How to Offer a Valuable Proposition
What's a value proposition and how do you make one? The answer might surprise you.
Salespeople have been told (a hundred times since the NAR settlement) to shore up their value proposition. Sounds great - but what does it really mean? Let’s find out, along with a little story of how the Always Inspiring newsletter got its name.
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Don’t Show up and Throw up
Let’s get something out of the way. Your value proposition is absolutely, unconditionally, NOT a long, exhausting list of tasks.
Period.
Unless you want the consumer to think you’re a glorified administrative assistant who merely processes tasks and wonders whether a ‘bot could do it for less. Of course, you don’t. So put that list away, my wonderful, valuable friend. Stop trying to convince the world that “you do a lot for your pay” by inundating them with a list of stuff.
That’s neither what consumers wonder, nor what they’ll pay for.
How do I know?
Because nobody has ever paid valuable people for their to-do list. You never asked for a list from your doctor, lawyer, financial advisor, schoolteacher, airline pilot or best friend. We don’t respond positively to lists of scary worries — fear-based tactics — that these lists supposedly salve.
So resist the temptation to scare, overwhelm or defeat the consumer’s justifiable question:
Can you deliver what I value?
And figure out what consumers want, without assuming it’s on some list.
How “Always Inspiring” Got Its Name
Some years ago, I struggled to explain what I could do for clients because I could do a lot. Seminars. Workshops. Coaching. Retreats. And… and… and I wanted people to know about it all. Yet I missed sale after sale because my marketing became insanely long, swamped with words, and sounded like disclaimers at the end of a pharmaceutical commercial.
Besides: competitors said the same things and some were bigger, faster, and cheaper.
I needed to express the core of my value.
Something clients would say, That’s exactly it!
One day I was sorting through old thank-you notes. After re-reading a few, I noticed a pattern. People who had happily hired me expressed appreciation for everything other than what I had done. Nobody praised my slides, outline, stage activities or event-preparation checklists.
They didn’t write from their heads, but their hearts.
Over the next week, I noticed the same words on social media, and responses to my newsletter, even email inquiries. All variations of the same phrase:
“Thank you for always inspiring us …”
“We can always depend on you for inspiration …”
“You always deliver inspiration at our events …”
I didn’t need to be hit on the head.
What people wanted wasn’t the mechanism but the experience.
They wanted what happens when we’re together. They don’t notice the font, laser pointer or software platform. They desired how they felt as we worked together, and the emotional benefits they experienced during our time well spent.
So everything I do - including my newsletter - simply became the experience I hope to create — an #AlwaysInspiring one.
You have two sales to make
Sales is 85% emotional, 15% rational. We listen with our minds and decide with our hearts. Yes, we must perform, get things done, and deliver outcomes. But those aren’t all people want. If we only focus on output, we’re leaving ourselves open to being considered a commodity.
Rather than a rarity!
It’s why sales is built on rapport, relationships and spheres of influence, long before we talk about problems and solutions. It’s why word of mouth, referrals and clients for life propel our growth far more than ads, leads and clicks.
When people can choose anybody but still choose you, it has little to do with your operating system —
And everything to do with your core values proposition.
The Values of a Value Proposition
A great sales presentation has three slides in it, maybe four.
A little bit about yourself
A little bit about your company
A little bit about the market
Then you ask: Please tell me what you value most in the experience we’re about to have, and I’ll explain how I can make that happen.
Value begins when you sit and listen.
You sell when you explain only and exactly how you fulfill values. How your propositions align with their desires; and you create the experience they deserve.
At the heart of every commission is a promise to make their values your co-mission!
Make Two Sales
There are two value propositions every great salesperson must make.
The first sale demonstrates your trustworthiness to hear what people desire.
The second sale demonstrates how YOU can fulfill those desires.
This means the value proposition is:
You’re the right person for both jobs!
In some ways, you have an unfair advantage. Most consumers only interview one salesperson; few ever call two. The first sale establishes your trustworthiness. It’s almost a given: Most of your clients are friends, family, your sphere and past clients.
Asking you to ask about the second sale, to discover what they desire —
And making a valuable proposition!
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Five Questions You Can Ask Clients
To Discover their Values and design a valuable proposition 👇
You know what you’re capable of, what you bring to the table. More than the sum of your parts, you’re ready to deliver the experience of a lifetime. So, how do you know whether you’re a match for your prospective client? Here are five questions to get them talking, so you can demonstrate your value alignment.
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