As a vendor, your brain is constantly computing ways for your business to stand apart from your competitors. Competition is stiff out there in the B2B world, and you must make your business – and yourself – desirable to any potential channel partners. You can start by creating a bomb.com value proposition to present to your potential channel partner. Think of it like any other relationship. You want it to be mutually beneficial, but you also want a relationship that yields trust and loyalty. This is where your value proposition comes in.
A strong value proposition is much more than just an elevator pitch. It is also not a rundown of your company’s best qualities for your channel partners. Your value proposition needs to be precise enough to roll off the tongue quickly and easily, yet informative enough so your company’s value clearly shines through to channel partners. For example, take a look at CMR’s value proposition: “Automate Your Channel. Enhance Channel Partnerships. Increase Mutual Growth.” At first glance, you don’t need all the intricate details of what CMR offers, you just need to know that what they offer will benefit your business in a way that you need.
This is not a time to brag – this is the time to jump in the shoes of your partners to find the real value in what your company offers. You need to communicate to potential channel partners what will be the value in the partnership for them. And show them why partnering with you is more valuable than partnering with the competition.
Now that you know how important B2B value propositions are for your channel partners, here are a few steps to help you create one (with a little help from my favorite movies and TV shows).
What’s Happening!! (aka “What is the problem?”)
Your channel partners, a distributor Roger, a reseller Dee and technology partner Rerun, all have various professional and business needs. Needs that you must get to the bottom of before you can provide a solution. Needs that need to be addressed so they can pitch and sell your products efficiently. But because they are different entities, their needs require different solutions. So how do you meet them? Create a multi-tiered value proposition that accounts for these variations. There is no one-size-fits-all method to the madness.
MacGyver (aka “What is your solution?”)
You need to shapeshift into everyone’s favorite problem-solver and pull out all the stops to highlight the best solutions for your channel partners. We already know that your company’s products or services are the answer, but how are they solving the problem? Highlight the various ways your product will offer a solution to the problem(s) uncovered in the previous step. It takes more than just listing the various features of your products. You need to explain how these functions will offer solutions to the problem. This is where you further pour out value for your potential partners to drink in. Focus on the benefits. Remember, value proposition also trickles all the way down to the end-user, your customer.
Don’t Forget the Driver (aka “What are your value drivers?”)
Value drivers, that is. You must identify for channel partners what drives value. It is not exactly all about the money, per se. It is more about the return on investment. Your value must outweigh the actual costs. And then some.
The NeverEnding Story (aka “What is your story?”)
There is serious power in storytelling. Share the story of how your product benefits. Share customer testimonials or case studies on how your products bring valuable solutions. This information is also great ammunition for your sales channel partners when pitching your products.
A couple more things…
- Don’t forget the tools…
Tools, tools, tools! There are various tools on the market that can help you calculate your value proposition based on several factors. Here is a couple to get you started.
- You vs. the competition…
Review your value proposition against those of your competitors. This will provide great insight into where you stand with the competition. Up Strategy Lab has a downloadable template that is designed just for this. Check it out here.