To build and sustain a best value position, companies must constantly review and optimise the value proposition. Most struggle, because in practice it is a lot harder to do than theory suggests.

This is why many companies (to their cost) over-emphasise and mis-use “price” as the primary tool for creating value. Often this is done in a far too simplistic and transparent way, usually as a quick fix, employed in a tactically reactive rather than strategically proactive context. However, the long-term impact of doing this can be extremely detrimental; leading to erosion of margins and image, damage to future pricing and the provoking of fast unwelcome competitor responses. 

In our experience, most organisations/ individuals are uncertain about how to begin addressing a value proposition strategy. This uncertainty presents one of the main barriers to developing and maintaining a marketing leading value proposition.

This is particularly true of “service-based” organisations as the proposition is less tangible in nature (e.g. professional service firms, service-orientated industries).

Typical questions raised by our clients are:

• Where do we start?
• What should our methodology be?
• What is "value" and what is it made up of?
• What are the dynamics and levers for optimising value?
• What is our current value proposition?
• Which bits of our value proposition are competitive/ uncompetitive?
• How do we go about enhancing them?
• How do we develop a compelling value proposition strategy?

These questions are raised by Business Leaders/ Directors of our clients all the time. Moreover, gaining an understanding and consensus around these is absolutely critical for building the right platform and developing a coherent value strategy.

So, where do you start?