Archive for April, 2014

Your Value Proposition: Building Your Credibility

Thursday, April 24th, 2014

https://youtu.be/XQF7OQh-xeg

Presenting your value proposition in networking conversations and with any business prospect will enhance your credibility.  This is your opportunity to point out the benefits of your products and services with more detail than your elevator speech can do. 

Step 1:  Do Some Research
If you are going to be speaking with people at a networking event, seminar, or conference, do some research in advance.  Find out who will be there, who might be interested in what you offer, and why.  This will help you discern which benefits might be the best ones to mention first during your business conversations.   And remember that people choose one provider over another for their reasons, not your reasons.

Step 2:  Write a Success Story
Describe how you or your company saved a client or customer time or money, or saved the day when they were in a tight spot.  This is an indirect way of saying “I will do the same for you.”  What you prepare to say should be flexible.  The way the conversation unfolds will determine which parts of your script you will say and which you will edit or even omit, at the spur of the moment.  So, build into your script some wiggle room.  Then, internalize (not memorize) a few more success stories; have them ready for a great delivery; this will allow you to choose in the moment which story will be best for any given listener.

Step 3:  Make it Multi-Purpose
Create two more versions of this conversation preparation:  one version that is expanded with flexibility for a conversation that might last five minutes and another that is expanded with even more flexibility for conversations that might last up to ten minutes.

Follow these steps, and you will be on your way to a value proposition that enhances your credibility and helps generate the next conversation.