The value proposition is a foundational component for any successful sales department.

It tells salespeople like you which demographics to target. It clues you into your buyer's biggest hopes and fears. And it guides your strategy for closing deals and earning that oh-so-sweet “yes.”

But what happens if your value proposition is wrong? What if the ideal buyer that marketing has told you to focus on isn't a fit for your product? What if all those unclosed leads who said your product “just isn't right” for them… were actually right?

This guide takes you through how to develop, refine, and verify your value proposition. Along the way, you'll learn our proven four-step value proposition design framework. And with it, you can determine your product or service value (The Value Diagram), find your ideal buyer (The Buyer Breakdown), and develop the value proposition you need to close more sales.

*How to Use This Guide – Despite how much business is done these days digitally, some things are still done better with your bare hands. That's why we recommend printing out both The Value Diagram and The Buyer Breakdown and filling them in with sticky notes.

There is going to be quite a bit of shifting ideas up and down in terms of priority. And if you're trying to type ideas in or even writing them directly onto the sections, you'll be doing a lot of Ctrl+Xing and erasing along the way.

Also, be sure to progress linearly throughout and not skip ahead for the best results with creating your unique value proposition.

Before we get started on the value proposition design framework, let's first define what a value proposition is.

Simply put, a value proposition is a promise to your buyer about what you have to offer. It should be free of jargon and painstakingly clear. It should communicate the benefits of choosing you over the competition. And it should identify who your ideal buyer is.

Value proposition design, then, is the methodology used to create your value proposition.

Plenty of respected business thinkers have covered value proposition design—namely, Alexander Osterwalder, who penned a book of the same name. In the Value Proposition Canvas, Osterwalder outlines how to develop a effective value proposition that gets to the heart of your product's value and shows how it solves your buyer's problem.

Our four-step value proposition design framework is built on the principles outlined in Osterwalder's book. But instead of focusing on developing a new product based on a buyer's needs, our framework is for salespeople with an existing product that want to find their ideal target customer.

A value proposition (when constructed correctly) should drive nearly every action of a business. It could very become your competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Your value prop should:

Think of a value proposition as the seed from which the rest of the business grows. A bad seed, no matter how great the conditions around it, still won't sprout. And a healthy one can withstand even the worst environments.

What's more, the process of strategic value proposition design lets you test and validate market needs. According to CB Insights, a whopping 35% of new businesses fail due to there being no market need for their products. This is a problem of “fit” (more on that later) between what the product offers and what the ideal buyer wants.

With so much resting on a well-made value proposition, it's no wonder nearly 7 out of 10 B2B businesses have theirs clearly defined, according to Quick Sprout. Over half (52%) of those companies have different value propositions for other products or services.

Use the following four-step value proposition design framework to identify your product value, determine your ideal buyer, and develop your value proposition statement.

While Osterwalder's Value Proposition Design focuses on creating a new customer from buyer characteristics, your product as a B2B salesman is already defined. As such, we need to work backward by starting with the product.

This framework step asks you to determine what your products bring to the table by filling out The Value Diagram. You'll be defining:

You'll likely already be well versed in what your products bring to the table. You probably already have oodles of product specs, use cases, and benefits lists ready for buyers at a moment's notice.

Even still, you must go through the steps of filling out these sections from the ground up. If your “ideal buyer” is saying they don't need your product, the problem could be as deep-rooted as improperly defined product value.

This section is a list of all the products or services you offer. After finishing this section, you'll be building out all the perk producers and strain reducers of these products—so try to be thorough.

You can take two approaches here—you can stick to products that only apply to a specific customer segment, or you can create an exhaustive list of everything your company offers.

After listing out your products, rank them in order of importance. Your flagship products will likely be at the top, with upsells and supplementary offerings closer to the bottom.

Next up is the section on perk producers. Again, building from your product list section, what benefits or value adds do those products offer? How do they help move the needle in a positive direction for the buyer?

You'll likely have plenty of sales collateral on hand to help you fill out this section. Be sure to include the benefits outlined by marketing in this section. But along the way, weed out the corporate-supplied perks that don't make much sense.

You'll also want to build on the stated benefits of the products. How else does it add value to the buyer's day? Let yourself brainstorm a bit.

Here are a few questions to get you started. Does your product…

Be sure to rank the perk producers you come up with in order of importance, too.

The last section in The Value Diagram is on strain reducers. How do your products eliminate hardships in the day-to-day of your buyer? What do they do to make their jobs less frustrating?

Again, you'll probably have plenty of in-house material to build on. But as with the perk producers section, be sure you're reexamining that material as you add those strain reducers to the diagram. Again, not all marketing material is going to be spot on. And if you can pick out a strain reducer that doesn't quite fit, you'll be left with an even more dead-on ideal buyer at the end of the process.

And once more, don't forget to rank the strain reducers in importance and brainstorm new ones along the way.

Some questions to get you started:

Once you've thoroughly defined your products' perks producers and stress reducers, it's time to focus on the buyer.

This step of the value proposition framework is all about describing your buyer using The Buyer Breakdown. You'll be detailing:

Like in The Value Diagram, you'll want to begin with the sales collateral you're using now, but only as a jumping-off point. There are three reasons for this:

The first section of The Buyer Breakdown is all about buyer jobs. What are your buyers trying to get done? What are the tasks they are performing? And what are their goals?

Don't just think of this section as simple work duties. Instead, buyer jobs break down into three unique categories:

Take a moment to list out jobs that relate to your product segment identified earlier. Then, again, use the customer profile provided by your company and try to come up with your own, too. Then, rank them in order of importance to the buyer.

These are the benefits your buyer wants to see from your product. They're the concrete outcomes of working with you or buying your product. These benefits can apply to any of the jobs listed out previously. The more exact and definite you are here, the better.

While brainstorming these perks, try to think about:

Perks can come in four different categories. Try to come up with some for each and then rank them in order of importance to the buyer.

Last up is buyer strains. What annoys your buyer before, during, and after they're trying to get a job done? What prevents them from even starting? What are the risks that keep them from working as efficiently as they could?

These are the pain points of your existing customer profile. And as with other sections, you should include them in the list, but remember to brainstorm new ones as well.

Some questions you might ask yourself while brainstorming strains might include:

List out whatever you can come up with, add them to the strains of your current segment profile, and rank them in order of importance to the buyer.

Now that you've filled out The Value Diagram and The Buyer Breakdown, it's time to determine “fit.” Fit is how well your product values line up with what the buyer needs. The better it aligns, the more successful your value proposition will be.

In terms of the value proposition design framework, fit is determined by whether your product's gains:

So, how do you determine fit?

Simple—determine which jobs, strains, and perks in The Buyer Breakdown the strain reducers and perk producers on The Value Diagram address. Go through each job, strain, and perk one by one, placing a checkmark next to the ones that fit. At the end, simply remove the ones that don't have a checkmark.

After that, all that's left is crafting your value proposition statement based on which elements are highest on the list of importance.

Once you've whittled down your Value Diagram and Buyer Breakdown to include only items that fit, it's time to craft your value proposition statement.

Your value proposition statement will be the basis of your sales process (once properly designed and tested, of course). It'll inform how you build rapport, which points to hit when nurturing leads, and what strategies to use when closing the sale.

Generally, the best value propositions fulfill a number of guiding principles.

A value proposition statement should be clear, to the point, and touch on the most critical issues from The Value Diagram and The Buyer Breakdown.

You can use the template below to craft yours.

Remember though—this template is simply a rough sketch of what a value proposition should look like. As long as it hits all of the following points clearly, your value proposition is going to stand out to buyers.

Last but certainly not least, there's verifying your value proposition. And unfortunately, this one is likely going to take the most time out of all the steps.

To settle on a compelling value proposition, you'll need to test whether it resonates with your buyers.

There are plenty of ways you can test your value proposition, including:

Exactly which method is within your means will depend on your unique organization.

In the end, just be sure you're continually reevaluating and iterating on what you learned along the way. Remember, this is a process, not a one-time effort!

Below are just a few solid value propositions examples that target an ideal customer, have a strong value proposition and answer the customer's main problem.

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Value proposition design is an essential component for any success-minded salesperson. With the right value proposition design, you'll be able to:

And with this five-step value proposition design framework, and the included value proposition examples you'll have all the tools you need to get started today.

But having the right value proposition is only one aspect of being a successful sales superstar. And there's plenty more to learn about winning sales tactics, proven pitch strategies, and more.

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