Value proposition is one sentence that describes the benefit(s) customers will gain if they choose to do business with you. It explains why they have to buy from you.
A Value proposition is about customers not about the seller. It should be simple, understandable and tangible.
The below steps, describe my proposal for developing and using an effective value proposition:
- Creating the value proposition:
The value proposition should come from the top. CEO and his corporate team should decide about it’s contents and are also held responsible for its effectiveness. The value proposition should be based on business goals, available resources and values.
It may take several brainstorming sessions, headed by the CEO to define that one sentence.
Needless to mention that the marketing guy should be the most talkative person in these brainstorming sessions. - Circulating value proposition:
Once the value proposition has been developed, it should be circulated throughout the entire organization. Every employee should be “aware” of the new initiative at this stage.
The circulation happens by the means of a memo from CEO. The memo should only contain one sentence: the value proposition. - Departmental value proposition:
Each department (and all the employees of that department) should be asked to develop a proposal. What are they going to do exactly to make sure the value proposition actually happens. i.e an Interior design company decides to promote space saving solutions through his value propositions; each department must come up with a proposal on how exactly they are going to save office space for clients. And by each department, I mean the design department as well as the accounts collectable department! - Living the value proposition
After proposals have been developed, the CEO and his management team should study the proposals carefully and fine tune them. If required, the departments will be asked to revise and resubmit their proposal.
Once finalized, the management team should make sure that everybody is living the value proposition and they reflect it in everything they do. This process should last for few months (at least 3 months) before its communicated to the market to ensure the client actually will receive the promise that has been given to him. - Communicating Value Proposition:
Once the organization is ready, it should communicate the value proposition to the market. This should be reflected in every message the business sends to market including their advertising, website, email signatures, etc.
It’s not about having a value proposition, it’s about living the value proposition.
