How to Create Powerful Sales Value Propositions: 9 Tips

If you want to create an effective sales strategy, you must incorporate a powerful sales value proposition. That refers to the promise of value of a product or service that every business must communicate and deliver, and the customers should acknowledge and experience. It expresses an outcome that a person or group can realize if they use your products and services.

Every organization must differentiate its value proposition as part of its sales strategy. This differentiation will enable a company and its products and services to stand out amidst the competition.

Unfortunately, many businesses are failing in this regard. Research shows that one of the most significant inhibitors to sales effectiveness is the inability to communicate a valuable message. But there are ways to overcome this challenge.

Qualities of a Good Value Proposition

To understand how you can create a value proposition for your customers, you must first understand what a good value proposition is. The following are some of the qualities of a good customer value proposition:

• It must be clear – there should be no confusion about what the messaging is all about
• It should be short and straight to the point
• It should let the customer know the results they should expect and experience
• It should explain what makes it different and better than the competition
• It must be justifiable – your customers should be able to defend their decision to buy your product or service to themselves and other stakeholders.
• It must resonate with your customers
• It must be scalable if the customers’ needs change in the future
• It must be adaptable- the customer should not have to completely disrupt all their existing systems to use your products and services

Questions To Ask Yourself When Creating Sales Value Propositions

If you want to create powerful value propositions to help your sales team sell, then you need to start from the beginning. That involves asking pertinent questions. The answers to these questions will help you create the best possible sales value propositions.

Some of the questions that you should all be asking include:

• What kind of products and services are you selling?
• What will your products and services achieve?
• What are the features of those products and services?
• What do your customers do that makes your products and services worth considering?
• What are the benefits (for the customer) of the products and services that you are selling? 
• What makes your products and services better or different from the competition?
• Why should customers buy your products and services now? What makes them relevant?
• What are your customers’ physical, emotional, social, and spiritual pain points?
• Relative to your competition, where do your products and services stand?
• What is the best way to present how unique your brand offerings are to appeal to your target audiences?

9 Useful Tips for Creating Powerful Value Propositions

Creating good value propositions that your salespeople can use and your customers can appreciate is an art form. You need to know what to do. Here are useful tips that will help you create value propositions that will pack a punch:

1. Sell benefits, not features

Why should customers buy your company’s products and services? What is in it for them?

When customers are looking to buy something, they need to be able to justify their purchase decisions. Sometimes, they may need to explain that decision to themselves. At other times, they may need to justify that decision to their bosses. Make it easy for them to do so. 

For that reason, you need to sell the benefits of your solutions. Show them what your product or service will do for them. How will it help them? In what way will it bring about the change they desire? Let your value proposition do the talking.

2. Create a sense of urgency

Selling is not just about letting your customers know how your product or service will benefit them. That alone may not be enough to make them give you their money. 

You must make them feel that they must buy now or risk losing the value that you offer. So, your value proposition should create a sense of urgency for your prospects.

3. Up your storytelling game

Storytelling refers to the art of telling stories to engage your audience. Telling a story as a way to sell is an excellent strategy. Storytelling offers plenty of benefits. These include:

• They capture people’s attention
• They build trust with your audience
• They are memorable and make it easier for your audience to remember your brand
• They appeal to both logic and human emotions, thus enabling prospects to identify themselves with the characters in the story
• They lower the barrier to selling because they are a subtle way of persuading people to buy a product or service
• They change attitudes and can motivate people to buy

So, what does this have to do with value propositions? Well, part of storytelling involves the use of metaphors and analogies. And these aspects of storytelling can provide you with a way to paint pictures in the minds of your prospects. 

If you do it in a way that shows them the difference between the life they have currently and the experience they would have after using your product or service, you may be able to close that deal.

4. Align your value propositions with your customers’ pain points and needs

To sell to your customers, you must understand what their situation is and what they need. You must also have an idea of what they may need in the future.

How can your salespeople distinguish their products and services if they have no idea of the customers’ pain points? 

You must, therefore, take a deep dive into your customer profiles. Ask the right questions. You must find out what their passions are, what drives them, what pains they are trying to avoid with the kinds of solutions you are offering.

You should also dig deep to find the unmentioned needs. These are the needs that are buried deep down into the hearts of your buyers that they may have left unsaid. 

For example, if someone is looking for an exercise product that makes them lose weight, you should think about what they want to achieve.

At the first level, they want to lose weight. But that’s not all they want. At the second level, they feel the need to look attractive and wear beautiful clothes. What they may not say, however, is that they want people to admire how they look. They may also want people to think they look attractive. They may be tired of being ignored in a room and may want to stand out for a change.

So, when creating value propositions, you may need to address the surface needs customers have and the unmentioned needs that drive them.

5. Consider how your customers make their purchasing decisions

To sell effectively, you must align your sales process to your buyer’s product acquisition journeys. What you think customers do when choosing a product is not always what they do. 

Some buyers may be concerned about the budget. Others may be more concerned about the implementation timeline or the extent to which the product will provide the desired results.

Each buyer may be approaching your product or service to solve your problem from a different stage. The situation that each potential customer may be dealing with could be different. Yet, the product or service in question performs one primary function.

But it’s not about you but your customers. So, your value propositions should factor in all these issues. Your team may need to have multiple value propositions to suit each target market segment.

6. Rely on data insights, not just gut feelings

The more data you have into your customer behavior, the more insight you will have on what appeals to them most about your products and services. 

When you have the right data and information, you can create a value proposition that stands out. Numbers tend to be more believable. They help create a context that makes more sense to prospects and their situation.

Data shows that you know what you are talking about. When people see those numbers as a promise to improve their performance or lives, they are more likely to be convinced.

7. Present your value propositions in an attractive manner

What your prospects see affects how they feel about your value proposition. According to research, people notice value propositions more if they have more text. People also preferred information when it was in the form of a bulleted list. So, be very keen on the presentation.

8. Incorporate boosters into your sales value propositions

You can make several additional promises to boost your value propositions and make them more attractive. These other promises are known as boosters. Examples of boosters that can enhance your value propositions include:

• Free shipping or next day shipping offers
• Free installation services
• 24/7 emergency customer care
• Free consultation
• Price discounts 
• The ability to cancel a subscription at any time
• Free bonus that comes with the product bought
• One product for multiple devices, e.g., one software licenses for multiple computers
• Money-back guarantee if a customer is not satisfied etc.

You won’t know which value propositions are effective unless you try them out. 

So, think about doing A/B testing on each market segment to determine which value propositions persuade people to take the desired action. Whichever value proposition is more effective is what you should retain within your sales strategy.

It will take a while to create a powerful value proposition. But it helps to know what to do. An effective value proposition can be a powerful tool for selling and would make your salespeople’s work easier.