What is your value proposition?

In the last few years, I've been lucky enough to work alongside some great entrepreneurs. However, what distances the good from the great is the ability to communicate your value proposition.

On occasion, I've sat across the table from founders who believe they have the best idea in the world, but after thirty minutes of conversation, I'm none the wiser as to what their business is or does. The truly exceptional have an innate ability to explain their business in terms a five-year-old would understand.

As Einstein said; "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."

If you follow the experts, that sentence should be what you use for your LinkedIn summary. A simple explanation, that anybody can understand, summarising the value you add.

This doesn't just apply to founders or entrepreneurs, though. What do you do? If you're an underwriter, for example, what does that really mean to an industry outsider? Try and put it into one of my favourite examples below:

Venture Hacks' High-Concept Pitch

[Proven industry example] for/of [new domain].

e.g Netflix for Insurance, or Amazon for Underwriters.

Steve Blanks XYZ

We help [X] do [Y] by [Z]

e.g We help brokers close more business by qualifying leads

Geoff Moore's Value Positioning Statement

For [target customer] who [statement of need] our product/service is

[product category] that [statement of benefit]

e.g for insurers who are spending too much time on admin our service is an RPA platform that can automate the repetitive parts of their job.

I'd love to hear in the comments what your business does, using the templates given.

#Sales #BusinessDevelopment #ValueProposition #Pitch #Brand

---

WRITTEN BY ED HALSEY

Any opinions expressed here are my own and not the views of any of my employers. They are personal views based upon a 15-year career in insurance across underwriting and sales roles at mainstream insurers, consultancy firms and technology providers.