By: RAIN Group

A lot of new sellers are told something along the lines of: develop a value proposition, hammer your network, see what lands.

The problem is that a value proposition isn’t a one-size-fits-all sentence. It’s a collection of reasons why buyers buy, and it varies from one buyer to the next.

If you think of a value proposition not as a statement, but as a concept about why people buy, you’ve got a lot more to work with. It’s from that concept — the collection of reasons why someone would want to buy from you — that you can put your selling efforts to work much more effectively, communicating different components of that value in different ways for different situations.

Think of the value proposition as a three-legged stool:

1. Resonate: Buyers have to want and need what you’re selling. Ask yourself, “Why act and why now?” In your outreach, you need to make the case for why it’s important and urgent to take the meeting. This should be the focus of your outreach messaging.
    
2. Differentiate: Buyers have to see how you stand out from other available options. Ask yourself, “Why us?” This is your chance to make the case for why you're the best choice among the available options. While you can tease this in your outreach efforts, you want to build this over time in your conversations.
    
3. Substantiate: Buyers have to believe that you can deliver on your promises. Ask yourself, “Why trust?” Make the case for why the buyer should believe in you, your offering, your company, and your ability to achieve the desired results. Sharing testimonials, case studies, and awards in your outreach efforts can go a long way here.

Take one component away and the whole thing collapses.

Your value proposition can and should be different from one buyer to the next. You’ll discover what it should be for each buyer through pre-outreach research and your conversations as you learn what they want, need, and who the competition is.

If you want to learn more best practices for building a compelling value proposition and filling your pipeline, explore the Consultative Sales Excellence short course from RAIN Group. For more training programs to build you into an excellent salesperson, please visit AIM’s Faculty of Sales.