What’s this got to do with value propositions? Everything, and here’s why.

The reason we called our book ‘Creating and Delivering Your Value Proposition’ wasn’t just because we needed a snappy title but because we know that you absolutely must create your value proposition first before you can deliver or implement or communicate it. If you don’t create the suit first (aka value proposition) then you’re just dealing with the Emperor’s New Clothes, ie. making marketing stuff up and expecting people to believe you.  Telling people you’ve got a beautiful new suit/value proposition but really there’s nothing there.  Just because you believe something is real, often from your own internal perspective it doesn’t mean anyone else does.

First of all, you’ve got to decide what kind of material you want, what cut of suit, stitching type, etc or, in value proposition terms, what market you want to focus on (link to blog post). Then you really need a tailor – someone who can give you a third-party truthful perspective…”You’re a size 16 not a size 10”.  Someone who can make the suit, make sure it fits and has got the right material and cut and most importantly, making sure it is right for you and makes you look good…making sure everyone believes you look good in it too.  This is akin to our value experience stage where we get real insights into your customers’ experience of you from guess who…your customers.

Value propositions are not something to be made up from no substance.  They must be created from a mix of what you want to achieve combined with your values and the experiences of your customers.  Only when you’ve created your value proposition can you then think about how you need to communicate it to your different and varied audiences.  If you communicate something you haven’t created then it’ll just be seen for what it is, the Emperor’s New Clothes with no grounding substance, no longevity and no long profit tail.

And no-one wants to walk about the town with small children pointing out our nakedness.

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There isn’t an easy answer but we’ve put together the essential 6 things to help smooth your value proposition journey.

1. Create first, communicate second
We often find that there is confusion between creating your value proposition and then how you take it and communicate it during the selling process or through marketing channels.

In my experience, it’s absolutely critical to do the high-level creation part BEFORE attempting to communicate the value proposition to your customers and potential customers.  Doing it this way around makes the communication part, and therefore the selling part, so much easier. Suddenly we all become clear about the key messages.  They’re obvious, simple, clear and based on reality. One of the biggest problems we come across is good sales professionals doing their best to create value messages in the absence of any wider understanding of where the source of their company value lies.  Suddenly, the sales professional is forced to come up with a value proposition based on the latest opportunity – retrofitting their messages back into the rest of the organisation.  Hard work and almost impossible to achieve – I’ve seen many demoralised sales teams sweating this one.

2. Top down, not bottom up
It’s so much easier for sales people to have a clear, high-level, company-wide, value proposition created, and then they are free to tailor this to specific opportunities, rather than having to make them up from scratch. Also, doing it this way around (i.e. top-down) will reduce your cost of sale as you’ll know which opportunities are worth pursuing and which aren’t.

So the starting point needs to be company-wide, or division, or sector or product group, before translating the messages into major accounts or specific products or sales opportunities.

3. Involve all stakeholders
A value proposition is a promise of value to be delivered and a belief from the customer of the value that will be experienced. And you can’t create this by thinking up some clever words. You need input from many sources including people in your organisation and your customers.

4. Understand customer risk
We use the value equation where Cost must also include the risk taken by the customer in choosing to buy from you and your company.  Benefits are shown squared because the benefits you discover after going through the value proposition creation process must significantly outweigh the costs:

Value = Benefits² – Cost

5. Value is not just rational
During the value proposition creation process, it’s not just the rational dimensions of the client’s organisation that need to be taken into account but also the political and emotional/psychological.  Look at the 3 dimensions of:

• Rational (price, ROI, speed and feeds, features etc.)
• Political (e.g. how is this going to affect the buyer’s job? How will this value proposition be received by their organisation?)
• Emotional/psychological (how does the customer feel about you, your products/services and your company?)

6. Offerings deliver value
You can often achieve a huge surge in value for your customers, with very little outlay, by re-bundling or re-packaging existing offerings.

So, is a value proposition a silver bullet?  No, it isn’t, but it will significantly help with lead generation, conversion rates and overall profitability but only if you put some blood, sweat and tears into the creation process first.  Mine the silver first, hand-carve the bullet and then aim it at a precise target.

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This first Market phase answers the question, “Who is most likely to buy your product/service?”

Don’t be mad, choose your markets well

`Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?‘ said Alice.
`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.’ said the Cheshire Cat.
`I don’t much care where…‘ said Alice.
`Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cheshire Cat.
`…so long as I get somewhere,’ Alice added as an explanation.
`Oh, you’re sure to do that,’ said the Cheshire Cat, `if you only walk long enough.’
Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another question. `What sort of people live about here?‘
`In that direction,‘ the Cheshire Cat said, waving its right paw round, `lives a Hatter: and in that direction,’ waving the other paw, `lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.’
`But I don’t want to go among mad people,’ Alice remarked.
`Oh, you can’t help that,’ said the Cheshire Cat: `we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.‘
`How do you know I’m mad?‘ said Alice.
`You must be,’ said the Cheshire Cat, `or you wouldn’t have come here.’

Start by defining the specific group of customers to target, focus at this phase is crucial, look to remove sectors or customer target groups rather than add more in. You won’t lose opportunities just because you’ve dropped a few sectors. Focus will help you to hone your value more.

Questions to ask include:
• Where does your organisation figure in the marketplace, in your ‘competitive set’? Is it where you want to be? If not, where would you like to be?
• Which markets or customer types offer the best opportunities for profitable growth?
• Who are the specific group of customers you are targeting? Can you identify different buyer personas?
• What are the customer needs? What are their loves and hates?
• Are there discrete market segments?
• What risks do the customers perceive when choosing you?
• What’s going on in your target market segments, or with your personas? What’s hot? What’s not?

Narrow and deep beats broad and shallow – focus allows you to identify the difference between being totally opportunistic and having a well planned, and therefore more successful approach to creating your value proposition. Deciding that you will only proactively target 5 market segments, as a strategic decision, doesn’t have to stop you refusing the bluebird sales opportunities that just fly in the window from nowhere, in other non-target segments. As the Cheshire Cat says “If you don’t know where you’re going, any path with get you there.”

Understand how to enter those markets
When you’ve decided on your key markets, then start to think about what channels you will use to enter those markets. A cautionary note here is not to be too creative. If you are having success already with a few key clients then focus on how to get more like them, and in similar market sectors and not diversify off into other new markets or into new products.

So in summary:
• Define your markets
• Map your markets
• Understand who the decision makers in your markets are and what they purchase
• Understand why decision makers purchase (how to meet their needs)
• Form market segments that work for you by combining like-minded decision makers
• Create personas based on groups of different buying types

Critical Thinking
In this ‘Market’ stage of the Value Proposition Builder insure your analysis avoids paralysis by analysis. You need to grasp what’s actually going on out there and take a view about you available markets and suitable channels for you.
Once you have identified those areas of the market where you do or can create value for your customers, you must spend time with your typical customers who can articulate what that value actually is, in detail. In the next ‘episode’, we’ll examine precisely that step in the process.

What’s your experience of focusing on a market, a sector, a segment or a persona? Has this been better or worse for you that trying to go after everything that moves?

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Creating your online value proposition is not a stand-alone task. It needs to be developed from your offline value proposition and your business strategy and objectives.

Many organisations know they need an online presence whether that’s an enhanced website, a presence on LinkedIn, Twitter or some relevant blogging, so a tactic is born – someone gets the job of putting the company on the social map. Followers are sought and linked to and the social media tap has been turned on. But has any attention been given to the source of the flow and to the ultimate spread of liquid?

And here lies the problem, a tactical decision has been made with no regard to the planning and strategy. And there are many hundreds of tactical options, as you can see from The Conversation Prism visual opposite. It would beggar belief if any company were to embark on any other sales, marketing or even operational endeavour without due strategic consideration but it so often happens online, I guess due to the easy access of tools. Here is quick checklist of a better way to achieve online success:

1. Create your offline value proposition first. Your value proposition is your promise of value to be delivered and a belief from your customer of value that will be experienced. Download our white paper for a starting point in how to do this. Follow the 6 phases. You must get your customers involved to ensure it’s not just an internal exercise.

2. Then create your online strategy and objectives. There are many great white papers, webinars, and slideshares on how to do this. Two important things to remember, firstly use your website as the hub for getting all your push and pull marketing working together. So aim your social media feeds and your SEO back to your website from where you can offer downloads, webinar sign ups, blog comments etc. anything to add value and encourage interaction. Secondly, ensure your online fits with your offline. If you are a serious, intellectual publisher, don’t resort to bad grammar, school boy humour or risqué images online. I’ve seen this happen so am speaking from the heart!

3. Measure the results. If your objective was to increase awareness then you’ll measure things like an increase in web traffic. If it was loyalty then it might be number of repeat visits or regular comments on blogs. Then you can add these to your marketing funnel and see what tactics are working the best to achieve your objectives and ultimately start filling the top of your sales funnel.

It is vital that you sit back and stop yourself rushing onto online and social media and for those who have already joined; this is time to take stock. It is clearly just as important to your business to have an online strategy which is aligned with your business, sales and marketing objectives. Your brand is too important for its provenance to be left to others; take control of your online value proposition by first creating it offline.

We’re extremely interested to know what you’ve done with your online and social media strategy? Has anyone had to withdraw from any social media commitments? Why? What went wrong?

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Don’t worry (or be disappointed) – I’m not about to commit a Gerald Ratner classic. We love customers – don’t we? In fact, so much so, that they’re becoming an obsession, but does this obsession strengthen or weaken your value proposition? I have recently encountered a number of customer improvement programmes that have used the word obsession. And why shouldn’t we be obsessed – since without our customers we cease to exist in business. But customers are changing – partly because of the ephemeral Internet surfer, meaning that controlling our customer relationships has placed more emphasis on creative value propositions.

When you gaze into the depths of your customer database – does what you see sometimes fill you with frustration and gall? What I’m referring to are those customers that are the bane of your life – all companies have them after all. They spend little, complain a lot and demand the earth. What on earth did you do to deserve them?! And, in true obsessive form, most of us roll over and give them the same love and care we try to give to all of our customers. Are you really obsessed with these too? I think it’s time for liberation – don’t you? It’s time to break free from the shackles of ‘obsession for all’. It’s time to get real. For me, obsession is a two way street and shouldn’t reflect the same ‘love’ for everyone – because customers are not equal – neither should our value propositions. I believe fairness probably represents a better approach to customer engagement as this addresses the need for proportionate relationships – not good and bad but fair. Think of it this way. Construct a virtual line of customers with your best at one end and worst at the other. OK – the best you should treasure and the worst you may consider avoiding – or ‘allow’ to move to your competitors. The crux of the matter here is finding out who sits where in you virtual identity parade based on the real ‘monetary’ value to your business – who the 20% are that represent 80% of your business – who the prime prospects are that posses the same DNA as your best customers. For me, obsession can be unhealthy (I was told this at school!) if it’s not thought through. My view is to learn about your customers to the n’th degree, develop propositions for different segments, make tough decisions about those that drain your resources and give little back, absolutely become obsessive with your treasure accounts and devise strategies for other groups. Do this thoroughly and you will be well on the road to achieving the knowledge you need to build sound, flexible value propositions to suit all your customers – well all those you decide to keep!

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When I saw the latest trailers on the BBC for The Apprentice, with these macho, posturing quotes, I found my skin growing clammy. I know it’s popular and makes good television, with its sharp-dressed contestants and all their dramas and rivalry, but I’ve grown to loathe everything it stands for.

It’s all so tired, so 1950s and as far removed from most businesses I work with as the moon landings. The Apprentice portrays business as a series of win-lose deals, where you have to be an aggressive, win-at-all-costs transactional salesperson. Oh dear. Has no-one told Lord Sugar that in 2011 business is based on networks, relationships and consultative selling? Anyone who acts in the way most of these contestants are encouraged to act in the real world would be found out, tweeted about and marginalised very quickly.

I’m not naive; I know The Apprentice makes great TV. But what worries me is that the young people around me who aren’t yet in business honestly think that this is how you have to behave to succeed. I could cry … but according to TV’s Alan Sugar that would make me weak and a failure. Pity he doesn’t make connections with businesses built by decent people driving dynamic success for their customers and themselves in a positive way.

Is it just me? Is it just the UK or is the US Apprentice the same?

What do you think?

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I receive at least five such emails or messages via LinkedIn every week.  Not one of them takes the time and effort to research me, research Futurecurve or tell me how their ‘core competence’ matches what I might be interested in.  One person had gone a little further and sent me an attachment to an introductory email where they had actually added my name and the Futurecurve name into their company flyer.  But that was as far as their attempt at providing something of value to me actually went. In every single case I can think of, the message is all about them and nothing about me.  And because I’ve been shown such loving attention, am I going to give them any of my valuable time? Certainly not!

This sort of marketing has always gone on, but I believe the huge growth and ease of use of social media marketing has made this situation worse.  If you think about it, if you were not good at this type of direct approach, direct marketing, telemarketing etc. in ye olde days (last year), now you’ve got 10x more social media channels in which to be not very good either.  So just because you’ve got more and different marketing channels doesn’t make your core value proposition or your messages any better.  If your sales and marketing messages were narcissistic before, then social media channels will just amplify this.  It’s not big, it’s not clever, and it’s certainly not attractive, so please stop doing it.

There is little excuse for not finding out what my hot buttons might be as you only have to Google someone’s name or company name to find their website, their LinkedIn profile, Twitter accounts, Facebook pages and just about every blog post or discussion board where they commented.

I am amazed at how people in business still think this type of one-way communication is OK, that it’s acceptable to only talk about “me, me and marvellous me”.  Is it just laziness or incompetence or just old fashioned narcissism? Is this common place or am I just being overly sensitive to people having done zero research about me and what might interest me before they make contact?  Are other people just more thick-skinned than me and expect everyone these days to just talk about themselves?

There is a fine line to draw between social media interaction on blogs like this, or on LinkedIn discussions where you want people’s feedback but you don’t want them to only feedback to promote themselves. I get annoyed by discussion responses that just say “I wrote about this point in my blog and here’s the link”.  That’s not an interaction, that’s laziness coupled with self-promotion.

Social media works well when it creates a healthy relationship.  It’s a totally unhealthy and one-sided relationship where one party is on narcissistic broadcast.

I’d be really keen to hear what you think. No – honestly I would …as long as you don’t only talk about yourself or only self-promote;-)

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“We’re rapidly becoming “Generation Now” – we want news, information, data and fun – now. Right now, right this very minute. We can’t wait. News on the hour every hour doesn’t work – we need it as it happens. If you can’t be good and be quick you’re going to get in the way.”

This isn’t the next generation – it’s a rapidly growing phenomenon panning across them. It’s ubiquitous across the working age group – so many more people work in IT than 15 years ago. So many more people work via computers than 10 years ago. Certainly, a younger generation is more prevalent on Facebook but Twitter and certainly LinkedIn have users who are more mature, well educated, networking types that have found a faster way to share information, knowledge, opportunities and create real relationships.  These people want to create more opportunities – and you need people to do that. Social Networking is just another way of meeting people the same way you do in real life – except their attention span is gone.  It’s almost as though Digital Media encourages attention deficit disorder.
That’s why there’s never been a stronger reason to have a crystal clear understanding of your value proposition than now. Twitter, with its famous 140 character limit (smaller than SMS) makes the elevator pitch rule seem like an extra long version of the ‘Lord of the Rings’.

Having a punchy, online value proposition is not about clever tag lines or being smart – it’s about getting the right message across to people in the shortest amount of time. It’s about respecting their time and their needs – cutting through the big, broad message to get the heart of what they need to hear. It will either be “What” or “Why”. If you get either wrong, chances are it will be seen as self promotion or spam. Spam is just another word for “inconvenient” content – irrelevant and at the wrong time.

Are you pushing or listening?

Marketing is frequently seen as something we “push” on people – in radio, in billboards and in papers. We tell people a story, we want them to remember. We create a demand – we want them to want us. Push advertising is very easy on Twitter for big brands (think Apple, Microsoft, and Dell) because they create demand with a lot of momentum and their social media. Companies and brands that don’t benefit from the momentum created by other media cannot use Social Media to push a message. It just won’t go. In “Pull” marketing (where consumers with a need literally “pull” content with them) you need to engage. And you need to give a very valid, understandable and compelling reason to do so.

You don’t have a 5 minute radio pitch, you don’t have time to send a business plan, and you really don’t even have the time it takes between here and the ninth floor to get your pitch across. You have now and you have to be quick. Otherwise you’ll be irrelevant or overtaken.

Image courtesy of www.despair.com

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So the new rules are:

•    Buyers are in control
- they don’t want to be sold to
- they do want to be educated

•    They want information when they want it
- access and timeliness of information is vital
- free take-aways are a must without the need to give all your contact info

•    They want clear information
- they don’t want marketing speak
- they do want a short, sharp, clear expression of your value proposition

Image credit:  Technoligence, LLC.

There are many stats around inbound marketing but some of the most startling ones that illustrate the new world order are:

•    40% of all web browsing is now done via a mobile device
•    57% of companies and people who use blogs reported that they acquired customers from leads generated directly from their blog
•    41% of B2B companies and 67% of B2C companies have acquired a customer through Facebook

Having said all of this, it is time to ramp up your online lead generation but remember that some of the old rules do still apply.  You still need to:

•    Generate interest, desire and demand for your products and services
•    Convert interest to leads
•    Convert leads to sales
•    Measure the effectiveness of your online methods

Most importantly, leads from social media need to be followed up immediately. They have a very short shelf life and next week will be too late!

So remember, educate don’t sell,  give away free, valuable information and make your offer very clear and accessible.

Good luck and happy lead generation.

Join in the discussions with us and share your views on every aspect of creating value on our blog pages and please join the LinkedIn value proposition group.

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•    Building an audience
•    Developing a community
•    Managing your reputation

Some of the strongest social media players are not faceless companies but individuals, either in their own right or representing a company or organisation. Seth Godin is a good example of an individual, as is Anthony Tjan who writes for Harvard Business Review. Godin says, “We either ignore your brand or we judge it, usually with too little information. And when we judge it, we judge it based on the actions of the loudest, meanest, most selfish member of your tribe….. what do you stand for?”

Good question. What do you stand for? Understanding this is at the heart of your value proposition and your brand, so how are you coming across in social media? How are you managing your personal brand?

Tips for personal value proposition and personal brand

1. Know what you want social media to do for you – and measure its effectiveness

2.  Give, give and give content and value – the new rules are about giving in order to get

3. Ask your clients and contacts for their feedback – take your medicine honestly and act on what they tell you

4. Ask questions

5. Launch a Facebook page about your industry niche

6. Create a social bookmarking account (eg del.icio.us) specifically for articles related to your profession or interest and then encourage people to help you find related articles.

7. Make sure you’ve got a consistent email signature, forum signature, a website profile (like Ning’s), software profile (like Skype).

8. Think about personal brand reinforcing content, eg. video channel on sites like YouTube, produce podcasts (audio or video), conduct free webinars, leave insightful comments on related blogs, interview industry trend-setters, write a book, write an ebook, publish white papers…etc etc



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