Creating Compelling Customer Value Propositions

By M. Isi Eromosele

The key to winning business, selling more, and earning higher margins is developing clear, easily articulated customer-focused value propositions and communicating them convincingly to your customers.

Importance of Value Proposition

Your product or service value proposition is a powerful statement designed to capture the mind and the heart of your customers by demonstrating a relevant advantage in purchasing from you. It is usually articulated as part of your branding, in advertising or sales literature, as a tag line appearing on product packaging, or is communicated directly when speaking with your customers.

Getting the value proposition right for what your business sells is important, because it provides the basis for your business relationship with your customers; that is, it answers the question foremost in every potential customer's mind: Why should I buy from you?

The most important guiding principle for creating a compelling, customer-focused value proposition is this: the value proposition should focus on customer needs, not on product or service features.

In developing or refining a value proposition, you should ensure that it incorporates the following three components as a minimum:

• The value proposition should describe the type of solution the business provides for its customers.

• The value proposition must clearly demonstrate that you understand the customer's objective - why they should consider doing business with you in the first place.

• The value proposition should outline your specific offer and pinpoint exactly how it is that it will meet the customer's objective.

The Importance of Congruence

Creating a compelling, customer-focused value proposition is the first step to doing more business with your customers. What follows, however, is the hard part: delivering on your promise.

Your value proposition must be more than merely something you say to convince your customers to buy. It must be the core of what your customers actually experience when buying from you.

If your value proposition promises excellent service, make sure you deliver excellent service. If your value proposition promises the cheapest products, be sure that your pricing is cheaper than your competitors. If your value proposition promises to save your customers money, be sure that they achieve those savings.

Kinds Of Value Propositions

All Benefits

All benefits simply list all of the benefits that an organization provides to its target customers.

Favorite Points Of Differentiation

Favorable points of differentiation emphasize key differences between a firm's offerings and those of competitors at the customer interface.

Resonating Focus

Resonating focus highlights one or two critical differences between the firm's offerings and those of competitors with the forethought that these differences represent those areas that are most vital in the mind of the customer.

Operational Excellence

The operational excellence value proposition communicates to customers the delivery of a quality product or service while attempting to differentiate that product or service based upon thoughts of best value.

Customer Intimacy

With customer intimacy the firm works to communicate and deliver and product or service experience focusing on the best customer solution for the segment chosen.

Product/Service Innovation

The product/service innovation value proposition highlights the uniqueness or creativity associated with the product or service being delivered.

The importance of crafting a good value proposition cannot be emphasized enough. The value proposition represents the ideas and the supporting statements that link together the firm's activities, products and services with the needs of their chosen customer segments.

The key to winning business, selling more, and earning higher margins is developing

clear, easily articulated customer-focused value propositions and communicating them convincingly to your customers.

M. Isi Eromosele is the President | Chief Executive Officer | Executive Creative Director of Oseme Group - Oseme Creative | Oseme Consulting | Oseme Finance

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