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10
VALUE
PROPOSITI ON
EXAMPLES FOR
YOUR BUSI NESS
WRI TTEN BY:
SI MON WARMAN-FREED
CEO I NTELLI GENT BUSI NESS GROWTH

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Simon has over 25 years proven international
management, sales, business development and
strategy experience with particular emphasis on
new business start up, growth and acquisition:
He has built a number of highly successful
multi million start up IT and services companies.
Simon also spent time as a Sales and marketing
director with Big 4 professional services
frm with a focus on helping entrepreneurial
and mid-market companies optimise their
strategy to deliver signifcant growth.
Simon founded Intelligent Business
Growth which has successfully worked
with many companies to build and
implement sales and marketing strategies
and deliver signifcant business wins.
He has a deep expertise in understanding the
issues and pressures facing business owners
and people within businesses at all levels, and
a track record of delivering strong results.
SI MON WARMAN-FREED
CEO I NTELLI GENT BUSI NESS GROWTH

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copyright Simon Warman-Freed 2013
A value proposition is the solution to your customers problem.
It goes hand in hand with the problem you are solving. I am a
customer, I walk in with a problem, I walk out with a solution. The
solution then is not your product or service, but the solution your
product or service provides. In other words, it is the end result and
how much your customer gives value to it.
WHAT I S A VALUE
PROPOSI TI ON?
WHY DO YOU NEED A
VALUE PROPOSI TI ON?
Having a clearly defned Value Proposition is essential for the
following reasons:
It helps you identify your target market.
Communicating it to all of your employees makes it easy
for them to understand what they are trying to achieve for
the customers.
It makes it easy for sales people to communicate what your
company does and the value your business will bring, therefore,
making selling easier.

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copyright Simon Warman-Freed 2013
WHAT ARE THE
COMPONENTS OF
STRONG VALUE
PROPOSI TI ONS?
The diagram below demonstrates which components make for a
strong proposition and the beneft it delivers versus the areas where
propositions can fall down and the impact of a weak proposition to
your business:
RESONATE
I Want
I Need
DI FFERENTI ATE
No
Alternatives As
Good
SUBSTANTI ATE
I Trust
I Believe
Premium Fees
Lead Generation Success
Client Selectivity
Scrambling Competitors
WEAK
RESONANCE
DI FFI CULT TO
SUBSTI TUTE
ABLE TO
SUBSTANTI ATE
I dont need
Not important enough
STRONG
RESONANCE
EASY TO
SUBSTI TUTE
ABLE TO
SUBSTANTI ATE
Whats your best price?
I can do without you
STRONG
RESONANCE
DI FFI CULT TO
SUBSTI TUTE
NOT ABLE TO
SUBSTANTI ATE
Im skeptical
Cant risk it
CREATES FOUNDATI ON FOR. . .
. . .WHAT BUYERS SAY
COMPONENTS OF
STRONG VALUE
PROPOSI TI ONS
TAKE ONE
AWAY. . .

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copyright Simon Warman-Freed 2013
KEY THI NGS TO DO
WHEN BUI LDI NG A
PROPOSI TI ON
When building a proposition you should
be taking the following steps:
Gather the data
Brainstorm with the right people
in the organization and list as
many quantifed factoids and data
points as possible. For example,
Customer XYZ saved 20% in
operations. They cut time-to-market
in half from two to one year.
Run all of these data points
through the sieve. Are these
defensible, sourced? Are they
actually better than something
the competitor could do?
List competitive differentiators
Create a list of the First, Best,
Most, and Only claims your
service or product could make.
What capabilities do you have
that your competitor doesnt?
Make sure its relevant
Talk about what you have done
for customers and how you
understand their industry.
Are the values you are citing helping
them improve their business by:
Increasing revenue
Decreasing cost
Speeding time-to-market
Improving agility (i.e. time to
react to market changes)
Making better use of resources
(i.e. requiring fewer people
to accomplish something, or
resources can be reapplied
to more strategic areas)
Providing better customer service
Improving organizational
intelligence and insight
Improving accuracy of
forecasts, predictions, and
market conditions
Reducing the burden
of compliance

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copyright Simon Warman-Freed 2013
WHAT DOES A GOOD
VALUE PROPOSI TI ON
LOOK LI KE?
A couple of examples of good value
propositions can be found below:
ORACLE VALUE
PROPOSI TI ON
EXAMPLE
One example is Larry Ellisons
announcement in 2001, that Oracle
saved $1 billion by implementing its
own solution across the company.
The easy way would have been to say
Oracles solution saves customers
time and money. Not very exciting.
But in typical Ellison fashion, he went
big. Think about how much resource
and focus needed to be dedicated to be
able to say four words Oracle Saved
$1 Billion. He put the entire company
behind making that claim. Was it worth
it? Absolutely.
VM WARE VALUE
PROPOSI TI ON
EXAMPLE
Another good example of a value
proposition is VMWare.
For IT organisations wrestling with the
high cost and infexibility of the old one
server, one application model, VMWare
can improve the effciency and availability
of IT resources and applications through
virtualisation. About 70% of a typical IT
budget in a non-virtualised datacenter
goes towards just maintaining the
existing infrastructure, with little left
for innovation. VMWare can free your
IT admins from spending so much time
managing servers rather than innovating.
An automated datacenter built on the
production-proven VMware virtualisation
platform lets you respond to market
dynamics faster and more effciently
than ever before. VMware customers

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copyright Simon Warman-Freed 2013
typically save 50-70% on overall IT costs
by consolidating their resource pools and
delivering highly available machines with
VMware vSphere.
ANALYSI S
This value proposition starts by
describing which target customers
problem their product solves.
It quantifes the problem:
70% of an IT budget spent
towards maintenance
It describes the benefts
of implementing a
virtualized data center
It offers a range of IT cost savings
from their typical customers
The only thing it doesnt do is
offer an advantage over the
competition. However, it is using
the non virtualized datacenter
as the alternative in this case.
RESULT
This is a good value proposition
although it could have been shortened.
Even though it didnt go into the
competition, it called out the customer
problem that the product addressed,
described how it addressed it and
offered tangible and relevant results.

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copyright Simon Warman-Freed 2013
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NEWNESS
For example, we did not know not
having a PC was a problemuntil we
were introduced to the PC. The value
proposition example then in this case,
is newness.
Newness may be your value
proposition if:
You have a new technology.
You have a new invention.
It is unique.
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PERFORMANCE
For example, the iPhone was
frst to market. Huge, big hit. Then
everyone else started improving on
what the iPhone had. Samsung made
a thinner look-a-like in the Galaxy
series. The Galaxy by Samsung made a
thinner look-a-like. Samsung identifed
what the iPhone was missing, and then
sought to improve it.
So, performance may be your value
proposition if:
Your product or service
already exists.
You are bigger.
You are better.
You are faster.
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CUSTOMI SATI ON
This is also the value proposition
that many business owners offer.
Customisation might be your value
proposition if:
Your technology recommends
products or services based on
the specifc customer (like how
Amazon recommends books).
Products or services are designed,
confgured or built for specifc
customer requirements.
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GETTI NG THE
JOB DONE
Getting the job done is one of those
really important value proposition
examples. The problem we are seeing
with a lot of social media is that
nothing really gets the job done.
Getting the Job Done may be your
value proposition if:
Your product or service enhances a
customers productivity or effciency
THE TOP 10 VALUE
PROPOSI TI ON EXAMPLES
FOR YOUR BUSI NESS

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copyright Simon Warman-Freed 2013
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DESI GN &
USABI LI TY
Who wants to buy a product or
service that is diffcult to use? This
is becoming more demanding in
technology and electronics where
customers expect this value proposition
built into the functionality.
Superior Design or Usability may also
be your value proposition if:
Your product or solution is intuitive
Your design saves space, or
is ergonomically designed
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PRI CE
Price is a big one. The majority
of customers will be price-conscious to
some extent or another. The key here is
to make sure your price is proportional
with your value. If you or your sales
people cannot articulate the value of
what you deliver then it becomes all
about price. This will then lead to lower
margins that will always be eroded
because your clients wont value what
you offer.
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REDUCI NG
COSTS
Reducing a customers cost is
one of the most powerful value
propositions. People are always
looking to save money.
Cost Reduction may be your value
proposition if:
You reduce your customers cost.
You can save them money
by switching services
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REDUCI NG RI SK
Reducing risk is an insurance
companys core value proposition.
Anytime you buy insurance, thats what
youre paying for.
Reducing risk may be your value
proposition if:
You can demonstrate a
great track record.
Your proposition is built on
a risk / reward basis.
Your product has built in risk
reduction and you can prove it.


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copyright Simon Warman-Freed 2013
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ACCESSI BI LI TY
& CONVENI ENCE
Why do we go to the convenience
store around the corner, instead of the
cheaper grocery store 15 minutes away?
The name convenience store says it all.
Its convenient. Its easily accessible.
Good value proposition example of this
include IT Services companies.
This might be your value proposition if:
Being local is important.
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BRAND OR
STATUS
Perception is reality. Building brand
equity at whatever your size is
important. If you dont have that you
can partner with someone who does.
Brand may be your value proposition if:
You are well known.
You can create a brand that
is powerful and unique.
You can have as many value
propositions as you want but its better
to focus on 3 core value propositions.
You may also have a different value
proposition for different types of
customers.
The important point to note is that
when developing a Value Proposition,
do not think about what you offer
from your point of view but look at it
from your prospects perspective. What
problem will you solve for them and
what is the value that you deliver to
them by solving that problem.
Once you have this articulated, ensure
that you communicate it to your
employees and that it forms the basis of
all your marketing.

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copyright Simon Warman-Freed 2013
ARE YOU EXPERI ENCI NG
ANY OF THESE CHALLENGES
OR I S SOMETHI NG ELSE ON
YOUR MI ND?
If so, IBG have helped over 300 Business Owners
overcome many of the challenges that have been
identifed in this book and many other challenges too.
But its not what we say that is important. It is what
our clients think about us that counts! So please feel
free to look at http://www.ibg-world.com for a video
testimonial and http://ibg-world.com/testimonials-2/ for
written testimonials.
If you are experiencing any challenges within your
business and would like to get in touch please feel free
to call me directly on 020 368 6606 or alternatively
email me at simon.warman-freed@ibg-world.com.
YOU CAN ALSO FI ND ME ON
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copyright Simon Warman-Freed 2013
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to contact us or Contact IBG on
+44 (0) 20 368 6606
or email at
si mon.warman-freed@i bg-worl d.com