Starting a business, or taking the plunge as an entrepreneur, can be the most rewarding accomplishment and pathway to success there ever was. But, ask anyone who has ventured out on their own, and they’ll tell you tales of blood, sweat, and tears shed. If you’ve got a novel, great idea, it won’t take long before others are nipping on your heels. How will you set yourself apart? What is your value-add?
Create Your Value Proposition
This is why we begin with a value-proposition: a simple, memorable statement about what you do, and why you do it. Your value proposition describes the functional and emotional benefits of your company and brand. Functional benefits are linked to specific product features, while emotional benefits refer to positive feelings that customers experience when using your products and services.
For example, the functional benefit of a gardening tool could be the efficient removal of lawn weeds, but the emotional benefit could be its ease of use by people with knee ailments. Value propositions are not necessarily about offering the cheapest products. They are about convincing customers that they are getting value for their money.
A value proposition can be created in four steps:
Step 1: Know your customer
Your customer is a business person with quite a large house, who likes the “meditative feeling” of cutting his own lawn, but gets bored by the job when it takes too long. He’s looking for a good quality of cut, for the job to be done quickly and enjoyably.
Step 2: Know your product or idea
The product is a ride-on mower with a 25 horsepower (powerful) engine and 45 inch (wide) cutting blades.
Step 3: Know your competitors
The mower goes faster and cuts wider than the competition.
Step 4: Distill the customer-oriented proposition
“Our mower cuts your grass in 50% of the time of ‘big brand’ mowers in its class. And it leaves the lawn looking beautiful too!”
Create Your Business Positioning Statement
Then we create a business positioning statement, which flows from your value propositions. Positioning statements should describe why customers should use one product over another.
For example, a small bakery’s positioning statement could be its multigrain breads and custom-designed cakes that appeal to customers who are looking for flavorful and creative products that are different from the standard mass-produced items at big-box grocery stores. Correct positioning could determine market-share gains and profitability. In this case, the bakery is trying to position its products in the market segment that includes customers who want high-quality, high-priced goods. If it tries to compete solely on price, it may not survive because bigger companies can use their buying power to drive down input costs.
Positioning statements focus on the most relevant benefit and points of competitive differentiation that are meaningful to the persona:
- Audience (persona type/niche market)
- Product
- Category
- Differentiator
- Key customer benefit
- Think “Why?” and answer the customer’s question of WIFM
Be prepared to modify your positioning statements to respond to changes in the business environment.
Create Your Personal Positioning Statement
Your personal positioning statement flows from your value propositions and business positioning statement. It describes why customers should choose you over someone else.
For example, your personal positioning statement could include how you have helped other clients and appeal to prospects who are looking for similar results (or have similar problems). Based on your niche market values, personal positioning statements focus on the most relevant benefit of working with you versus your competitors.
Try this basic template, and fill in the blanks:
For ____________________ (your audience/niche market/persona type),
I am the ____________________ (your specialty or category of service)
with the unique combination of ________________ (your differentiator)
that can help you ____________________ (key customer benefit/the “why”/WIFM answer).
These tools also help to keep your vision alive. They are reminders of what you do, and why you do it. Most importantly, they prepare you to answer the question: “what do you do?”
What do you think? As a leader, executive, or manager, how do you answer the question, “What do you do?” How would you respond as an entrepreneur? I’d love to hear from you. I can be reached here, on LinkedIn, or give me a call: 561-582-6060.
