You’ve heard me say before that I hate the term ‘value propositions.’ I just got back from therapy with my advisor where I found out why I despise the term….and on my desk is the latest Harvard Business Review. You guessed it–a long article on Customer Value Propositions.

You can find it here, although it will cost you a few dollars. It’s probably worth it. HBR March.

Overall, the article makes the case that every company needs constant work on its value proposition to customers.

I concur.

Not nearly enough time is spent on this exercise. I see it being an annual topic of a strategic retreat, where several hours should be focused on ‘what our proposition is’ and ‘how has it improved/changed?’ Just think, if you get this right, most selling becomes a piece of cake.

I also like the claim that most value propositions are full of marketing fluff. As I say to clients, if your value claims are nothing but that–claims–and are not customer-centric, focused on the customer’s pain or potential, then they will be discounted by your customer.

Often it’s more about how they are expressed than it is what they are in the first place.

Where I differ from the article is that they maintain that all of the company value is tied up in the delivery (of products/services and such).

I think your value has to start with the sales process itself.

If the sales process you’re taking your clients through is not valuable, in and of itself, then why should a customer feel like you’ll bring value after they pay you?

Your sales process, in a B2B environment, should expose shortcomings and problems in how your prospect is doing business now. This happens through the diagnostic you do–through the questions you ask–through who you call on at your prospect company.

If your sales process is more intentional and buttoned up, then you (and your customer) will discover those pains better than your competition does. And when you do that, you’ll have the competitive advantage.

Rigorous Honesty

I also think they should have paid more attention to the process you go through to determine your value’s advantage (above competition). They say it’s hard work, and they’re right. But what does that mean?

One must have the orientation of “pain” when they go through the value definition process. One way to do that is to ask two questions: What does my prospect “give up” when they don’t buy at all (when they continue the status quo? ) And, “what do they give up when they decide not to buy from me?” And when you’re answering those questions, rigorous honesty must be the mantra.

If you have a bunch of “yes men” in that meeting, you’ll never get to anything meaningful. One of our clients even had three customers in their ‘value definition’ meetings to help keep them honest. They learned a lot from them–on what was valuable–and what was marketing smoke.

In our flagship product, Selling From Strength, I devote an entire section to ‘fleshing out your value’ so that you are left with words that describe it. A handy tool when you are in a meeting and your prospect says, “so, John, why are you different?”