Simply put a value proposition is:
“the promise of value to be delivered and the belief from the customer point of view that value will be experienced”
However, what I am really talking about is a quantifiable customer value proposition:
“the promise of quantified value to be delivered and the belief from the customer point of view that quantified value will be experienced”
Very few agencies actually use a Value Proposition to describe what they do, never mind a quantifiable one. They should. Clients just love to be given a compelling reason to buy that is not all smoke and mirrors.
THE PROOF
Looking at 4,000 campaigns, Doug Hall, in Jump Start Your Business Brain,discovered that sales success dramatically improved when sales presentations combine the following three characteristics:
- the overt business benefit that you offer
- the real reason that people should believe you can deliver
- the dramatic difference that separates you from the crowd.
This makes sense.
Your ability to describe what it is that you do directly impacts on your ability to win work. It is worth spending time honing and crafting a value proposition so that you can answer those tough questions like:
“why should we buy from you?” and “what exactly can you do for us?”
BE CLEAR
Make the benefits explicit, make the price/cost/investment explicit, and make the target customer explicit.
Be clear about how this value proposition is superior for the people in front of you in terms of added value, cost reduction, cost avoidance and/or feel good factors.
EXAMPLE 1:
XYZ’s £3,500 per month 3-star package includes all aspects of creating and delivering the e-commerce and web presence for mid-tier accountants. We guarantee qualified leads will increase by 40% and this will lead to 10 new clients* pm. Typically, increased revenues of £1.2m pa. We are the only agency in this market that makes such a guarantee.
* typically at £10k pa
EXAMPLE 2
ABC is your adword partner. For £10,575 pa, we put you on page one of Google and deliver 100 leads per month. The value to your practice in terms of direct fees alone will be in excess of £50,000 pa. We are the only agency working with dentists and doctors who promises and delivers such an offer.
While these don’t answer every question perfectly you have to admire them.
I would argue that you need to refine your quantifiable customer value proposition until you can articulate it in a single, instantly credible, sentence.
Most value propositions answer the question,
“Why should our firm purchase your offering?”
Some answer the question,
“Why should our firm purchase your offering instead of your competition’s?”
And, the best answer the question,
“What is most worthwhile for us to keep in mind about your offering?”
GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS
Professor Malcolm McDonald believes that only 4% of customers have a quantified customer value proposition. He is probably right. Bad news for the potential customers of 96% of suppliers, good news for 4% of companies that have one.
ACTION
Create your own quantifiable customer value proposition.