Many people find it hard to articulate exactly what they’re offering to clients and to do this in a persuasive way. In essence we all need to get better at explaining why others should buy our product or service.
Originally seen as a sales tool, HR functions have now started to appreciate the importance of value propositions to attract and motivate staff.
So whether you’re selling to clients or employees here’s a way of drafting a value proposition that you might find helpful. All you have to do is fill in the blanks:
First sentence
This is designed to provide the big picture, build rapport and grab their attention, as follows:
| For | [specify the target types of clients (eg Retailers, CFO’s, SME’s, companies interested in investing in Africa etc)] |
| Who | [provide a statement that specifies their need (eg to mitigate risks, have more information about regulatory issues, reduce spending on litigation etc) |
| Our | [specify your product or service] |
| Delivers | [specify the benefit your product or service provides] |
Second sentence
Having got their attention, this sentence provides more information and drives home the selling messages, as follows:
| Unlike | [primary types of competitors] |
| Our product | [specify how your product or service is different, without denigrating the competitors] |
| Because | [provide proof that your benefit can be delivered] |
Finally…
The killer blow is then to say…
Let me tell give you an example of how this has worked…
Practical example
For a business such as ours offering training and coaching to law firms, the value proposition might be as follows:
For law firms interested in developing the skills of their lawyers, we offer bespoke programmes that make a measurable difference. Unlike other providers, we design interventions in which participants work on real and practical issues and we ensure follow up coaching is provided, either by ourselves or others in the firm.
Tony Reiss 