How to Create a Compelling B2B Value Proposition With Early Hypotheses

Ideation

The challenge with our first prospect interactions is finding problems and opportunities that will resonate on first contact. The wider your target customer profile is, the more problems you can come up with and the weaker your B2B value proposition will be.

However, problems are never equal in the eyes of businesses. In B2B, there are three types of solutions that matter:

Why Businesses Buy New Technology

  1. Solutions that can help increase revenues;
  2. Solutions that can help reduce costs;
  3. Solutions that can help increase customer satisfaction.

These are the core reasons why companies invest in new technology, and even these three reasons are not equal. Value propositions bringing in new money by increasing revenue are always the easiest to sell and justify for business buyers.

Create a Compelling B2B Value Proposition – Get the Exploration Worksheet

To explore the range of benefits that are possible, we can build on the money map created last week by turning motivations into problems and exploring opportunities around those problems.

The B2B Value Proposition Exploration Grid

You’ll look at how these value propositions could play out with the following exploration grid:

B2B VALUE PROPOSITION EXPLORATION

Using the main opportunity that came out from the money map (reaching local customers) and one of the most evocative value propositions from the previous exploration, you can tell that helping marketing departments increase revenue by reaching more targeted local customers would be a compelling opportunity.

Create a Compelling B2B Value Proposition – Get the Exploration Worksheet

This opportunity will help you write a value proposition to connect with your early prospects. It should be broad enough to allow you to engage in discussions with a varied group of prospects and learn about their problems and opportunities.

We now have all of the hypotheses needed to flesh out a first B2B value proposition:

Our product is for marketing teams in small retail chains that are dissatisfied with newspaper advertising. Our product improves revenue through greater reach. Unlike newspaper advertising, our product allows marketers to reach highly targeted customers faster.

More on B2B Value Propositions

Looking for a Business Idea?

Join our free email course on finding B2B business ideas: