What is your Customer Proposition?
In this video, Michael explains your customer proposition.
It’s important to be clear to yourself, and to others, what your business offers, who for, how, and why. These questions can be hard to answer, because the ideal responses align with each other. Changing one often changes the rest. However, all your marketing efforts become more effective when you can answer them. So it’s worth persevering.
A short description (or label)
- Describe what you do in 5-7 words.
Your customers
- Who, specifically, are your customers?
- Describe your ideal customer. In many businesses, describing and targeting your ideal customers is the single biggest indicator of long term success. (We explore this further, later.)
- What are some of their personality traits?
Route to market
- How do you reach potential clients?
- If you can’t reach prospective clients, then you haven’t got a business.
What Benefits/Value do you offer?
- How do your clients benefit from your services?
- What problems do you work with that your client might have? What are the implications of NOT solving these problems? (Do not jump to solution yet)
- What solutions do you offer that might benefit your client? What’s the benefit does your client get from these solutions?
- What approaches or methodologies do you offer? How are you better than your competitors?
What Competitive Advantage do you have over your competitors? (This builds on the last point above.)
- What’s special about you, compared to your competitors?
- What can you guarantee that your competition can’t?
‘Your Elevator’ Pitch
Use the structure:
I help/teach/coach/lead/ nudge/bully (your word) great professional people (a description of your clients) to become more successful (use your word) and fulfilled (your word)
eg I teach shy students to become the very best presenters
Longer description
- What’s a longer description of what you offer?
- Referencing your customers, the benefit they are likely to get, and how you’re better than your competitors.
You’ve now completed your proposition. However, it’s never finished, so please treat it as work in progress.
In the next section you’re asked to be more specific about Your Brand.
Going Solo Section Index
NLP Going Solo 1: Start with the end in mind
NLP Going Solo 2: Balanced Scorecard
NLP Going Solo 3: Customer Proposition
NLP Going Solo 4: Your Brand
NLP Going Solo 5: Choosing Customers
NLP Going Solo 6: Reaching Customers
NLP Going Solo 7: Cash Flow
NLP Going Solo 8: Summary
