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Develop a strong value proposition statement: Make every contact count Part II: Creating your value proposition

Guest post by: Debra Pearlman

Article Overview: Your value proposition is a powerful tool. It is the first impression a prospect has of your product or service. It provides the attention-grabbing message that compels your prospects to ask for more information.

Develop a strong value proposition statement: Make every contact count Part II: Creating your value proposition

Your value proposition is a powerful tool. It is the first impression a prospect has of your product or service. It provides the attention-grabbing message that com­pels your prospects to ask for more infor­mation.

The first step to creating a strong call-to-action sales and marketing communi­cation is to overview all three categories: features, benefits, and value. To begin, create three separate columns with a heading for each category. List all the features of your product or service.

Features are characteristics or attributes that highlight or give prominence to your product or service. List the distinctive qualities that differentiate you from your competition. For example: Google search engine offers search features such as Trip Planning, Weather, Time, Sports Scores, etc.

Next, list the benefits for each feature you wrote down. Tangible business results and advantages that each feature offers the prospect. They contribute towards improving a specific condition or helping in some other way. For example: The benefits gained by utilizing the Google search engine Trip Planning fea­ture is Airline Travel provides reliable airport information and Currency Conversion provides accurate calcula­tions.

Last, and most importantly, break down each benefit to a specific value that is gained by the prospect. Value is the rela­tionship between the consumer's expecta­tions of the product to the actual amount paid for it, the return on investment, (ROI), which may be expected. Use ver­biage that specifically addresses the areas in which your prospect has a need. Whenever possible, use percentage or monetary figures that can be substantiat­ed. If you have not already requested this information from previous clients, now is the time. For example: Google search engine special features allow users to increase the speed with which they are able to obtain information by 25%; decrease administrative time by 10%; increase productivity by 15%, and avoid monies lost due to misinformation.

By developing a strong, accurate and targeted value proposition, you are creat­ing a commitment to your prospects that you must be prepared to stand behind. Whether you are a small business owner or an executive for a large conglomerate, the only method for attracting and main­taining long-term customer relationships is by remaining focused on and actually meeting their needs. It does not matter how many sales you made this week. What truly matters is how many of those customers are going to buy from you again and refer others to you. Create your value proposition today and watch your revenues grow.

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Article Tags: sales and marketing communication, value proposition statement



Related Forum Posts
Re: This is Marketing Warfare! - Thanks Rita. The Fedex example was perfect to describe unique selling proposition.
Your advantage over others - Sell using your USP - unique selling proposition. Why should people buy from you, instead of your competitors? Think about it, why are you so great? It may be a hard question, but finding the answer can multiply the effectiveness of any advertising or marketing activities you undertake.
Dragon's Den - I'd be interested in hearing people's reaction to the CBC TV show "Dragon's Den." Personally, I feel the show is very corny(probably why its on the CBC), however it illustrates perfectly the importance of having a well defined elevator pitch with a killer pain statement and glorious value proposition. Those entrepreneaur wanabes who get the most interest(and ultimately a crap load of money) are those who impress the Dragons with a great EP. This being said, another trend I can see is that those who truly...TRULY...have a passion for what they do and can properly communicate this to the Dragons are also favoured. Furthermore, those who also show the Dragons that they have done alittle research (like knowing their names and the companies they founded) also have a better chance. These are all valuable lessons that can be learned if you strip back the cheesy veneer of the show. I'd be interested in hearing all of your thoughts and what you have learned from the show.
Re: Another Wordpress Website! - Hi David - no problem, happy to help! One other thought came to mind that I forgot to mention: I would probably take out the freelance English consultant. Here's my thinking: If you can get a ton of targeting traffic to your websites as your articles suggest then why isn't it enough to make a full time business from? I think it hurts the credibility of your value proposition if you're saying that you're not doing this full time. Just my thoughts - again, I don't know anything about PLR so I could be way off base here, maybe this is the norm.
Marketing Jobs - Well friend, The Internet is changing marketing, and will continue to. But it's quite a leap to go from there to "marketing jobs are becoming obsolete." The question of whether human interaction is required isn't really relevant. Whether there is or isn't human interaction once someone is on the site, someone had to do the thinking about value proposition, target audience, positioning, etc., and then do some sort of campaign to get that person to the site in the first place.


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