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.