(Video) Articulating Your InValuable Proposition

If you missed the webinar, watch the recording and follow the process to develop YOUR INVALUABLE PROPOSITION and grow your career.

(Readers: You may need to log in to watch the full session.)

Here’s what we covered:

• Recognizing the potential to go beyond the ordinary level of tasks and to-dos that anybody can do (and puts you at risk of competing on price alone)

• Discovering - not guessing - what current and future clients truly desire and are willing to pay for without compromise

• Positioning yourself in the right place at the right time to help people achieve their most desirable gains

• Articulating your unique offer at scale using the incredible power of storytelling

Be sure to also check out my recent posts on this topic, including:

• How to Offer a Valuable Proposition

• Keep YOU in your ValYOU Proposition

• Are you ready to Go All-In?

Webinar Workbook Articulating Your Invaluable Proposition | Matthew Ferrara

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You Need an Invaluable Proposition if You Want:

To go beyond another transaction.
To stop competing on tasks and to-dos.
To rise above the competition on price.
To add something that only you can offer to others.

Every salesperson needs a “value” proposition, and many have them. After all, they readily tell you all the “things they do” to earn their commission. So it must be valuable, right?

But the biggest reason salespeople struggle to close more business is:

Their value proposition does not solve a valuable enough problem that customers are willing to pay for.

Even with all the “stuff” - most of which is helpful, but not valuable enough, to pay for. Competitors give a lot of that stuff away for less, or free, anyway. So what too many salespeople end up talking about isn’t what clients are seeking, so much as what they’ve built:

Which isn’t what customers want during the most important moment in their lives.

The Heart of Value Proposition

The good news is that people gladly pay for value.

In fact, nothing will stop a client from paying for something they value — if you can articulate it. Start by setting aside things that make you look like you’re interviewing for the job of personal assistant, rather than offering to become someone’s trusted guide.

So let’s stop trying to justify our commission and start talking about the co-mission we’re ready to take with clients.

How to Create an Invaluable Proposition in 3 Steps

Here’s the entire process in three bullet points. (You’ll enjoy it more if you watch the recording.) I’ll explain each step in depth below.

1. Don’t assume you know what people value: LEARN IT each time. You cannot enter a sales opportunity with a value proposition. You can only articulate it after learning what someone truly desires. You arrive with many skills and capabilities, but can only offer something valuable after you hear the right cues. Before you can make a valuable proposition, you must start with a valuable inquisition.

   
   Selling you is different than selling a product. Describing yourself with product-like stats, skills and upgrades risks turning something wonderful into something comparable. Someone else can have more than you - more experience, tools, and skills. So don’t sell the parts: discover the one thing your client is hoping you can can offer that makes the biggest difference.

   
   (Use the five questions every great salesperson should ask, from here and below.)
   

2. Only propose how to achieve the value. Don’t talk about all the other stuff. Stop highlighting fears, risks, and tasks. High-performing salespeople only propose that which goes beyond the ordinary: the gains that clients deeply desire.

   
   Gains are benefits, satisfaction, and achievement of goals so important, that they’re beyond the jobs and risks. When clients express gains, they’re talking about who they are trying to become. Not what they want to get. When you propose to help someone achieve gains you’re no longer discussing something that has a price.

   
   You’re talking about something invaluable.
   

3. Explain your proposition effectively emotionally. Sales is 85% emotions, 15% intellect. Stop trying to be intellectually correct and focus on being emotionally connected. Set aside stats, charts, and graphs until absolutely necessary. Data doesn’t convince people you’re worthy of trust, loyalty, and friendship. Emotions close the circuit. Nobody has ever sent a thank-you note about your spreadsheets!

   
   Become your client’s dream catcher and prove it by telling stories that create empathy. Stories are powerful ways to express values and demonstrate you’re the person to help someone achieve their goals.

The Big (Not So Secret) Way to Become Invaluable

The majority of your business comes from your sphere of influence. That means friends, family and clients with whom you have an advantage: They already know, love and trust you. Most (81%) will only interview one person — hopefully you.

They just need to be reassured of one thing: You understand what they truly hope to gain and you’ve got their back.

For that, they’ll pay for the one thing that is priceless, and only you can sell:

The invaluable YOU.

Ready to Go Deeper? Here are the key steps for developing a value proposition that’s truly incomparable: 👇👇👇