1. Situational Analysis

Use your critical thinking skills to analyze your customer's world.

I recommend:  Ask yourself or brainstorm with colleagues:

• To the best of your knowledge, how are customers doing things without your product/service? (Identify the top 2-3 ways)
• What problems are they likely to be experiencing because of what they're doing/using today? How might their current methods make it difficult for them to achieve their goals and objectives?
• How do these problems affect their business? This part is critical. "Feel-good" terms like lowered morale or upset workers isn't enough. Think in terms of critical business measures such as productivity, operational efficiency, profitability, costs and time-to-market. How does your offering affect these issues?

2. Ask Your Customer(s)

This is one of the most important things you can do - and it's much more effective if you do it after you've completed the situation analysis.

I recommend: Ask your customer:

• About how they did things before they bought your product or used your service.
  
• To share the problems your offering helped them fix and the goals it helped them achieve.
  
• About the value they realized from using your products or working with you.
  

This is an invaluable exercise. Have your questions prepared and take good notes. If you don't understand your customer's response, ask for clarification. You're at this meeting to learn as much as you can.

Quantify the Difference

If at all possible, quantify the value of your offering. This is what catches the interest of today's business decision maker.

I recommend: Asking your customer questions like these:

How much was turnover reduced? How much faster did the product come to market? What specific cost savings were achieved? How long did it take to get these results? What percent increase/decrease was attained? What profits were gained from faster decision making?

Sound like a lot of work? It is ... but it's worth every ounce of effort you put into it.
  When you know the difference you make:

• Developing a strong value proposition is easy.
• It's much easier to get your foot in the door.
• You can develop great questions that explore customer's needs, issues and concerns in areas where you have a solution.
• It's possible to move a customer from indifference to urgency.
• You separate yourself from the competition.
• It's much easier to keep going when the times are rough.

 Remember this: Customers could care less about your product or service. They only care about the difference you make!

If you haven't taken time from your busy schedule to find it out - do it right away. Not only will you feel better about yourself and the work you do, but you'll also sell more!

For more info on this topic, read Stronger Value Propositions