Three steps to create your Value Proposition

Do you know how to communicate the benefits of your services or products simply and clearly? If you don’t, take a minute now to do it as it is pivotal to increase sales and get the right message to the right audience.

I was once with a client who proudly claimed he was not a salesman. He wrongly gave a negative connotation to being a salesperson. 

Reality is everyone is in sales. And if you are a business owner, being a salesperson should be part of your job description – right at the top of it.

Everyone is selling all the time. Whether you're trying to sell your holiday ideas to your spouse, or you're pitching a new project to your boss, it's all selling, and, whatever your offer (product, idea, project or job), it's important to have a really strong value proposition.

A value proposition communicates the benefits doing business with you. 

It's not enough just to describe the features or capabilities of your services or products, your statement needs to focus on what your customers want, need or value. 

Your value proposition can be created by answering a series of questions. Once you answer these, you have the ingredients to create a value proposition that fully answers your customer's question: "Why should I buy this specific product or idea?"

Step One: Know Your Customer 

Start by putting yourself in the customer's shoes. Who are they? What do they want or need? What problems does my product or service solve? Tip: If you don't know, ask!

Step Two: Know Your Product, Service or Idea 

From your customer viewpoint, answer the following questions: How does the product or service solve a particular problem or offer improvement?

Step Three: Know Your Competitors

Keep on thinking from the perspective of your customer and do your research.

The final step is to pull all the information you have gathered and formulate your value proposition by starting each sentence with the following:

"I want to buy this product or idea because it will..."

"The things I value most about the offer are..."

"It is better than competing products or ideas because..."

Written by Celeste Lustosa

CEO and Founder of Lustosa Marketing