Here we focus on the difference between the Total Value Proposition and Sales Propositions. The difference between companies that are thriving and those struggling to survive is how well they harness and align their value to customers. There is a widening gap between what companies offer and sell and what customers actually value and are willing to pay for. You can start to close this gap by truly understanding what your customers value, looking at your products or services and how you interact with customers – this determines your single ‘customer truth’.

1. From Value Propositions to Sales Propositions
the second of four extracts from a white paper of the same name
Harnessing Your Customer Truth
Part 2

2. www.futurecurve.com
The total value proposition is the sum of
the offerings and experiences
delivered to your customers, during all
their interactions with your organisation
Definition of a total value proposition
To recap from Part 1

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The total value proposition is the sum of
the offerings and experiences
delivered to your customers, during all
their interactions with your organisation
All products, services and
solutions and their functionality
How your customers experience
your products, services and your
company
Your customer’s experience through all touch
points with your company such as marketing,
sales, delivery, customer service, after sales
service, invoicing, legal/contracting
Definition of a total value proposition

4. www.futurecurve.com
Are your sales people creating sales propositions in a vacuum?
The issue for many companies is they
don't have a total value proposition.
Why is this a problem?
Because whether you know it or not, your
salespeople will be using a pitch, a
series of insights and benefits and
return-on- investment models all
woven together into a story when they
meet prospects.
They’ll be delivering a sales proposition.

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Are your sales people creating sales propositions in a vacuum?
Without this sales proposition being
joined up to and driven from the
company-wide, total value
proposition, it will be off-target and
lose its power and impact

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This will cost you money in many ways, including:
 Ineffective marketing campaigns
 Chasing the wrong sales opportunities
 Attracting bad opportunities
 Wasting time through reinventing everything each time
 Lack of focus = Waste of money
What can you do?
Losing you money

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Create your
company value
proposition
first and refine
to create
tailored sales
propositions
from it
Value proposition to sales propositions

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It’s not a one-way
street.
Feedback from sales
teams on customers
and markets is vital
to keep the total
value proposition
relevant and well
positioned.
Feedback is vital
Value
Proposition
Sales
Proposition

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Value =
Benefits: all the good points that customers perceive –
the positive functionality of the product, its attributes, the
behaviours of your people interacting with customers and
the values and greater purpose that your organisation
stands for and the contribution it makes
Minus
Costs: all the bad points that customers perceive –
the negatives of the product functionality, attributes,
behaviours and weak or non-existent values and greater
purpose, as well as the cost and risk to your customer
Value = Benefits – Costs2
Let’s look at how people understand value

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.
Why the power of 2
against Cost?
Because humans are hardwired to avoid loss,
meaning that the negative factors in the Cost
‘bucket’ weigh far more heavily with us than
the positive factors in the Benefits ‘bucket’.
This means you need to create benefits that
outweigh the costs by at least twice.
You wake in the night from fear and not from
a happy memory.
Our equation may understate the importance
of loss aversion. For some customers,
subtracting Costs⁵ may be more appropriate.
Value = Benefits – Costs2

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Many companies create their value
proposition in their own image but your
value proposition isn’t all about you.
You must bring your customer into the
creation of your value proposition.
Value is not all about you

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If you don’t bring your customers
into value proposition creation,
you’re just making a guess about
what your customers truly value.
This is about much more than just
asking them what they want.
Don’t make it up
http://www.linuxkungfu.org/images/fun/geek/project.jpg
Good research is essential to uncover what customers really value when they’ve
experienced working with you, not just listening to what they said in the sales meeting.
We cover this in part 3.

13. Contact us
Please say hello @futurecurve
And visit our website: www.futurecurve.com
e. cindybarnes@futurecurve.com
t. +44 (0)1628 487 708
This is Part Two of an extract from the Futurecurve
White Paper, ‘Harnessing Your Customer Truth: From
Value Propositions to Sales Propositions’
Click this link to download the whole white paper