When you are just getting organized in your business, you compose a million official documents, etching out the edicts by which your company will operate until the end of all time. Your mission statement pronounces the products and services you will provide. Your vision statement outlines your goals for the future. Your core values statement tells the world how you will approach the way you do business. Your business plan tells the banks how your business will sustain itself. And the list goes on and on.
With all the work and planning that goes into opening the doors to a business, you may be tempted to skip any steps you can, so you can focus on doing the part you came to do. Run the business. Whatever you do, don’t skip your value proposition.
You’ve already done all the work to gather and organize all the information you need in order to develop it. Now is the time to do it, because you do not want to have to dig out all those old documents when you finally decide you need one, in order to grow the way your vision statement so gleefully outlined in the beginning.
Here are some more reasons why you should develop a value proposition that will help you stand out among your competitors and make potential customers take notice:
Your Business Will Have a Clear, Organized Message
Have you ever visited a website, then wondered what you just witnessed? Poor web design can drive customers away, but a website with no clear value statement can send customers looking for another website that obviously offers what they are looking for. People looking for services or products on the internet will spend approximately 15 seconds looking for what they want before they click the back button.
Efficient Workforce
Whether you have several employees or a workforce of one, having a value proposition will give you a springboard for all of your operations, and answer more questions than you might realize. When you have a value proposition that tells everyone what you are going to do, how you are going to do it, and the branding that drives your service’s personality, few questions remain about the way you do business.
If it is just you, you can always come back to the value proposition when you feel stuck. If you have a workforce, they will feel more purposeful in their actions when those actions can be tied to the value proposition that drives what they do.
Differentiate Yourself From Competitors
Here is a question: Do your competitors have a clear value proposition? If they don’t, then having one would give you a leg up. You should be doing anything you can do to give yourself an advantage over your competitors. Especially if they are established and you are not.
If they do have a clear value proposition, then all the more reason for you to have a better one. If your value proposition is too similar, the customers may have a difficult time knowing one from the other. So take the time to tell everyone how you stand out from the competition with a differentiating value proposition.
Answer Questions Before They Are Asked
You want to operate efficiently, right? Want to make the most number of sales in the least amount of time? Of course, you do. That’s why you’re in business.
How is anyone supposed to know that, if your marketing doesn’t answer any questions? Make sure you answer all the easy questions in your value proposition, and you will save yourself time and energy. You will not only save time answering questions like, “do you sell X?” but you will also capture the attention of more customers by showing off your extreme competence. The customers who contact you will feel confident, supported, and prepared.
Support A Cohesive Approach
This again goes back to the subject of you and your workforce, but it cannot be overstated. When you have a well-composed value proposition, it ties everything together into a pretty bow and keeps things from getting disorganized. In your mind, you know exactly what you want your business to be. Putting it together into a clear, concise statement will help you, your workforce, and your customers all stay on the same page.
Conclusion
Your value proposition should be the guidepost by which all of your business is conducted. You have all your other documents, but this is the summed-up, distilled version you can come back to on a daily basis. Your value proposition communicates your brand to your potential customers in a clear, concise manner that lets them know you are organized, confident, and ready to provide the most competent services available. Put together a value proposition and get ready to watch your business soar.