Use This Tool to Craft a Better Value Proposition

If you cannot quickly establish preference over competitors, then clients will be less inclined to see you, value your services, choose you over competition, pay you what you are worth or commit to supporting your solution.

What is your preference value? Why should a client choose you? What makes you unique and better than your competition? Can you quickly articulate what you do, how it is different, why that difference is important to this client, why it is difficult for competitors to match, and can you prove it in a few sentences?

The objective of this article is to help you identify and articulate your preference value to make it easier for prospective clients to choose you. 

Charting Your Preference Value

Over the years I have developed a simple but powerful tool called a Value Chart to help service providers flesh out and then articulate their value. The first step is to identify the selection criteria a client will use to compare you to alternatives. Selection criteria will usually focus on the reliability of execution because at this level the client is effectively turning the keys to his or her career over to you. "Who can most reliably deliver us from where we are now to where we want to be?"

For each criterion ask yourself the following:

·      What do we offer that is unique?

·      How is it different?

·      Why is that difference important to this client?

·      What evidence can we offer to prove it?

Consider these questions both from your company's perspective and from your perspective as the service provider. What is unique about your company? What is unique about you? Isolate and, whenever possible, name (brand) that unique capability. Naming it further distinguishes your brand from competitive alternatives and makes it easier for potential clients to remember you.

Here’s an example of value charting in action. Years ago I worked with a commercial real estate company whose only offices were in New York City. This company was having difficulty winning competitive business against large national concerns. When asked to describe their services, they said they were committed to good service, had good market knowledge, offered full service expertise, had two NYC offices and had seasoned professionals in their employ. Initially, their value Chart looked like this:

Initial Value Chart

These are all excellent attributes but hardly unique. What company doesn't say they work hard, offer good service and have experience?

All the same, this firm’s existing clients loved them, so we kept digging (Value Mining). I asked the real estate company executives what they had done for their existing clients that set them apart from the national companies and used that to build their value.

How are you different? (Differentiator)

"Most of the nationals pitch the business with the experienced brokers, but the work is actually done by junior people who work on transactions all over the Northeast. In our case, all aspects of the transaction are handled by professionals with at least 20 years of experience in New York City. Our clients never have to deal with rookies."

So what? (Preference Value) Why is that important to the client?

"Most New York properties are sold or leased to other New Yorkers. We know the market, and we know how to execute the deal. We know who is active, what they are looking for and what they can pay. We have all done hundreds of deals, so we can get it done with fewer mistakes and fewer surprises."

So what? (Preference Value) What do fewer mistakes and surprises mean to the client? (Author's hint: keep probing (Value Mining) your preference value until you reach the financial impact or risk impact.)

"Slow execution exposes them to market risks and ties up their funds. Our clients receive faster and smoother execution from us, which translates into less market risk and more liquidity."

Can you give evidence that your preference value yields better results? (Proof)

The real estate firm was able to demonstrate consistently faster asset sales averaging between 90 to 120 days. The firm also provided evidence in the form of stories, benchmarks and testimonials from existing clients that favorably compared their performance to national firms. They branded their execution capabilities "No Rookies Execution" to emphasize their unique transaction experience. Now take a look at their value chart:

Completed Value Chart

With a newly found awareness of and ability to articulate their value, this company was able to turn weakness into strength.

"Our 'No Rookies Execution' means that you and potential investors will only deal with a professional who has had at least 20 years of experience in New York City. That means higher quality representation, faster execution, fewer mistakes and more liquidity. That also means no more hand holding junior staff through the process. On average, our dispositions close within 90 to 120 days of initial marketing. Here are the résumés of our No Rookies team."

The "No Rookies" brand successfully positioned their reliable execution and made the nationals seem riskier. National firms may be broader, but now this local firm could prove they were deeper and more experienced in this market. 

Try building a Value Chart to brand your own services. Focus on a single major theme. Positioning yourself as the best in everything dilutes your brand and your credibility. Your chart will make it easier for you to express and easier for your client to appreciate what makes you unique and better than your competition.

Your inability to clearly see or articulate why you are different and better than competitors makes winning deals that much harder. If you can't see it and say it, how can the clients who must choose you among alternatives see it?

On the other hand a clear preference value not only makes it easier for clients to choose you, it also becomes a self fulfilling prophesy as you dedicate resources to reinforce the characteristics that make you different and better. That builds your business, and it builds the morale of your staff as they increasingly feel part of a unique and winning team.

If you would like to preview the entire 25 module eLearning version of Third Level Selling for your company, please contact us.

Bob Potter is the author of Winning In The Invisible Market: A Guide to Selling Professional Services In Turbulent Times and Third Level Selling training series. He is also the Managing Principal of RA Potter Advisors, a marketing and sales strategy consulting practice service providers. www.rapotter.com You can reach him at [email protected] or (415) 717-1662.