economy. Most decision makers consider
it a nice added benefit, but won’t spend money for a solution that only provides soft
value.

To increase your sales success, take these intangibles and make them tangible. Find
ways to quantify their value to customers.

Opportunity Costs
Opportunity Costs can also strengthen your value proposition. An opportunity cost is
something your customer can’t do now because of their current methods of
operation. For example, it’s what they could be doing with the $500,000 savings
they’d get from using your product. Or it’s the business strategy and associated
profits they can’t aggressively pursue because of the internal conflicts that delay
decisions.

To strengthen your value proposition,

follow the multiple suggestions discussed in the ensuing pages.

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Ask Your Customers

Your existing customers are your very best resource to find out what value you bring.
Tell your customer you need help understanding the real value of your offering and
you’d like a chance to learn their perspective. This builds your relationship with
customers at the same time it gives you a chance to learn an incredible amount of
invaluable information.

Most people are scared to ask their customers about their value. I know it took me
awhile to get up the guts to do it but when I finally did, it was a real eye-opener. I had
no idea that certain “little” things I threw in at no charge were extremely valuable to
sales leaders. Not only did these discussions change my value proposition, but they
also changed my offering and my own self-perception.

Anytime you ask customers for input, you open yourself up to hearing the not-so-
good things too. If your customer is upset at your company (or you) for any reason,
take notes on the issue and promise to resolve it as soon as possible.

If your customer says negative things about you personally, listen and ask questions.
While this is not what you wanted from this meeting, it is critical data that can help
you improve.

Make sure you don’t get defensive, make excuses, pass the blame or tell your
customer they’re wrong. If you do, your customer will shut down fast and your
credibility will be at risk. Most importantly, be curious at these meetings. Explore all
your customer’s answers in depth to really learn the value you provide.

Example: If your customer tells you that communications improved because of your
work — find out what it meant to them.

● Did they spend less time settling arguments?

● If so, how much less time?
● What was the value of that extra time?
● Did they use it to accomplish more? Like what?
● Because less time was spent bickering, what decisions were easier to make?
● How has the company benefited from those decisions?
● What additional profits or cost savings were realized from those decisions?

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Explore … Explore … Explore. This is how you uncover the strength in your value
proposition.

Below are questions you can ask customers to determine your true value proposition.
Remember – your customers haven’t thought much, if at all, about the value you
provide. Therefore, the responses you hear may be somewhat vague and initially
seem like little help in clarifying your value proposition.

Don’t jump on your customers and demand they quantify your value. Remain
conversational and curious. Gently poke and prod your customer to explore
different areas. People need and deserve time to think things through – and
agitating them by demanding hard value answers right away won’t help at all.

Have you ever seen any old Colombo movies or TV reruns? If so – remember how
Colombo, a wily detective who knew a whole lot more than he let on, slowly and
softly kept asking questions until he found what he was looking for. Emulating this
behavior during these customer meetings will have a high payback for you.

Before you meet with your customer, write down the various problems you think your
product or service solves for them. Next write down the business impact of these
problems.

Finally write down the value you think your offering provides. Take this list into the
meeting; use it to prompt you to explore the full-range of your potential value to the
customer.

Customer-Value Questions
To get better data, customize your questions to your product or service offering.
Consider the questions below as guidelines for this meeting.

● What value did my service/product/solution provide to your company?

- Where do the benefits show up?
- How did that help your bottom line?
- What improvements did you realize?
- How did it impact performance?

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● What were the three most important benefits you received as a result of our
product/work together?
- Why were these valuable to your organization?
- What cost/time savings did you realize?

● What did our solution enable you to do that you couldn’t before?
- What else? And how did that help your area?
- And what else?
- What is that worth to your organization?

● You said that working with us enabled you to reduce/increase __.

- Why was that important to you?
- How would you quantify its value?
- What other areas in your company received benefits because of our work
together?
- Tell me more about those areas.

● How have things been better since we worked together or you implemented our
system?
- What impact did it have in ___?
- How did it affect __?
- What were the ramifications for __?
- What was the effect on __?
- How would you quantify the value of these improvements?
(Note: This is where you probe for specific areas based on the list you
developed.)

● How did our solution help you achieve your goals/objectives?

- What’s the value of that?
- What problems did it alleviate?

Ask these same questions to more than one person in your customer’s organization.
Talk to people in different areas and in different positions. They each have a unique
and highly valuable perspective. Sometimes you’ll hear something totally new from
one person that will lead you to a much stronger value proposition.

Strengthen your value proposition by looking at the results attained over time.
Annual savings are always better than hourly, daily or monthly savings.

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More Ideas to Find Your Value Proposition

While asking your customers for input is one of the best ways to understand the true
value of your offering, sometimes it's not easy to do. They may be hard to reach or
difficult to visit. Decision makers may have changed since the initial decision to go
with your offering. Or, they may not be very articulate about the value of your
product or service. If that's the case, don't fret! Alternative strategies are available.

Brainstorm With Colleagues

Get together with a group of colleagues to discuss your value proposition. Your
collective wisdom and experience provides a broad perspective. Plus it keeps you
from only maintaining a focus on what your product or service can do. Even if you
slip back into a description of your offering, your colleagues will challenge your
thinking.

Review your marketing materials. Reflect on your customer knowledge. Think about
what you say that interests and excites your customers and prospects. As a group,
here are some questions you can discuss:

● How does your product, service or solution impact your customer’s bottom line or
expenses?
- What costs have been eliminated?
- Time saved?
- Can you quantify a tangible hard dollar value gain?
- What intangible value has it provided?

● What positive impact has your product, service or solution had on bringing
additional revenue/business to your clients?
- What has the gain been?
- Can you determine a tangible hard dollar value gain?
- What intangible value has it provided?

● Does your product, service or solution enable your customer to achieve any
competitive advantage?
- What has the gain been?
- Can you determine a specific hard dollar value gain?
- What soft values has it provided?

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● Does your product, service or solution have an impact on your customer’s

customer?
- What has the gain been?
- Can you determine a specific hard dollar value gain?
- What intangible value has it provided?

● How has your product, service or solution impacted your customer’s bottom line
or expenses?
- What costs have been eliminated?
- Time saved?
- Can you quantify a specific hard dollar value gain?
- What soft values has it provided?

If tangible results aren’t forthcoming, challenge the group to take the discussion to
the next level. Keep asking each other, “So what?”

● So what if it’s an efficient system?

● So what if we have a replicable process?
● So what if it’s high quality?
● So what if they have improved communication?
● So what if we cut turnaround time by 2 days?
● So what if the morale has improved.

Asking these question over and over again, gets you much closer to the real value
you bring to customers. Look for the impact your offering has in the organization.
What financial affect do your products, systems or services have on the business?

Determining your value proposition with only an internal analysis can be dangerous
though. Outside validation by your customers is important, if at all possible. When it
comes down to spending money, it’s only your customer’s perception that counts.

Remember, many companies tout really weak value propositions. And, worse yet –
nobody realizes just how bad their value propositions are. Don’t let another day go
by with a weak value proposition. Use all the resources at your disposal to strengthen
your value proposition.

If you’re an independent professional, get a group of colleagues together and

brainstorm each other’s business case. You need each other to get to your primary
value proposition – you’re much too close to it to discover it without help.

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Use Industry Statistics

For a variety of reasons, sometimes it’s difficult or impossible to measure your value
proposition. If this is your situation, I strongly recommend using industry statistics to
support your work. For example:

● 75% of executives in big companies involved in a complex sale (long term,

multiple decision makers) blame poor value propositions as a major cause of their
new products failing to achieve projections.
● 90% of everything learned in training is totally forgotten in 3 months unless sales
management reinforces the learning.
● 50% of a manager’s time is spent resolving people issues related to trust issues and
poor communications.
● In a recent study done by a well-known management consulting firm, it took laid-
off executives over 100 informational interviews before they started seeing results.

If you think about your business, I suspect you can come up with some statistics also.
Again, they can be great proof sources of the need for your product or service in the
market.

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Value Propositions & New Products

When companies introduce new products or services to the market, they frequently
fall victim to the same weak value proposition problems. A study on new product
launches by Siebel found that executives overwhelming blamed weak value
propositions (75%) as the key factor in not achieving success with the new offering.

Several years ago I worked with a company that introduced a new digital system
into the printing market. It worked in conjunction with another company’s product.
This company felt that the primary value of their offering was in its extraordinary color
matching capabilities that were far superior to anything on the market.

However, sales weren’t taking off as expected. I was asked to help with a relaunch.
In the process, I interviewed a number of customers. One was big into measurement
– they had all the numbers. By using this new product, they were able to:

● Cut the staff in one area by 33% and still handle the same amount of work.
● Redeploy valuable workers to other areas of their company. (Finding qualified
employees was a major issue in their industry.)
● Reduce project turnaround time by days, creating a significant competitive
advantage.
● Decrease the number of customer changes at a savings of $2000 for each one.
● Balance out their workflow, enabling them to delay purchases of extremely pricey
equipment and reduce overtime expenses.

This was my client’s true value proposition. But they weren’t aware of it because they
had never looked at their product beyond its attributes. Great color was nice, but it
didn’t sell. Customers needed tangible business results to justify their expenditures.

What’s the solution? Prior to introducing new products or services, look at the value
from the customer’s perspective. If your organization conducts beta tests or trials
prior to a full rollout, make sure you don’t just focus on working out the bugs.

Instead, ask customers about the value of the capabilities they get with the new
offering. Don’t settle for simplistic responses such as, “It speeds up our process” or “It’s
compatible with our legacy systems.” Ask questions such as:

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● What does that mean? Why is that valuable to you?

● How does that help? What is the real benefit to your organization?
● What does it eliminate? What’s the value of that?
● What does the faster speed mean to you? How else does it affect your
organization?
● What impact does it have in other areas in your company?
● What’s the benefit of the compatibility to your legacy systems?
● Can you help me quantify the pay-off you get from these capabilities?

When you ask questions like these, you get a much better understanding of the true
value proposition of your new offering. The more you know about the customer’s
perspective, the stronger your value proposition. And, the stronger your value
proposition is, the faster you’ll see sales results.

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Using Your Value Proposition

Strong value propositions are your best tool for setting up meetings with prospective
buyers. Corporate decision makers will nearly always meet with sellers who offer
tangible outcomes and measurable results. And they will only meet with sellers who
talk their language and are focused on helping them achieve their business
objectives.

You can also use your value proposition:

● To develop a telephone script that highlights the key business results your product,
service or solution delivers.
● To craft a business letter to decision makers who work at targeted accounts.
● As a basis for your marketing campaign and in all your marketing collateral.
● As the foundation for a customer-centric PowerPoint presentation.
● As the core message delivered in your totally customized customer proposals.

But based on what I’ve seen in working with sellers, the biggest benefit you get from
understanding your value proposition is … (drum roll) … a strengthened belief in your
own offering.

If you truly understand the value you bring to customers from a business perspective,
you’ll work harder to get into accounts and be less discouraged by rejection. You
won’t question or doubt if there’s a market for your offering because you will know
that what you offer makes a difference. And ultimately you’ll sell a lot more!

Remember, a value proposition is a clear statement of the tangible results a

customer gets from using your products or services. It’s outcome focused and
stresses the business value of your offering.

If your value proposition isn't tempting potential prospects to meet with you, you've
got some work to do. Get started right away. Having a strong, customer-enticing
value proposition changes the game. You'll immediately start seeing positive results!

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Exercise I: Finding Your Value Proposition

1. Establish the Customer’s Current Situation

Without your product or service, how do they do things today?

2. Define the Problem or Gaps

What problems does your offering solve? What opportunities does it create?

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3. Clarify the Business Implications

Explore the “Ripple Effect.” Find other areas impacted by the problems/gaps.

4. Determine the Value of Change

What’s the pay-off (tangible value, intangible value, opportunity costs) from
using your product/service?

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Exercise II: Writing Your Value Proposition

Use the space below to write a draft of your value proposition.

Comments from Others

When you’re done, go get feedback from others. Describe your customer and
request that they listen from that perspective. Ask: “What caught your attention? Is it
reflective of the true value I bring customers? How can I make it stronger?”

Now revise it to make it even more attractive to your customers. Or create a new
one that emphasizes a different aspect of the value provided by your product or
service. With close analysis, you'll discover multiple ways to articulate your offering's
value to your prospective clients.

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About Jill Konrath

Jill Konrath is an internationally recognized sales strategist and
author. As a frequent speaker at sales conferences, annual
meetings and kick-off events, she shares fresh sales strategies
and practical advice that actually works when selling to
today's crazy-busy prospects.

SNAP Selling, her most recent book, soared to the #1 sales

book on Amazon within hours of its release. Selling to Big
Companies, her 1st book was selected as a "must read" by
Fortune magazine and has been an Amazon Top 20 sales
book since 2006.

Get More Fresh Strategies

If you liked the ideas in this ebook, make sure you check
out Jill Konrath's new Prospecting Tool Kit that contains
four free must-have sales tools. They'll help you open
more doors -- and ultimately close more sales.

Download the Prospecting Tool Kit now: http://bit.ly/JK-ProspectingKit

Connect with Jill

Phone: 651-429-1922
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.jillkonrath.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jillkonrath

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