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Value Proposition Magic

Old B2B friends for a new year

The hardest problem for a new sales person? Understanding the value proposition. If it is broad or fuzzy (all too common), the salesperson must invent the logic for something more compelling. Why do we see this problem so often?

 

Inventing a B2B value proposition is hard work.

A value proposition starts with compelling customer benefits . This means understanding the customer’s value chain as well as he/she does. If our software streamlines customer service, we have several potential benefits. Reduced costs, improved customer satisfaction, improved employee productivity, and new servicing options. To translate these, we need to work with current customers.

–          Are costs reduced because we resolve problems faster? Why?

–          Can we relate improved customer satisfaction to stronger customer retention? Upsell opportunities? How?

–          Does improved productivity enable different work flow? Why?

 

Answering these questions is critical. But it takes time and hard work. For complex products, weeks of dedicated effort, with access to customer decision-makers and staff. And we can’t assign the work to junior staff. They probably won’t be able to go deep enough by themselves. Plus we need to interact with customer executives.

 

A good value proposition is invaluable.

Is all of this work worth it? Absolutely! Benefits stated in customer language and numbers translate directly to collateral and a lot more. We can arm sales people with exactly the right questions—tailored to each stakeholder. Plus a business case template, standard proposal formats, etc.

 

Some amplification on the stakeholder idea. The value proposition addresses each of them. Most complex sales require buy-in from:

–          The affected operational unit (customer service in the example above)

–          Finance

–          IT

–          Other impacted executives (marketing and sales if we have customer benefits as above)

 

Efficient sales prospecting

So where is the magic? In the leverage that flows from a clear value proposition. Marketing and sales messages that reinforce each other. Clear understanding internally about how to deliver value. One of the secrets is a more efficient sales process. A good prospect gets excited because we can help with a “front burner” problem. This prospect will pull us into the solution. What more magic could we want?

 

For some related ideas, check out Seth Godin , Brian Carroll , and Marketing Profs

 

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Posted on Thursday, February 1, 2007 at 09:00AM by Registered CommenterBill Gilbert in , , , , , , , | Comments9 Comments | References7 References

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References (7)

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Reader Comments (9)

Whenever I am writing a case study or a white paper, I have a process I go through that helps me develop the value proposition. I try to imagine I am the customer and I write a list of "I wants" or "I don't wants." My list usually fills up several legal pad pages before I am done, but it makes me almost "become" the customer for a moment.

Then I can write the case study or white paper with the customer's wants and "don't wants" in mind.

I've written more in a new ebook on marketing with case studies available at:http://dynamic-copywriting.net/Plotthinkenspdf.pdf.

Charles Brown
July 3, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterCharles Brown
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How did you do? Was your response at the tip of your tongue or did you have to grind it out? How did yours compare with that of your sales associate? Were you even on the same page? If your answer compared favorably with that of your staff member, you likely already have a clearly defined value proposition.
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