Value Merchants: Demonstrating and Documenting Superior Value in Business Markets

THREE

Formulate Value, Propositions

Identifying Potentially Valuable Points of Difference

IN THE PREVIOUS chapter, we emphasized that, to attain superior business performance, it is crucial for suppliers to develop a resonating-focus value proposition. In this chapter we describe a process for firms in business markets to formulate such a proposition. The process begins with the supplier hypothesizing present and potential points of difference to study that it believes are, or would be, valuable to target customers. The supplier may then conduct qualitative research to further refine the potential value proposition. Finally, it constructs value word equations to precisely express each point of difference and point of contention that it will ...