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Create a Compelling Value Proposition to Drive Sales Performance

Your Value Proposition is the reason ‘why’ a client might choose to work with you.

 

Done well, it should convince a prospective client/customer why your products or services will be of value to them, rather than using one of your competitors. A VP that defines what you do isn’t a VP, it’s a service description!

 

Why do you need a Value Proposition?

You would assume that your leadership team, as well as your sales team, can articulate what makes your organisation more compelling than your competition. Sadly, the reality is that most organisation struggle to do this well. You need a strong and proven VP to drive sales because, without it, sales teams will struggle to communicate your proposition. Done well, it’s the difference between winning or losing.

 

What makes a great Value Proposition?

A VP is not about what you do (service or product description), it’s about WHY a client should work with you or buy your products. Take the example of a personal trainer (PT). Most PT’s will offer one to one coaching, group training, and customised workout programmes, which you follow on your own. These are all ‘services’ offered by the trainer; they are NOT the reasons you’d choose to work with them over another PT!

 

An effective value proposition should be:

  • Compelling to your target audience – it explains how your products or services solve your client problems
  • Consistent – think about your website messaging, your marketing collateral and what other people in your business say when asked about why client choose your business
  • Concise and easy for your audience to understand – Keep it to a maximum of 5 and a minimum of 3 points
  • Answer the ‘SO WHAT’ question: “If I’m your ideal customer, why should I buy from you instead of your competitors?” If you’re telling me that I need an ‘experienced’ organisation, remember to answer the ‘SO WHAT’ question. Why does experience help me? The experience, for example, might give your clients peace of mind, lower risks and faster turnaround

Think about our example Personal Trainer (PT) for one moment. Imagine you want to run a marathon. You’ve decided that you want a PT and that you’ll invest in one to one coaching. now you need to select the right PT. Would you pick a PT that talks about his qualification for gym based training or his / her bodybuilding credentials, or would you pick a PT that has experience in running marathons, has proven client case studies for coaching clients to run sub-3.5-hour marathons, and is based 10 minutes from where you live?

 

Does your VP have to be ‘unique’?

It’s rare for a VP to be unique. It’s unlikely that you’ll have a ‘silver bullet’, therefore winning is more often about telling the VP story in a clear, concise and compelling way WITH proof points. Make sure that if you tell a prospect that you can, for example, save them money, you have the evidence that you’ve done this before and that you can do it for them. Look to your existing clients, other industry data (third party evidence) or technology/process prove that you can do it for them.

 

Testing your Value Proposition

By testing your value proposition you can get reliable results from actual data, but DON’T be tempted to tweak your VP based on only a handful of data points.

Decide on your VP story (no more than 5 points, no less than 3) and tell the story for 2/3 months. Not everything works first time and you’ll need to ‘fine-tune’ your language and the flow of your VP story. Once road-tested, get together with your team/colleagues to evaluate its performance and only then should you look to change the VP.

Summary

Without a well written and evidenced-based VP, your potential customers may divert to your competitors, who’ll have done a better job of clearly communicating what the VP of their organisation is. Get this right and your ability to sell will dramatically increase.

If you’re looking for support in creating your Value Proposition, why not take a look at why clients work with salesworxs to drive sales performance.

Create a Compelling Value Proposition to Drive Sales Performance
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