Even if you don’t realize it just yet, you are remarkable. You have the potential to build an incredible personal value proposition that doesn’t just make selling easier, it can lock out the competition entirely.

Mark Holmes is an expert at generating new sales with large and strategically essential accounts and is the author of “The 5 Rules of Megavalue Selling”.

On this episode of The Salesman Podcast, Mark shares why we need to create a strong personal value proposition and how to create one in a few simple steps.

Keep going past the video to see the step by step guide.

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What Is A Value Proposition?

Mark suggests that a value proposition is “the main two or three reasons why someone would want to buy from me, my product, my service. Rather than from my competitors”.

Additionally, Jill Konrath suggests that a business value proposition is “a clear statement of the tangible results a customer gets from using its products or services.”

We need to use this tool in business because we all have incredibly short attention spans.

When you first jump in front of a new prospect, leveraging this little bit of attention to earn more time to discuss your product in detail is typically the only play you have. A compelling value proposition increases the chances of the prospect sticking around.

A strong value proposition is like wearing a gold Rolex when speed dating. It might not result in sealing the deal itself, but with many women, it’ll buy you enough time to work your charismatic magic.

Building an initial value proposition is crazy simple. We need to answer three questions –

* How does your product help solve my problems?

* What can I expect from your company within the first 90 days?

* Why should I be speaking to you and not your competition?

Answering these first 3 questions allows you to make a strong first impression and earn the right to continue the conversation.

Mark suggests that the importance of all of this is that if we don’t “we risk becoming one of these ‘me-too’ businesses”. 

Personal Value Proposition Examples

The problem is…

Most businesses in the internet age have similar features, benefits and end results when compared to the competition.

This is where your personal value proposition comes in. You de-commoditize your product by making YOU the differentiator.

I did this all the time in medical device sales by being more available to help my customers than my competition. I was single at the time, no pets, no responsibilities and so if a surgeon needed a piece of equipment or some troubleshooting done on their camera systems at 10 pm on a Friday, I was there to help them.

It made me lots of commissions, it didn’t make me happy, but that’s a story for another time.

The point is that you personally have features and benefits that your customers can leverage that your competition cannot replicate and so you need to be able to share them with a very quick personal value proposition.

Here are a few examples –

* I’ve worked for both of the leading competitors in the industry. I know all of their products inside and out and so I can help guide you better than each of them individually.

* I worked with your CEO on XYZ project a few years ago. We get on great and so the onboarding process w...