1. HOW TO CREATE IRRESISTIBLE
VALUE PROPOSITIONS
G. David Dodd
Point Balance
1135 Holiday Dr
Crossville, TN 38555
931-707-5105
www.pointbalance.com
September 2012

2. Why Read This Paper
No one needs to tell you that finding and winning new customers is more
difficult than ever. Business buyers now have access to a wealth of online
information, and they can easily consider a wide range of products or services
in almost every category.
In this competitive environment, compelling customer value propositions are
essential for effective B2B demand generation. Without clear and persuasive
value propositions, your prospective customers will be left wondering why they
should choose your solution instead of one offered by your competitors.
The importance of powerful value propositions cannot be overstated. The 2012
Lead Generation Benchmark Report by MarketingSherpa found that, on
average, companies with clear value propositions produced lead generation
ROI’s that were 117% higher than companies without clear value propositions.
Read this white paper to discover―
• Why value propositions are critical for effective B2B demand
generation.
• What makes a value proposition compelling.
• How to develop value propositions that will resonate with Without clear and
potential customers.
persuasive value
propositions, potential
customers will be left
Why Value Propositions Matter wondering why they
A customer value proposition can be defined as a clear statement of the
tangible and intangible benefits that a customer will obtain by purchasing and should do business with
using your product or service. The primary function of a customer value
proposition is to explain to potential buyers, clearly and persuasively, why
your company.
they should do business with your company. Therefore, the quality of your
value propositions will largely dictate the success of your marketing and sales
efforts.
Not only are compelling value propositions necessary for effective B2B demand
generation, they provide the foundation on which your demand generation
strategy and programs are built. Creating a sound demand generation strategy
requires you to answer several critical questions.
• What kinds of business organizations will make my best prospects?
• What individuals in these prospect organizations are involved in the
decision to purchase products or services like those my company
offers?
• What “arguments” will we use in marketing messages and materials to
persuade potential buyers to purchase our products or services?
• How will we demonstrate the value and return on investment that our
products or services will deliver to customers?
How you answer these questions will define the shape and content of your
demand generation strategy and thus largely determine how successful your
demand generation efforts will be. However, without a clear understanding of
Copyright 2012 by G. David Dodd. All rights reserved. 2

3. how your products or services create value for customers—that is, without a
clearly defined set of customer value propositions—it is all but impossible to
develop sound answers to these critical questions.
The vital role of customer value propositions can be illustrated with a simple
example. If you’ve ever watched someone install a tile or hardwood floor on a
home improvement TV show, you may remember that the installer spent a
great deal of time making sure that the first row of tiles or boards is straight
and square with the walls of the room. After the first row is in place, the rest
of the installation goes quickly. That’s because as long as the rest of the tiles
or boards “fit” with the first row, the whole floor is almost guaranteed to turn
out right.
Customer value propositions are like that first row of floor tiles or boards, as
shown in the graphic below. They provide reference points for the important
decisions you make when designing your demand generation strategy and
programs. Having well-defined customer value propositions will make it easier
to determine who your best prospects are, who the target audiences are for
your marketing messages, and what themes your marketing messages should
emphasize.
Weak value propositions
usually fall into one of
three categories:
• They are too generic
• They focus on
product or service
features
• They lack credible
evidence
What Makes Value Propositions Compelling
Despite the critical role that customer value propositions play in effective
demand generation, many B2B companies don’t do a particularly good job of
articulating and communicating how their products or services will create value
for customers. A survey of decision makers in B2B companies conducted by
the Corporate Executive Board found that only 57% of the “unique benefits”
touted by sellers were seen by potential buyers as having enough impact to
create a preference for a particular seller. (Being Unique Only Gets You So Far,
Wide Angle blog, December 1, 2009)
Over the past two decades, we’ve reviewed hundreds of the “value
propositions” used by clients. What we consistently find is that weak value
propositions usually fall into one of three categories.
• They are too generic—Example: Our WhizBang ERP software will
make your company more productive. Comment: How? What parts of
the business will be affected? How will business processes be
improved?
Copyright 2012 by G. David Dodd. All rights reserved. 3

4. • They focus on product or service features—Example: Our
marketing automation software fully supports event-driven marketing
campaigns. Comment: So what? How will this capability help me
improve my marketing results?
• They don’t include credible evidence—Example: Our digital asset
management software will reduce your marketing support costs.
Comment: Why should I believe this? Where’s the proof?
Not surprisingly, strong value propositions exhibit the opposite characteristics.
They describe specific elements of value, they focus on business/economic
results or outcomes, and they include credible evidence to support their value
claims. The following is an example of one compelling value proposition that
might be used by a provider of marketing asset management solutions:
Our marketing asset management solution will enable you to dramatically
reduce the internal labor costs of processing and fulfilling requests for
marketing materials from salespeople and channel partners. On average,
our clients eliminate 90% - 100% of internal request processing costs.
How to Build Compelling Value Propositions
To build compelling value propositions, you need a clear understanding of all
the significant ways that your products or services can create value for
customers. To develop this understanding, you’ll need to answer six basic
questions.
Compelling value
propositions describe
• What are all of the significant reasons that people have for purchasing
a product or service like mine? What problems or needs motivate the
specific elements of
buying decision? value, they focus on
• What kinds of organizations are likely to have the problems or needs
business outcomes, and
that underlie these reasons to buy? they include credible
• Who within the prospect organization is affected by each problem or
evidence to support their
need? Who has the most to gain if the problem is solved and the most claims.
to lose if it isn’t?
• What specific outcomes are these people seeking?
• What features of my solution will provide these desired outcomes?
• What will the economic benefits be if these desired outcomes are
achieved (lower costs, increased revenues, etc.)?
The best tool we’ve found for organizing the answers to these questions is a
customer value map. This tool is a spreadsheet that contains seven columns.
Each of the first six columns holds information relating to one of the above
questions. The last column of the spreadsheet contains potential value
propositions. Each row of the spreadsheet addresses one way that a product
or service can create value for a customer.
We can demonstrate how the customer value mapping process works using an
example drawn from our work with several clients. Suppose that your
company offers marketing asset management solutions, and you need to
develop the value propositions that will be used to market those solutions. The
illustration on the next page shows what one row of your customer value map
might look like.
Copyright 2012 by G. David Dodd. All rights reserved. 4

5. The first step to building
compelling value
propositions is to identify
all of the significant
reasons that people have
for buying a product or
Reason to Buy—The first column of a customer value map is labeled Reason service like yours.
to Buy. This column is designed to contain all of the reasons that people have
for purchasing a product or service like yours. Each row in this column should
contain one and only one reason to buy. The example Reason to Buy
statement is: I want to reduce the time we spend handling requests for
marketing materials from our salespeople and sales partners because wages
and the time required to process requests are both increasing. Notice that this
statement is written from the customer’s perspective. When you develop
Reason to Buy statements, it’s important to put yourself in the shoes of your
prospective customers.
Reason to Buy statements contain two parts. The portion of the statement
before the word because should capture the emotional or “gut-level” essence
of the need. The portion of the statement after the word because captures the
economic issue that is driving the need.
Affected Organizations—In this column, your objective is to identify the
kinds of organizations that are most likely to have the need described in the
Reason to Buy. The information that you include in this column will be a major
factor in how you define your target market. You can describe Affected
Organizations by industry, or you can use business characteristics. In our
example, we say that the types of companies that are most likely to have the
need described in the Reason to Buy are companies with more than 50 outside
salespeople and companies with more than 50 sales channel partners (dealers,
agents, franchisees, etc.).
Copyright 2012 by G. David Dodd. All rights reserved. 5

6. Affected Parties—The objective in this column is to identify the individuals
within the Affected Organizations who are the most affected by the problem or
need described in the Reason to Buy. As we said earlier, these are the people
who have the most to gain if the problem is solved and the most to lose if it
isn’t. In our example, we identified the Chief Marketing Officer, the Chief Sales
Officer, and the Chief Financial Officer as the individuals who are the most
likely to be interested in streamlining the process for handling marketing
materials.
Desired Outcomes—This column contains a description of the specific
outcome the Affected Parties want to achieve by addressing the problem or
need identified in the Reason to Buy. In some cases, the Desired Outcome will
be very similar to the Reason to Buy. In our example, the Desired Outcome is:
I want to reduce what we spend to process and fulfill requests for marketing
materials from our salespeople and sales channel partners.
Solution Component(s)—In this column, you identify the specific features of
your product or service that will produce (or enable a customer to achieve) the
Desired Outcome. The previous parts of the customer value map have focused
on the prospective customer. This column is where you link your product or
service to what prospective customers want to accomplish. A typical marketing
asset management solution reduces internal request processing costs by
proving an online ordering system for marketing materials. Most MAM solution
The six components of a
providers also assume responsibility for fulfillment. Therefore, these are the customer value map:
features we’ve included in the example.
Economic Benefits—This column of the customer value map contains a • Reason to buy
description of the economic benefits that the customer will obtain if the
Desired Outcome is achieved. The key here is to be very precise when
• Affected
describing the benefits. This information not only helps you develop a organizations
compelling value proposition, it also provides valuable input for the
development of an ROI calculation for your product or service.
• Affected parties
• Desired outcomes
Value Proposition—The final column in the customer value map contains the
value propositions. At this stage, you create a value proposition for each • Solution components
Reason to Buy, although you may later decide to combine some of these value • Economic benefits
propositions. Don’t worry too much at this point about the exact wording of
your value propositions. You can “massage” them before you actually use • Value propositions
them with prospects.
We’ve found that an effective way to write these value propositions is to begin
by restating the Desired Outcome and then add a reference to the Solution
Components. So in our example, the Value Proposition is: Reduce your costs
of processing and fulfilling requests for marketing materials by using our
online ordering system and fulfillment services.
When we work with clients to develop customer value maps, we find that they
usually identify 10-20 preliminary value propositions for each major type of
product or service they provide. By eliminating overlaps and combining similar
value propositions, the number can usually be reduced to between 5 and 10
strong value propositions, which become the foundation of their demand
generation programs.
Copyright 2012 by G. David Dodd. All rights reserved. 6

7. For More Information
If you’d like to learn more about how to create compelling customer value Point Balance
propositions, or if you’d like to discuss other issues relating to demand 1135 Holiday Dr
generation, contact G. David Dodd at 931-707-5105 or via e-mail at
ddodd@pointbalance.com.
Crossville, TN 38555
(931) 707-5105
To read more of our current thinking, take a look at our other white papers. www.pointbalance.com
• What is the Real Value of Sales Leads?
• Keeping Prospects Engaged from Curiosity to Close
• Two Powerful Ways to Make Your Marketing More Relevant
• Cracking the Growth Code: Winning Profitable Growth from
New Markets
• Lead Nurturing Plugs the Leaks in Your Sales Pipeline
• Is a Marketing Asset Management Solution Right for Your
Company?
About Point Balance
Point Balance helps B2B companies design and implement buyer-focused and
technology-enabled marketing programs that will connect with prospects and
convert those prospects into customers. Our marketing services include:
• Marketing strategy development
• Buyer persona development
• Content audits
• Content marketing programs
•
•
Marketing content development
Lead nurturing programs
Point Balance
• Lead scoring system development 1135 Holiday Dr
• Marketing technology selection and implementation Crossville, TN 38555
• Marketing supply chain optimization 931-707-5105
Copyright 2012 by G. David Dodd. All rights reserved. 7