Value Proposition Design
For businesses looking to regain their market advantage.
Stand out from the crowd in the right way.
Your value proposition explains who you serve and what you do for them. It sounds simple, but understanding your product-market fit is the DNA of every successful business.
The theory is easy, yet the practice is hard, so value propositions are often half baked or glossed over all together. Yet your value proposition is the fundamental expression of how you compete and make money and if you can’t express it clearly, you’ll struggle to grow.
When you lack a value proposition, or your proposition is confused, it’s hard to explain the value you create for your customers. Not only that, but the absence of a value proposition indicates you don't understand your role in the marketplace, and you may struggle to sell yourself credibly to potential partners such as retailers and distributors.
Value proposition design is for you if…
You can’t explain what you do
Poor value propositions prevent clear communication. If your team can’t express who you help and how you help them, they can't sell your work.
You’ve lost your edge
When your competitors express their value proposition more powerfully they’ll begin eating into your market share. Fight back with a value proposition upgrade.
Sales are stagnant or declining
Maybe you’re failing in pitches, or your conversion rates are going down. Losing your sales mojo may be a sign your value proposition isn’t cutting through.
You’re targeting new markets
Whether you’re moving into overseas markets, repositioning for new market sectors, or approaching new distributors, you need complete clarity.
“What I love about working with Andy is that he brings a perspective that we have often never considered. He makes us push our thinking and challenges us with purpose around the outcomes we are trying to achieve.”
— Michelle Van Gaalen, Managing Director, Smith & Smith
Value proposition design gives you…
Clarity on who you are
Get clear on what your customers need and your purpose in the market. Your value proposition is the ultimate articulation of what you do for the people who pay you to do it.
A strong customer focus
Upgrading your value proposition forces you to bring your customer into the room and ask yourself if you’re doing a good job giving them what they need.
A fresh competitive edge
Stop competitors eating your lunch, set a new path to grow market share, and recapture relevance in rapidly evolving markets.
A pathway to export
Make a case for entering a new market and create a compelling value proposition for the partners who will take you there from NZTE to local distributors.
Your value proposition design process
01
Workshop 1: Your business
Your value proposition design process is a three-phase sprint that defines your value proposition and sets up a framework to test and integrate it into your business.
In your first workshop we ask who you are, what you do, why you do it, and how you deliver. Your whole team is invited to contribute to the process, giving you 360° insight into the needs of your core customers and partners.
02
Workshop 2: Your ideal customer
In this workshop we find out who you serve. You need multiple value propositions, one for every important group. From customers to retailers and staff, we’ll get clear on how you create value for all your partners.
We break down your customers and partners so you’re clear on who they are.
We use your institutional experience to build customer personas.
Then we articulate the product market fit for each group.
03
Express your value proposition
Your value proposition is about the way you do business, not just what you make. At the end of this process, you’ll have:
A suite of propositions to test with your markets.
Instructions for testing your new value propositions with your audience.
Value proposition testing questions.
A framework for using your new value proposition in your business.
A value proposition is a living model updated as market insights arise, so I give you a simple structure to test, review, and iterate your proposition over time.
Fees & timing
Value proposition design typically takes a couple of weeks and costs from $18,000 + GST.
FAQs
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Sales teams, marketers, your export team, and your senior executives. Anyone who represents your business to customers and partners.Often people realise they need a value proposition when they try to carry out an operational task but struggle because they’re unclear who their customers are, and what they do for them. I often get drawn in to work on a value proposition when a critical project exposes the deficiency of a business’s existing value proposition.
Examples of projects that require a clear value proposition:
• A rebrand.
• Launching a new offer.
• Targeting a new market segment.
• Moving into overseas markets.
• Tenders and pitches.
• Establishing partnerships with distributors and retailers.
• Entering JVs.
You need more than one value proposition in your business because the value proposition for each group of people you serve will be different. People often forget about B2B value propositions, yet they're critical to your growth as a business. -
For your new value position to deliver results and value, you must apply it, learn from it, and iterate it. To get value from your value proposition design, we make sure your value proposition is integrated into the heart of your business. I help you build a framework so your value proposition drives what you do.• Include it in your communications.
• Integrate it into your brand.
• Teach it to your sales team and show them how to apply it in customer comms.
• Embed it in the messages and behaviour of your service and distribution team.
• Include it in all proposals.
• Use it to open the door with B2B partners.
Most importantly, set up a structure to test and review your value proposition over time. Your proposition will change and keep changing, it's a living entity that you iterate as you grow. And it's everybody's responsibility to keep your value proposition up to date, which means there's never a time when you’re not testing.
“Where Andy has added most value is helping us to articulate our value proposition, and his ability to change and adapt that value proposition as we’ve evolved over the last 18 months. To be able to go, that's not a hundred percent right now because we've learned X, so let's do Y. And then back that up with fact and data.”
— James McEniery, Co-founder, Dosh