As a service provider, this is a subject that pulls at me every day. As Seth Godin might say in Linchpin, this is the hard emotional work of selling services. Delivering a strong and differentiated value proposition is at the very foundation of every successful business, period. It's what keeps you from becoming a statistic and in this economy, there's no room for mediocrity. Only the strong will survive.
Creating a Value Proposition
The conundrum of a competitive value proposition is that it is forged at the crucible of your customers' needs. You don't just get to make it up in an ivory tower and unveil it to the world: you have to propose, test, tweak, throw it away and start over. There just isn't any other way to figure out exactly what will resonate with the marketplace. This is a process that requires a willingness to subjugate your ego and be vulnerable to feedback...not always easy to do when it's your business we're talking about, your baby.
What's almost more difficult is communicating that value proposition. Again, beating the tired economic drum: your prospects have to believe that it's worth their while to part with their hard-earned cash, their security, in favor of the value you have to offer them. Not an easy task.
