How To Create Compelling Value Propositions

Imagine the futility of sales people ‘trying' to win new customers and to develop and keep good customers with unremarkable offerings. It is also agonising for customers to hear about presentations that offer no more than ‘duplications' or endless platitudes!

Create compelling value propositions by calling a meeting of your best people, along with a trusted external expert on marketing matters. The meeting will have various questions to answer:

• "If we were to promise the market a significant improvement in results that would be perceived to be compelling, what would constitute ‘significant improvement'?" This query is raised on behalf of people that will never pose the question... namely your customers. The question is of the utmost importance because the market will only respond to ‘significant progress'.
  
  
• "Is there evidence of customers already achieving the significant result levels specified, or something close, in the local market or elsewhere... with our product or a competitor's product?" In every market there are obviously just a few customers that enjoy performance that is disproportionate to the market at large. Such customers may be local, interstate or overseas, and in some cases they may be buying from a rival supplier. The only thing that matters is that you know who they are!
  
  
• "If such evidence exists, what kind of motivation and strategies were employed to achieve the significant results, and what problems were overcome on the way... and how?" Knowing the story behind excellent performance achievements is the beginning of strategy development that will support your new and compelling value proposition. The top performing customers should be invited to work alongside your company in the effort to help all other customers, and they should be rewarded accordingly.
  
  
• "Aside from the evidence of special motivation, strategies and problem-solving action, what additional ideas can we use to support the promise of significant performance improvement for the market?" The external expert will help at this point, but so can everyone else... as they stretch their thinking in relation to supporting a new proposition that promises ‘significant performance improvement'.
  
  
• "How should the new, compelling value proposition be packaged for the market and presented to the market?" Great ideas warrant special packaging and ‘branding', plus dynamic ways of communicating to the market.
  
  
• "How should the new, exciting proposition be ‘managed' to the point of success for the market at large?" The customers must not be allowed to fail with your proposition, and so special processes must be created to ensure control, problem solving and consistent progress and achievement.
  
  

The only way to change the market is to change your propositions... significantly! To ignore this challenge involves menial marketing that kills the spirit of real selling.

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