3 Easy Steps to Your TRUE Personal Value Proposition

  • 1 min read

Everyone thinks they have a great sense of humor, right?

But not everyone is funny.

Such is the distinction between inside reality and outside reality.

We often believe we provide quality deliverables on time and with a smile. But, customers may see us differently. Not that it’s all bad–unless you really do deliver crappy product late and are grumpy while you do it…that’s no good…

Creating a true personal value proposition is a matter of figuring out what you do really well and capitalizing on it.

Here’s how to do it in three easy steps:

Step 1: Interview three people in your company. If it’s just you, then ask yourself the following questions. Either way, take notes for future reference.

  • What services do you offer?
  • Are you services cost competitive?
  • What kind of support do you offer?
  • In your opinion, what is your value?
  • What evidence do you have to prove your value?
  • What the most common piece of positive feedback you receive?
  • What are three adjectives that describe your offering?
  • What makes you (or your product or company) different than the competition?
  • If I’m your ideal customer, why should I buy from you over anyone else?
  • What do you do that your competitors do not?
  • What problem do you solve?
  • What pain do you relieve?

Step 2: Interview three customers. If you don’t have actual customers, then ask three influential people in your life the following questions. Again–be sure to take notes.

  • Why did you choose to purchase with/hire/partner with/accept [your name here] over anyone else?
  • What was the selection process?
  • What alternatives did you consider?
  • What impact has [your name, product or company] had on your company?
  • What impact has [your name, product or company] had on you personally?
  • What is the most important feature of [your name, product or company]’s solutions?
  • How do you gauge success when it comes to [what your customer purchased]?
  • Have you worked with competitors to [you name, product or company] before? How do they measure up?
  • In what area does [your name, product or company] excel?
  • In what areas could [your name, product or company] improve?
  • Would you recommend [your name, product or company] to your friends and peers?

Step 3: Look at your “inside reality” answers and your “outside reality” answers–do they match up?

Only now can you create a true personal value proposition–the bottom-line reason anyone should hire, partner with, accept or pay you over anyone else. Once you have this, you are golden. You can use this as part of your elevator pitch, as a sales tool and of course, as a solid personal branding tool.

Picture of Wendy Brache

Wendy Brache

Wendy Brache builds and executes personal branding and online marketing strategy for executives and corporations in the high-tech sector. She is the author of Sales Force Branding: Differentiate from the Competition, and co-creator of the Sales Force Branding program. Wendy is a senior consultant specializing in B2B Corporate Social Media, Demand Generation and Marketing Automation, and is also a featured marketing technology speaker and columnist on renowned websites, such as Maria Shriver’s Women’s Conference, Chopra’s Intent.com and Denver’s GreatIdeasForKids.com.

TRENDING AROUND THE WEB

The people who help us become who we want to be often aren’t just the ones who love us exactly as we are, but the ones who treat us, day after day, as the person we’re quietly trying to become — until one afternoon we catch ourselves already doing the thing we thought we’d never manage

The people who help us become who we want to be often aren’t just the ones who love us exactly as we are, but the ones who treat us, day after day, as the person we’re quietly trying to become — until one afternoon we catch ourselves already doing the thing we thought we’d never manage

The Vessel
The advice to let the anger out goes back more than a century — but when researchers gave angry people a punching bag, the ones told to picture the person who had enraged them walked away angrier than the people who just sat quietly for two minutes, doing nothing at all

The advice to let the anger out goes back more than a century — but when researchers gave angry people a punching bag, the ones told to picture the person who had enraged them walked away angrier than the people who just sat quietly for two minutes, doing nothing at all

The Vessel
To the parent who keeps every drawing, every report card, and every handprint

To the parent who keeps every drawing, every report card, and every handprint

Global English Editing
Psychology helps explain why adults who feel lonely in a full room aren’t ungrateful, they may be surrounded by people who know their name but not a single thing that actually matters to them

Psychology helps explain why adults who feel lonely in a full room aren’t ungrateful, they may be surrounded by people who know their name but not a single thing that actually matters to them

Global English Editing
Quote by Carl Jung: Loneliness does not come from having no people around you, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself

Quote by Carl Jung: Loneliness does not come from having no people around you, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself

Global English Editing
People who stay genuinely fit as they age may not be the ones with the best genetics or the most discipline — they may be the ones who decided movement was about staying in a life they wanted to keep living

People who stay genuinely fit as they age may not be the ones with the best genetics or the most discipline — they may be the ones who decided movement was about staying in a life they wanted to keep living

Global English Editing
Load more
CATEGORIES
Explore