You Need to Know Your Value Proposition to Get Ideal Customers
It’s really simple.
If you don’t know yourself – your business – you won’t get customers you truly want.
Not all customers are created equal. Ideal customers are your golden goose, while bad customers are a parasite.
All – and I mean all – small businesses (and sometimes even larger organizations) I talk to and work with don’t really know themselves. They don’t really know who they are, what makes them unique, what separates them from the competition.
If you don’t know what separates you from your competition, neither will your customers. Stop forcing customers to play “Where’s Waldo?” with your marketing, trying to find your value proposition.
If customers are not buying from you, if you keep losing deals to competition, your customers don’t know your value proposition and how it aligns with their pain.
Marketing simply means communicating your value to ideal customers in an effective way so they take an action. How can you communicate your value to customers if you don’t know what value you deliver?
Yes, you are selling a product (or service) that does something your customer needs. That’s not your real value, why? Because the guy next door offers identical products. When you truly know yourself, you know the competitive advantage that helps you rise above the noise and differentiate you from your competitors.
Every prospect has a question in their mind – If I’m your ideal customer, why should I buy from you and not your competitor?
The answer to that question is your true value, it is your value proposition. That statement must set you apart from all your competitors, it must contain your competitive advantage to tell your ideal customers why you!
I’ve written about value proposition before, and I will be focusing on it even more because it is the foundation of your brand, your messaging, how you talk about your business, what story you need to tell your customers to resonate with them. It’s the sole reason they say yes to you.
When you know your value proposition, it provides alignment across your entire business when you have employees. Everyone should be able to clearly answer that question, without hesitation. When you control your brand perception, you control your profit. Your value proposition is the DNA of your business, unique to your business and your business alone!
What is your value proposition? Are you making your customers look for Waldo? Or, are you taking them on a guided tour to a purchase?
Remember, your value proposition is not:
- Your business description
- Your mission statement
- Slogan or tagline
- Description of your business model
Don’t try to spice it up with adjectives (greatest, best, etc.). Everyone does it, and it doesn’t work. Unless you have proof (maybe you won an award in your industry, or analyst ranked your #1, etc.), don’t make superficial claims using adjectives.