Revisiting Value Propositions Purpose

Putting together a compelling promise that clients will be delighted to pay for is no easy task. It takes considerable understanding of your target market at the same time as successfully setting out what sets you apart from the crowd. What makes you different? You need to be authentic, honest and sincere about your capabilities and what you can do for your client. Best practices also spell out what they don’t or can’t do.

Best practices always start from the client’s perspective. Why should a client use you? What’s in it for them? And they focus on several metrics in helping describe their value:

• Quality — What can we do better for the client? (Better than the client themselves or than another adviser).
• Quantity — What can we deliver more of (e.g. relevant plan updates) or less of (e.g. pointless client communications).
• Cost — What can we do more cost effectively for the client?
• Time — What can we do faster or more efficiently for the client?

Having worked out the benefits to the client, these benefits are then threaded through the client interactions and reinforced each time. The same messages should appear when:

• Prospecting for clients.
• Contacting clients.
• Bringing clients on board.
• Reviewing with clients.
• Turning clients into advocates.

Here is a checklist to revise if you are on track with your value proposition:

• Have you identified your target client segments? Describe them. Make them into personas, that you can address, such has Emma, Manager of SME.
• For each segment, do you understand why those clients use the services of others?
• Do you understand why those clients don’t buy your type of service?
• Do you understand what troubles your target clients (quality, quantity, cost and time issues)?
• Do you understand what your client is looking for (quantity, quality, cost and time)?
• Do you understand the risks to your client of choosing you?
• Have you captured and articulated your firms’ core values? What are they? How