The Proposition Value Triangle
This post focuses on how to discuss the proposition value triangle with prospects. Check out my recent post about the Value Triangle if you are not familiar with it.
It is important your prospect understands they can have two out of high-quality, low-cost and high-speed. I tell my prospects that if they sign up with me they get a service tailored to their needs at a relatively low cost. So, if they want a website I can offer them low-cost (about a tenth of the national average charge from a web developer of £10-15 000). I offer quality in the sense that by working with me they will understand how their website works and how to use it to support their marketing strategy. They sacrifice speed, as work on their website might take 6 months or longer.
If they are seeking speed, I recommend a web developer. I might on occasion suggest they sign up for one of my packages so that I can help them prepare a brief for their web developer.
Note how I can explain the value triangle without mentioning it. It is a model to have in mind and use to guide you in your conversation.
Another approach is to ask the prospect which two of the three criteria are most important to them. You can then talk them through the implications, helping them find a good referral if you cannot meet their needs.
So, let’s look at each response the prospect can present:
High-Quality, Low-Cost
This is likely to be the most common response. If the prospect presents this, you need to find out what they mean by high quality. If they’re seeking a website, are they thinking about technical wizardry or a website that delivers for their enterprise?
Your aim is to clarify what the prospect means by high quality. Sometimes, this will be a revelation to the prospect as much as it is to you. It is vitally important you listen to the prospect because if your understanding of high quality is not what the prospect wants, you will disappoint them.
If you can provide the high quality product or service they need, make them an offer. Otherwise you need to make a referral. Your low-cost package will be an alternative to other suppliers.
The prospect at this stage needs to understand what you are offering. “Yes, we can achieve the quality you want but as this is a low-cost offer, there are some things you won’t receive.”
For my offer, low speed may be an advantage. The focus is on working alongside the prospect to help them learn how to market their business or organisation locally. I am offering a consultancy, not a web developer service and this means the prospect does the work, with my support over 3 – 6 months. The plan is by working with me, the prospect will walk away with greater understanding and able to carry the work forward. This naturally takes time and if it is what the customer needs, it can be a good deal.
High-Speed, Low-Cost
This is the low quality option. Why should anyone want low quality?
Well actually, low quality can be really useful. There are industries that offer fast, adequate products online. Examples are oDesk and Fiverr – Google them if you’re interested.
One of these services designed the three-dimensional cover for my ebook. It cost me under £10 to get the design and have it converted to three-D. It took a few hours. They offered six options to choose from.
Now, it is not ideal. But my ebook just needs something eye-catching and fairly professional looking. It does the job. May be something else would bring in more conversions but is it worth the time, effort and money to find out?
It would be if I receive a lot of online traffic, perhaps promoting the ebook via Adwords or Facebook. But most of my sign-ups are local and they sign up for a variety of reasons usually following conversations with me.
High-speed, low-cost is useful for trying things out. There is no point spending hours on something that is not going to work. Sometimes a quick and dirty solution can result in enough information to refine things later.
High-Quality, High-Speed
And this of course is where the big money is! If you can provide a high quality product or service at great speed, there will be people who can pay for it. Often the person who pays for this type of offer values time.
They don’t want to commit their own time to developing this service or product, sometimes because it is too technical for them and taking time to learn it might cost more. Also, simply because they want to deploy their time elsewhere.
Maybe they are launching something new and need online support for what they are doing quickly. Whilst it is usually possible to plan ahead, sometimes an opportunity presents itself and the customer needs to purchase someone else’s time.
So, each of these three options represents reality and most people will use each from time to time.
How do you use the value triangle when discussing your proposition with a prospect?