Interview

Develop a great value proposition with Miguel Serrano’s strategy

In the end, the only thing that matters is… How do we serve our consumers? And, what do we leave behind? _Miguel Serrano

If you want to be on the top of the game as a brand and leave a legacy behind, the secret is in your CVP. Customer satisfaction is not measured in smiley emojis nor is it a vague statement. It is a real value your product provides to people and solves a problem your competitors can’t.

In our last post, we’ve discussed two essential pillars of creating an offer that will appeal to your consumers, will connect with them on a functional and emotional level, and will eventually be the key to more closed sales deals.

As promised, here is the number one strategy you can follow to craft a great value proposition.

Market Research

Before you put your hands on the steps of this strategy, you need to make sure you’ve got a fair understanding of your market. You know who your competitors are, their advantages and claims, the prices, etc. You can even go beyond that and run a competitor portfolio analysis where you do extended research on your competitor(s) to assess the level of competition over each advantage in your industry.

In case you have already worked that out, then you’re all set to explore the hands-on strategy–by Miguel Serrano, that will help you come up with the best value proposition for your brand.

The Steps:

  • Put a Cross-functional team together
  • Select and prioritize customer needs
  • Quantify and rank by priority
  • Build a clear hierarchy
  • Execute consistently

#1 Team Work

This is teamwork. Bring together all the members of your team from across the entire value chain: technical, sales, marketing, quality, chefs, manufacturing, logistics; everyone who can contribute to the discussion.

#2 Customer Needs

Brainstorm all the customer purchase decisions in your industry. For elaboration’s sake, let’s say we’re addressing a vegan company. What makes people buy vegan food? Mainly for health care reasons, but there are other reasons you can consider like the taste, ethics, cost, convenience, animal welfare, etc.

Then, study which of these reasons is biggest in percentage. Based on that, you will choose the customer needs your product addresses. From all the value propositions you landed on, choose 5 key need groups.

#3 Quantify and Rank

Rank the value propositions by priority: decide which one of them is more important to you as a brand and which comes last. Let’s use the same example of a vegan company. The 5 possible value propositions can be ranked as follows:

01.Taste – 02.Environment – 03.Health – 04.Convenience – 05.Cost

“Who quantifies has the authority.”__Miguel Serrano

At this stage, there is a very important point you need to consider: quantification. Here you talk numbers.

To quantify means to translate the benefits of your product into measurable outcomes. Instead of telling that your product has a number of benefits, show what these are and draw a clear image of how it happens. Research each value proposition, especially the five you have chosen.

You can do that in many ways, including:

  • Ingredients: check the quality of your ingredients and how your consumers perceive their benefit.
  • Quality Control: elaborate on how your product responds to quality maintenance 
  • Taste Tests: give your product to people to test and you can report how well they respond to it. (chefs as in the example)
  • Scoring/ Likings With Stars: creatively track people’s reactions to your product/service through digital indicators.
  • Reduction of Prep-Time: explore how can your product offer convenience.
  • Average Pricing in The Market vs Your Pricing: by percentage, how much does your product save in budget compared to others in the market.
  • Recycling and CO2 Reduction in %.

This will help you sell your value propositions more efficiently. But remember, it is one piece of the wholesome puzzle we’re trying to build.

#4 Build a Hierarchy

Take each of the value propositions and break it down in terms of the supporting benefits. Again this is a vegan company with a new product in the market: a Veggie Burger. The top value proposition for this company is 01.taste (the sensual experience). Let’s carve out five supporting benefits:

  1. Flavor: the super umami taste flavor lingers two times longer;
  2. Meat: it is identical to meat in protein supply;
  3. Spices: 10% of the most popular burgers in the US don’t have spices;
  4. Chunk: the chunks of vegies are two times bigger than those in ordinary burgers;
  5. Juice: it contains 5g/100g of beetroot liquids, which makes it the juiciest veggie burger in the market.

Once you come up with all the supporting details, summarize them all in one sentence:

  • Summary: Possibly the juiciest burger ever: the increased flavor intensity convinced 70% of the chefs who tasted it.

Do the same with each of the needs you’ve listed: 02.Environment – 03.Health – 04.Convenience – 05.Cost. 

Now come up with a summary that puts the whole value propositions together. This will be the top value proposition that will occur everywhere you communicate:

  • The summary of all the summaries: Possibly the juiciest vegan burger made high-quality fermented pea protein. 5***** taste and 30% high protein quality.

Now that you’ve settled on a top value proposition and the supporting value propositions underneath it, you are ready to pitch your offer.

#5 Effective Execution

Wherever you communicate (pitch) your offer, the top value proposition will be the first thing that appears, and underneath, you select the supporting benefits (value propositions) depending on the context.

For effective execution of the value proposition, adapt the hierarchy of the underlying supporting arguments according to the target consumer.

Suppose your customer is an organic retail company: your top value proposition will stay the same but the underlying supporting value propositions will change in ranking. Remember that here it’s all about you’re customer’s need rather than what you value as important. You decide the custom ranking by looking at what’s relevant to your customer’s strategy.

This is how you create value propositions that resonate with the consumer, create real value, and that will take your business to the next level.

Meet Nerida Kelton

Tell us about yourself

I am the Vice President – Sustainability for the World Packaging Organisation but my every day role is the Executive for the Australian Institute of Packaging.

How would describe your professional career?

I have been in the packaging industry for 23 years now with my focus being on education and training and helping the people in the industry have every opportunity to learn, gain knowledge and enhance their skills and training. 

Through the WPO I have the added opportunity to try and improve the awareness of the important role that packaging plays in minimizing food waste and how to develop Circular and Sustainable packaging.  The WPO runs an annual global awards program that also enables an international platform for showcasing best practice examples of award-winning Sustainable Packaging and also Save Food Packaging.

Can you tell us about a time where you encountered a business challenge?

We all face challenges during our careers but the most challenging was trying to shift training and education programs on-line and virtually during and now after COVID-19. This was an extremely challenging time as everyone had to learn how to train and educate on-line in an effective manner but it was also a rewarding time as the insights have allowed new educational offerings that will stay long after the pandemic is over. The world actually got closer during the pandemic and it has allowed all of us across the global packaging industry to speak more, work together and improve the connectiveness of the community.

Which supporting skills do you think are most important when it comes to leadership?

There are so many things that are important. Gratitude and recognition of others is extremely important and acknowledgment of a job well done. I also think it is very important to congratulate people for their achievements, no matter how small and to allow everyone to shine. It is so important to recognise the abilities and skills that everyone brings to the table and to listen to the team around you. Everyone brings a different view and perspective to the table.

What steps do you take to make sure that projects are completed on time, on budget, and to the proper standard?

Planning and Preparation and ensuring that deadlines are et at all stages wherever possible.

What are you passionate about?

Ensuring that everyone understands that packaging has an important role to play in minimisng food waste in number one.

Recognition of people and companies who are doing great work in packaging design and innovation is number two.

Number three is helping educate and train people in the packaging industry and enabling those who are looking to improve their skill sets and knowledge gaps the opportunity to find a solution from across the globe.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Still doing what I love in an industry that I love and helping other people.

How do you see the food industry?

A thriving, dynamic industry that will continue to grow and provide opportunities for the world over.

The foodeshow in 2 words

A community

Your advice to the foodeshow community

Help other people – everyone has a role to play

Get to know Christine Tacon

Tell us about yourself

I Chair Red Tractor, which is an Assured Food Standard scheme in the UK, I Chair MDS Ltd a graduate recruitment and training scheme for the food and fresh produce sectors and have other NED and advisory roles all connected with the food industry.

How would describe your professional career?

I started out as a production engineer which has been excellent training for everything I have done since! I spent 3 years working and getting chartered and then moved into largely marketing of fmcg for Mars Confectionery, Vodafone and Fonterra. A head hunter recruited me to run the Co-op’s farming business, which was the largest in the UK at the time, clearly with no knowledge of farming. I brought my commercial expertise to that and stayed for 11years. I left to have more of a portfolio career and worked for 8 years, part-time, as the first Groceries Code Adjudicator, a government appointed regulator to make sure the UK retailers treated their suppliers properly. I enjoyed that role very much and made significant changes to supply chain efficiency by changing culture at retailers to work better, and in a way compliant with the Code, with their suppliers. I am now advising Canada as they go down the same path!

Can you tell us about a time where you encountered a business challenge?

Starting off as a regulator with a clean sheet, a piece of regulation and no team was quite a challenge. I chose to approach it like any business problem, doing research, putting in place an annual survey so I could see progress and where things needed improving and working with the stakeholders in a collaborative way talking about what I was trying to achieve and working with them, rather than wielding a big stick as a regulator. I had the stick and I wasn’t afraid to use it, which I did on 2 occasions when I investigated Tesco and the Co-op, but these investigations were conducted in a very professional manner and both retailers improved significantly in terms of Code compliance as a result. 

Which supporting skills do you think are most important when it comes to leadership?

Coaching and having faith in your team that they can do more than they think they can!

What steps do you take to make sure that projects are completed on time, on budget, and to the proper standard?

I am hands on and probably a bit too pushy on timetables, but I think that comes from working in fresh produce and fast-moving consumer goods: customers and competitors move very fast and so must we. I like numbers and am always on top of budgets. I trust my team to do the work to the right standard, and they do.

What are you passionate about?

Enjoying work!

Where do you see yourself in five years?

More of the same, working part-time but at Chair level in various food related businesses, whether in them or servicing them.

How do you see the food industry?

Secure, fast-moving, exciting and massive potential to change

The foodeshow in 2 words

Great initiative

Your advice to the foodeshow community

Keep up the Continuous Professional Development and we can do so much virtually now

Missed the video interview in 2020? no worries watch her

Meet Leila Radi, the facilitator

Tell us about yourself

Hum… Let’s begin (I have copied Fareed Zacharia from CNN, he starts every show with these 3 words, I find that this allows me to ease into any topic).  

You are starting with a tough question, I am the one who usually starts a training class with this question, OK then, I consider myself a “facilitator”, why? Well, the regulation is written, and my role is to assist others interpret and understand those words and especially open their eyes on how they can apply it to what they do as it is meant.

How would describe your professional career?

I feel very lucky as the last 30 years (still feeling young) have been full of challenges, learning experiences and the best part has been sharing knowledge and participate in training the new generation

Can you tell us about a time where you encountered a business challenge?

I have to say (with a smile) that I have encountered one specific challenge many times over.  I sometimes work with people who instead of learning to comply with food safety regulation they literally focus on challenging it and are not open to understand the results of years of research.  In these moments, it is nearly impossible to transfer knowledge and be a facilitator.  

Which supporting skills do you think are most important when it comes to leadership?

A leader must inspire, share a vision and be able to choose the people who will make a project happen.  A leader needs to be a very good listener and push others to find the best of themselves and bring it into any project. 

What steps do you take to make sure that projects are completed on time, on budget, and to the proper standard?

I spend a lot of time thinking about the project before even writing a word.  I also start planning/identifying the final result I want to achieve and I put together an executive summary of the whole project.  I always brainstorm on loose white paper and in pencil because I usually erase and re-write everything at least once. I do collage to put the ideas in order and only when it is clear in my mind, I am able to get into it and that is actually the easiest part.

What are you passionate about?

Ha ha so many things!  Professionally I am so happy when I feel I am able to transmit in a meaningful way information that the audience understands and will be able to use and teach others.  In other words, I am passionate about people and how knowledge and information can help develop so much growth. Personally, I love running as this is the moment where I do most of my thinking and problem solving and nobody interrupts me.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

In 5?  not retired for sure ha ha, I see myself still sharing the knowledge I have learned over the last 30 years whether it is in the regulatory and compliance food safety field or experiences dealing with so many different food products and different people.  The industry world is fascinating, I would like to spend more time in an academic setting.  One thing for sure I will still be taking classes to learn more and more.

How do you see the food industry?

I now prefer to talk about the Food World because there is so much for and even beyond the industry.  The Food World is expanding so fast and with the internet exponentially.  There are so many different topics relating to food, from food safety to food defense, sustainability to genetically modified, there is a topic for everyone.  In my field of food safety and quality, it is the first requirement to enter this world, no matter what the product is and over the last 10 to 20 years, voluntary improvements and investments to reach those goals have been phenomenal.  Today food is not only for the stomach, but it is also so much more and the food industry has adapted very well and has been very innovative.

The foodeshow in 2 words

Mind feeding!

Your advice to the foodeshow community

Learn about what you want to know but take the time afterwards to learn about everything the show brings you, especially that you still have weeks and weeks where you can see videos connect with people and open your horizons

Chef Semi Hakim empowering innovation

Tell us about yourself

My name is Semi Hakim, and I’m the Co-Founder & CEO of Kök Projekt, a startup accelerator and a corporate innovation partner for the agri-food sector in the Emerging Markets of the world. 

How would you describe your professional career?

I would describe it as “curious.” I’ve started my career as a chef, then moved into food event organizations, conducting food & culture research activities, taking part in gastro-diplomacy projects, and then working for small-scale food producers to support their traditional food production techniques as part of an EU co-funded project which I was a coordinator for Turkey.

My career before Kök Projekt was submerged with the agri-food industry within pretty much all aspects of the sector. Then comes the Kök Projekt, which we co-founded with my business partner Shirley Kaston back in 2015. Since 2015, we’ve been working towards the future of agri-food systems focusing on empowering innovation and supporting entrepreneurs to reach their potential and beyond. 

As my whole career was build upon curiosity, I’m always curious for the next horizon to come in and work on. 

Can you tell us about a time where you encountered a business challenge? 

In Kök Projekt, we mainly focus on emerging markets, and agri-food entrepreneurship back in 2015 was something novel to talk about as we didn’t saw many startups coming to the podium and changing the conversation around the agri-food systems. Thus our first years focused on sharing the importance and need for a vertical focus for agri-food entrepreneurship, rather than clustering them with FinTech, HealthTech, or other topics. 

Over the course of the years, the interest and the need became more apparent. We’ve started focusing on building the network and collaborations for startups and bridging the gap between the teams and the corporations. Then the question became on the number of existing startups that are pretty low to conduct programs and activities. At that moment, as a team, we started to focus on representing and shedding light on the emerging market’s agri-food ecosystems through our ecosystem maps and other content development activities as one of the main reasons for us to work on the ecosystem maps is to showcase these fantastic teams and entrepreneurs.

Furthermore, we’ve decided not to follow a traditional route on ecosystem maps to showcase the teams, and we wanted to showcase everyone, as investors, corporations, governmental organization, and then startups, as a guideline for startups to understand the players and develop their game plan in the selected markets. 

We as a team quite enjoy the challenges we encounter as we focus on developing more activities, services, and support mechanisms for agri-food entrepreneurs to succeed in their journey. 

Which supporting skills do you think are most important when it comes to leadership?

I would say enabler, and less-intrusive approach is the way they go for us. As the legendary football coach, José Mourinho, once said, “I coach the team, not the player.”

Thus, in our team we focus on creating task-based mechanisms and providing the structural information flow for transparently planning those tasks. As such, we don’t do meetings unless it’s needed, neither conduct them more than they need to be, time management for us, is everything. 

Therefore in Kök Projekt, transparency, self-enablement, and co-creation are in our core culture. One of the critical factors that we’ve validated this way of working is that, we’ve been working remotely since February 2020, and we’ll be continuing this way.

Another part of our company culture is that we focus on subject-based work; as an example, instead of working directly within our programs, our interns work on the particular subjects that they apply to us to join as an intern. We provide them the Kök Projekt’s tools and methodologies. It’s a similar model that they’ve used back in the day at the Nordic Food Lab in Denmark, which I was a big fan of their work. 

What steps do you take to make sure that projects are completed on time, on budget, and to the proper standard?

We divide and determine the roles based on topics, in a transparent way. Thus, every team member has a specific role in conducting each project, plus open space for personal implementation. Therefore we work as quite a flexible, task-based system, where each member of the project can follow the progress in each topic. We apply this model to each section of our activities.

What are you passionate about?

Food. For sure. I’m a big fan of food, food production, agriculture, and everything and anything about the food itself. This passion drove me into cooking and being a chef, researching local recipes and their history, organizing events, working for small-scale producers, and working on accelerator programs. It’s always food for me. 

I think this is also a shared passion for anyone in Kök Projekt. Our team consists of ex-chefs, farmers, and food entrepreneurs. Everybody here loves or produces food some way, and for us, that’s the first thing to have to join our team, have a passion for food in some form. 

Where do you see yourself in five years?

We’ve been working towards building a global network across the emerging markets, including companies, governmental organizations, investors, and many more players within the agri-food sector. Now, we’re working on building our fund to invest in the tremendous and game-changing agri-food startups for our next step. Thus in five years, we would dive deeper into investing in our teams while also supporting them to build their unique products and services across the emerging markets. 

How do you see the food industry? 

Exciting. The food industry changes every day as we become more aware of the effects of production and sourcing our food. This led all of us to supporting and choosing more sustainable solutions, not because it’s the cool thing to do, but it’s a must to do for future generations. Therefore we’re in the shift of change for the food industry as we see a new and exciting startup coming to the picture; I mean, just thinking about there’s a startup that produces protein out of thin air, is massive. 

It’s also quite exciting because it resembles the rise of the internet back in the ’90s; thus, I think we’re still at the beginning phase of all of these fantastic technologies and services. There’s going to be a lot to come in the future. 

The foodeshow in 2 words

Fantastic Platform

Your advice to the foodeshow community 

Stay updated regarding all of the developments in this exciting and everchanging sector, have a passion for it, and take action to be part of that change. 

FMCG king Miguel Serrano

Tell us about yourself

I develop tailor-made strategies for specific local markets with FMCG business owners and CEOs specifically in the plant-based food/dairy category.

How would describe your professional career?

30 years of learning, growing and connecting in various SMEs, startups and in global senior management positions at Nestlé. Awards, failures, being celebrated and being retrenched were integral part of it.

Can you tell us about a time where you encountered a business challenge?

We did not succeed to enter the most important plantbased market in Europe in the UK. Built a business plan, launched at Sainsbury’s in frozen first, then expansion to others were planned. Tesco were not interested as we hoped, we changed strategies in the portfolio, and focused on raw plantbased products. After shifting, finetuning and trial & error, we managed to have the opportunity finally for market entry test in 400 stores nationwide. It was a strong collaboration between a lot of people involved. We kept on fighting and did not give up.

Which supporting skills do you think are most important when it comes to leadership?

Love. The love for people and for the world makes a leader a force-for good for all stakeholders. The way you lead with inner love empowers others and make them grow as persons and as professionals. Business success is a mere logical consequence.

What steps do you take to make sure that projects are completed on time, on budget, and to the proper standard?

The very first thing for me is to deeply understand the goal and why I do this project and draw an inner picture of success. The rest is project management and connection to other people. Ask for feedback, and continuously improve.

What are you passionate about?

Am passionate about food and meditation. Food is cultural and make us use our senses. Different regions, countries or places have their own traditions and we learn a lot about one another. For me, connecting to others over food is one of the most fascinating things. The other side is connecting to my own self, listening to the inner voice and intuitive guidance and being in the present moment. It helps me to transform myself and improve as a human being.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

I advice CEOs and business owners in SMEs with tailor-made strategies for specific global markets in FMCG and combine professional business management expertise with a conscious mindset. I am a spiritual business leader.

How do you see the food industry? 

I see transparency and consciousness evolving strongly in mature food markets while in developing markets it will contribute to improve the malnutrition and feed more people. It will be more and more about better, more natural and plant-based ingredients. We are what we eat today, we become what we eat tomorrow.

The foodeshow in 2 words

Connecting people and deeping the conversations around food and business. A good platform.

Your advice to the foodeshow community 

Take a mentor that helps you become the best version of yourself. Someone that gives you a brutally honest perspective and helps you and your team evolve and succeed. Treat your employees and partners above their expectations. 

Watch live your purpose keynote by Miguel Serrano

Bonnie Susilo, the food venture builder

Tell us about yourself

My name is Bonnie Susilo, and I’m a co-founder of Ultra, the 1st Indonesian Food Venture Builder

How would describe your professional career?

I see myself as an entrepreneur, and as an entrepreneur I choose to make an impact to these food SME, by improving their growth, building their capacity, constantly challenge them to exceed beyond their current stage.

Can you tell us about a time where you encountered a business challenge?

One of the challenges we find is when we have a situation when our partner have difficulty to adapt or even pivot their business. When they lose passion towards changes, sometime it brought downtime and take long time to recover.

Which supporting skills do you think are most important when it comes to leadership?

Empathy. The ability to put ourselves into their shoes, and to see from their view.

What steps do you take to make sure that projects are completed on time, on budget, and to the proper standard?

We have check list by dates, to monitored our progress and to anticipate if there are upcoming challenges.

What are you passionate about?

People. Their passion, their creative, their journey.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

I hope I can be one of the regulators, and bringing solution to improve the economy.

How do you see the food industry?

Shifting, but everlasting.

The foodeshow in 2 words

Inspiring and impactful.

Your advice to the foodeshow community

Real collaboration, from business to impact. Anywhere of the world.

George Bailey: Senior executive, and advisor

Tell us about yourself

My name is George Bailey and I am a Senior Fellow for the Center for Global Enterprise and serve on multiple company Advisory Boards. . I have a lot of experience helping companies align the way that they operate with their strategy. The last 12 months have been spent helping companies get their supply chains focused on the customer and digitized their processes.  This helps all companies, maybe especially food companies,  create rewarding experience for their customers  and a resilient supply chain that can keep things working even in a crisis.

How would describe your professional career?

I started out in general management consulting, became a senior executive at IBM, was the global Chief Transformation Officer for Sony, set up the Digital Supply Chain Institute and act on the Advisory Board for Lockheed Martin. I also teach a graduate class at Pepperdine University.

Can you tell us about a time where you encountered a business challenge?

The Chairman of Lufthansa German Airlines asked me to improve the global flight catering business. I won’t go into the details, but the operations around preparing and serving food to passengers around the world is not simple!

Which supporting skills do you think are most important when it comes to leadership?

There are two skills that are most important. The first is to be able to listen to the customer and figure out what would delight them. This is a skill based on innovation, creativity and customer sense. The second is to operationalize required changes. This skill is based on disciplined execution, attention to detail, and boldness.

What steps do you take to make sure that projects are completed on time, on budget, and to the proper standard?

Monitor everything that matters to the customer and the CFO. Trust and verify the work of the team. Measure and report.

What are you passionate about?

My number one thing is getting operations tuned up to meet customer and shareholder needs.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

In 5 years I will still be helping companies get aligned with the New Customer. The customer that has different needs than we even new about 5 years ago. The pandemic accelerated this change.

How do you see the food industry?

The Food Industry performs miracles. The world’s vast supply of food products are somehow produced and distributed in a way that works exceptionally well.

The foodeshow in 2 words

Sharing/Transforming

Your advice to the foodeshow community

Learn from the pandemic and be prepared for the next difficult challenge. Start by knowing your customer, and in some cases your customer’s customer,  better than everyone else. Then make sure that your operations deliver exactly what the customer wants.

Watch the panel discussion George chaired in September 2020

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