3 Step Approach to Understand and Communicate Your Complete Value

by Bill Cates

July 22, 2020

If you want to attract more Right-Fit Clients™ you need to deliver remarkable value. Value that gets your clients talking about you to others. Value that is worthy of remark.

When I interview top producing advisors, they tell me that they are always looking for ways to increase their value to their clients; it’s a constant endeavor for them. These top advisors come to me to learn how to communicate that value in a clearer and more compelling manner. They also want to get their entire team on the same page with that value.

When is the last time you and your team stopped to take inventory of the comprehensive value you bring to prospects, clients, and strategic partnerships?

Before developing your clever elevator pitch, business card slogan, or website positioning statement, I highly recommend you get clear on your complete value proposition.

Your 3-Step Approach to Understanding and Communicating Your Complete Value

Involving everyone in your organization in this endeavor will help rally everybody around your value. It will have a positive impact on your overall culture while it equips people with better ways to communicate the organization’s value to virtually anyone they meet.

STEP 1 – Assess Your Full Value

Not by yourself, but with as many team members as possible, go through all the processes you bring to your prospect and client relationships – from first contact through courtship, during onboarding and throughout the entire relationship.

Make note of all the points of value that you bring: the questions you ask, what you teach, the services you render, the opportunities you present, and – especially – the problems that you solve.

This is the sort of attention to detail that will give you and everyone in your organization a clear view of the incredible value you deliver in all relationship phases with prospects and clients.

You can also use this time to brainstorm ways to bring even more value to these stages of your relationships.

But don’t stop there.

STEP 2 – Get Your Clients Involved

Identify a few key clients – perhaps clients who really like you and, perhaps, have a bit of a sales and/or marketing background.

Show them the work you did in Step 1. Get their feedback and impressions. You’ll be amazed at how much you will learn and the ideas they will offer about communicating your value – insights that would never occur to you.

For example, as I was doing this exercise with my own business, a client said, “Bill Cates makes asking for referrals as natural as breathing.” Wow! Not bad, eh? I never would have thought about messaging my value in that way. Now I use that from time to time, always quoting my client.

STEP 3 – Blend Your Work

Combine and consolidate the work you’ve done in the first two steps to create a comprehensive, but concise, expression of your value proposition. This can be a numbered or bulleted list of all the steps in your relationships and the value those steps bring.

Share this document with all current and new team members as you bring them into your organization. Note, though, that it’s unlikely you will share this entire document with any prospects or clients. This is for internal use.

Doing this work will provide you with may important benefits:

A comprehensive checklist to remain consistent.
A baseline of value upon which you can make improvements.
A treasure trove of material from which you can draw as you craft ways to communicate your value to attract more ideal clients.

Your elevator pitch is NOT your value proposition.

Your value proposition is the sum total of all the value you provide. From this comprehensive assessment, you develop succinct ways to communicate your value.

Questions? Comments? I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.