Are you sending emails or leaving voicemail messages for prospects that don’t get returned? Are you finding it tough to set an appointment with a qualified prospect? Is part of your referral marketing plan to give referrals to others hoping the Law of Reciprocity will kick in, but it’s not. Are you not converting as many prospects into clients as you’d like?
If any of these are true for you? I can tell you why would you like to know? Yeah, of course you would. It’s because your unique value proposition either isn’t so unique or most likely not very compelling, you know, value statement that does not compel someone to take action. Whatever action is you desire is not a strong value statement.
So much has been written about the importance of having a unique value proposition or unique selling proposition, but more important than being unique. You have to be compelling. You have to to talk about your value in a way that moves people to action, otherwise, what’s the point? From my perspective, a compelling value proposition or a compelling value statement actually has two primary purposes.
First, to create interest and action on the part of our prospects and centers of influence, and second, it teaches your clients how to talk to others about you.
Yep, that’s right. How you talk about yourself and your value greatly influences how others talk about you.
In my unlimited referrals marketing system, a compelling value proposition covers seven main categories. Let me give you the seven categories and then I’ll show you how simple it can be to put your value statement together. Your what your how your who your benefits, your differentiation, and your fit.
Now in my work shops and video learning programs I go into great detail on each one of these, I have to say that your why is probably the most important and powerful part of the group. When you connect with people from the belief in the value you bring, it creates a sense of engagement with you and your value that turns into movement on their part, moving to take action on your requests and recommendations. While all the others are important in their own right. Ultimately, your prospect wants to know, if you’re the right fit for them. They want to feel good that they made the best possible choice. Now when crafting your value proposition, keep the six C’s have a compelling value proposition in mind.
Clear. Be very careful not to use any jargon that might not be totally clear to the receiver of your communication.
Concise…the shorter the better—making it easy to say and easy for them to remember.
Conversational, you’re not writing a school paper here be very natural and authentic.
Client benefit focused. Keep translating your features and advantages into concrete benefits. As often as you can conveys emotion. People are moved to take action by emotion, the desire to fix a problem or take advantage of an opportunity. These are emotional responses cite examples.
The best way to make sure your compelling value proposition comes to life is through short examples or case studies. Make sure you find yourself writing or saying for example, or for instance quite often, but in most cases, keep these short. When done efficiently, you can often cover more than one of the seven categories and often several of the six C’s in just one or two sentences.
Here’s an example that a financial advisor might use.
“I do comprehensive financial planning for executives and small business owners who want to retire at the lifestyle they’re accustomed to, and still leave money for their children and other people in organizations important to them. They want comprehensive financial planning that will enable them to retire in the way they’re accustomed to and leave a legacy behind. “
This is clear, concise, only one sentence and contains emotion, not run out of money and leave a legacy for children. Now the advisor could follow up with an example. For instance, I was visiting with a new client referred to me by a sister who made a great income but was concerned he wasn’t putting enough away to fund his future lifestyle, which he envisioned containing a lot of world travel. We’re now putting a plan in place for him to fund those big dreams of his.
I recently learned a power phrase that you can add to your compelling value proposition. It’s one of those simple but brilliant things you can say to create curiosity and interest.
Are you ready? Even though I told you it was simple. Now let’s see how that may play out. The same financial advisor might say…
“I work with small business owners who want to maximize their retirement contributions with pre tax dollars and protect their family and business against life’s unexpected challenges, even though they wonder if they can even afford to do so.”
Another example.
“I’m Bill Cates the president of referral coach International, we work with businesses that want to acquire more high level clients referrals and introductions even though they found it difficult to put a referral marketing process in place.”
You can use these to address any of the prevalent objections you find in In your business, if you tell a business owner that you’re going to help them maximize their retirement contributions, but they’ve been struggling to do so they might may shut down to this benefit, so it will have no impact on them. What is your even though, list all you can grab a colleague or team member to help you brainstorm, whittle them down to a few of the strongest have a few from which you can pick to fit the context.
Author: Bill Cates
Bill Cates is an internationally recognized client-acquisition expert, author, and speaker who motivates others to take action with proven strategies. A successful entrepreneur, Bill started and sold two book publishing companies. Turning his attention to help other businesses grow, Bill has written four best-selling books and has delivered his business-growth message to over 500,000 professionals, small business owners, and salespeople across 5 continents; helping them increase revenue without increasing their marketing budget.