Leading with Value
Have you spelled out your unique value proposition? Well, today is the day you should do so my friends! Being a business owner is hectic and requires lots of details and energy. It’s fun, ever changing, and easy to forget the foundational reasons our businesses exist, and why customers are seeking us out. Too many studios lead with “Here is WHAT we do, we’re the best, you should come!” instead of “Here is WHY we exist, here is how you’ll BENEFIT, you should come!” Feel the difference???
I propose to you that we can do better to lead with value in all of our conversations and communications with prospective customers. And guess what, the business world has a formal way to help us do just that. A value proposition is a short statement that communicates why prospective customers should choose your studio. It's more than just a description of what you offer — it's the specific solution that your business provides and the promise of value that a customer can expect you to deliver to help alleviate their pains.
Below are some suggestions for aligning more with the benefits you are offering and the value you provide. You can add this to your business plan and review on an annual basis.
Steps to Writing Your Value Proposition
Pains / Problems. Identify your customers main problem and pain points they are looking to solve by visiting your studio. For most boutique fitness, yoga, and wellness studios the pains our prospective clients are trying to resolve include out of shape, inactive, weak, pain relief, inflexible, injured, lack of confidence, lack of energy, stressed, anxious, depressed, trauma or injury recovery.
Benefits. Identify all the benefits your studio offers to those who participate in your offerings. Likely benefits include: To move more, feel fit and strong, age well, destress, more mobility, community connection, have fun, and feel challenged. It’s helpful if we know which 3-5 of these our customers are most drawn to and lead with that benefit when you are speaking about your services.
Value. Detail what makes these benefits valuable to your customers. People seek out your studio to enhance their lives - plain and simple. Living a life with meaning and purpose includes having a body that is functional and able to participate in all the day-to-day joys of life. You are enabling people to feel more joy, presence, and aliveness through your studio - and more, I’m sure. Document a few of these details to remind you and your team why you do what you do.
Align. Do Customer Pains & Value Align? If so, move on to next steps. If not, revisit above steps over and over again until you find a valid customer need and viable solution your studio offers to meet that need.
Differentiate. Differentiate yourself as the preferred provider of this value. Can you polish your value proposition to make it unique? Is there a specific customer service offering your business provides that others don't? Do you offer any additional services that other studios charge for? These elements can help differentiate your value proposition from competitors while keeping the focus on the buyer's needs.
Simple Value Proposition Templates
Once you understand and feel confident about the above first five steps, you can easily implement them into the following value proposition templates.
Steve Blank Method
Instead of focusing on the features themselves, Blank saw the need to emphasize the benefits derived from the features in a simple sentence. By following this formula you'll connect the target market and their pain points to the solution in a quick and direct way:
We help (X) do (Y) by doing (Z)
Geoff Moore Method
Moore provides a template that's more specific in identifying more about your industry alongside the benefits customers value. This makes a more clear value proposition formula as follows:
"For [target customer] who [needs or wants X], our [product/service] is [category of industry] that [benefits]"
Harvard Business School Method
According to HBS a value proposition is executed best when it answers the following questions:
"What is my brand offering?"
"What job does the customer hire my brand to do?"
"What companies and products compete with my brand to do this job for the customer?"
"What sets my brand apart from competitors?"
" https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/write-value-proposition
Conclusion
Check out the business clarity template below for a google slides version of these suggestions and a place you can answer these questions and keep them for future reference.
Want more inspiration in this direction? Check out the book It Starts with Why by Simon Sinek and check out this comprehensive article on Value Proposition from Hubspot. Both of those resources changed the way I talk about my businesses in a dramatically better way and I can’t recommend them enough.
Also, shout out to my mentors & biz friends along the way who’ve helped me, especially Bob Murphy, Amanda Patterson, and Shelly Northrop from my ole mindbody marketing education days.