The New Power Base Selling: Master The Politics, Create Unexpected Value and Higher Margins, and Outsmart the Competition

The Value Proposition

Quantifying the value that you identify in a Value Statement is a powerful source of customer impact and supplier credibility. Value Propositions summarize your business case and show how your solution is economically compelling for the customer. They may also be operationally focused and quantify operational impact, if your focus is on the operations level of the customer organization.

In particular, it outlines:

• The nature and extent of business or operational impact and improvement.
• When that impact will be realized.
• The metrics that will enable you and your customer to monitor and manage progress.

A Value Proposition’s math does not have to be perfect; rather, you want to build it collaboratively with a customer individual who is in the Power Base—preferably a Fox. We cannot emphasize this enough; it is critical for two reasons:

1. The insight you receive from someone in the know will significantly sharpen your case, because it will be more accurate, complete, and current.

2. A Value Proposition is only as good as the assumptions on which it is based. These assumptions must be arrived at through collaboration with a Power Base member or directly with a Fox. It is only then that the assumptions will carry the credibility of the Fox within the customer organization.

In most cases, you will not arrive at a completed Value Proposition in just one or two meetings. It is typically the result of collaboration with the right people over time. If you are ...