Over the past few months, I have had the opportunity to talk and write a lot about value propositions. I’ve seen a lot of approaches and thought it would be great to create a template, a customizable silver bullet, if you will, that sales people can cut and paste to save time in developing their own value propositions.
In using this template, we’ve discovered a “best practice” is to apply it unchanged, but to literally cut and paste it. The benefits of this are self evident–it really engages the customer in creating your unique value proposition.
(Cut here)______________________________________
Dear Occupant (or whoever happens to open this email):
We are delighted to have the opportunity to present our solutions to ______________ (Please fill in your company’s name). Our relationship is important, __________ (Please fill in your first name), we want to make certain that you understand the value we bring in this opportunity.
We have invested a lot of time in learning about _____________ (Please fill in your company’s name) business, requirements, and goals. We have a deep appreciation for the issues you and your organization face and want to make certain we address each very specifically. We know that our _________ (Please fill in the products you are considering) represent a technologically/functionally/performance/ease of use (select the descriptor that is most appropriate) superior solution. Our goal in this letter is to demonstrate, in detail, the superiority of this solution, the value ________ (Please fill in your company name) can expect to receive.
The _____________ (Please fill in the products you are considering), offer great capability in helping you achieve your goals. We have outlined them below (Please check all that apply):
___ 1. Our ____________ (Please fill in the products you are considering), will enable you to significantly reduce costs. We believe you have potential savings of ____________ (Please fill in an amount you feel comfortable with, we really don’t have a clue.).
___ 2. There are significant productivity advantages you will realize in using our solution. You can expect an overall increase in productivity of _____% (We would only be making a wild guess, have at it).
___ 3. We are also the only company that will have an impact on your top line, we think you will see significant revenue growth, based our study of your operations we believe you will achieve a minimum of $__________ in incremental sales in the 12 months following purchase. (We actually ran out of time to figure this out, but you know your business, what do you think?)
___ 4. Customer service is important to ___________ (Please fill in your company name) in selecting a supplier. Superior customer service is a cornerstone of the value we provide. 30% of our customer service reps are familiar with your language (by the way, what language do you speak). Additionally, we’ve made tremendous strides in responsiveness, customer hold times are now just under an hour.
___ 5. We know you are evaluating alternatives and that we have to demonstrate superior value. Our ________ (Please fill in the products you are considering) have superior functionality and technology. Please refer to our product brochures for the lists of all features, functions, and benefits. We have counted the features of each of our competitors and have a greater number of features than all.
___ 6. Having a supplier that is easy to do business with is key to establishing a trusted relationship. We pride ourselves in our flexibility and in being the easiest to do business with. ________ (Please fill in your first name), I’m sure you will agree about the ease of doing business when you review the attached 127 page contract.
___ 7. We have undertaken an extensive review of your operations, we know ROI is important in your evaluation of the new solution. We believe the ROI in implementing our solution will be ______ (What would be your guess?)
___ 8. Price is an important element of value. We want to deliver superior value, when evaluated against the other alternatives. Our _______ (Please fill in the products you are considering) are priced at 3% below the alternatives you are considering (Along with your purchase order, we request a copy of the proposal from the lowest priced competitor you are considering). Not only do we deliver superior value, but we do this at the lowest price.
______ (Please fill in your first name), we know you are looking for more than a supplier, we know that you are looking for a valued partner. That partnership is built on a deep understanding of _________ (Please fill in your company’s name) business, understanding your priorities, needs, business drivers, ______, ________, and ______ (Please add anything we have omitted.). Finally a partnership is built on a deep trusted relationship. (Please don’t forget to read the disclaimers page attached to this letter).
We have invested a lot of time in understanding _________ (Please fill in your company name) requirements. It is important to us to understand and commit concretely to the value you shoul achieve. Please rest assured that our _________ (Please fill in the products you are considering) deliver superior value to the alternatives you are considering.
Thank you for your consideration, we look forward to meeting you sometime.
Sincerely,
* Please don’t break the chain, forward this to 10 people you know within 5 days
(Cut here)____________________________
This letter is very powerful in developing and delivering your value proposition. It demonstrates your deep concern and clearly engages the customer. It also dramatically improves your productivity and effectiveness. It also creates a powerful prospecting letter as your customers forward it to 10 customers. Within 10 days, your unique value proposition will have been delivered to as many as 111 customers.
We welcome your additions, comments and changes to this template, we want to make this a living tool that can be used to develop and deliver your unique value proposition.
Final Note: It’s the end of a challenging day, I needed to let off some steam and have some fun. Hope you can have some fun with this as well.
Leave a Reply