Using value frameworks in strategic messaging

Whether you’re going to work on a new brand or an existing one, you’ve got to focus hard on finding the intersection of what your customers need most, and what you do best.

Value framework definition can be a great tool to get you there. It’s a structured process that will help you to uncover customer pain, tell your story well in any situation, and frustrate the efforts of your competition. It will establish a powerful, systematic way to help your bizdev teams create more opportunities, close more deals, and make more money.

A building lobby with a glass ceiling and steel beams
Value frameworks – there’s no better way to establish command of your message

The algorithm goes something like this:

  • The Before Scenario
    • Paints a picture of an undesirable state of being, illustrative of the customer’s prototypical pain points.
  • Negative Consequences
    • The bad things that result from the Before Scenario; often expressed in terms of unfavorable operational or financial outcomes.
  • The After Scenario
    • Describes a stand-in-the-future vision of how life could be better for the buyer after working with you.
  • Positive Business Outcomes
    • The good things (e.g. financial or operational performance improvements) that result for the buyer from the After Scenarios; quantifying the value of the solution.
  • Required Capabilities
    • The solution capabilities buyers require to achieve the Positive Business Outcomes; these often appear as requirements in customer RFPs.
  • Metrics
    • Key performance indicators (KPIs) indicating how effectively the Required Capabilities drive the Positive Business Outcomes.
  • How You Do It
    • Describes how your solution satisfies the required capabilities; outlines major product or service offerings.
  • Better
    • Your leadership claim; how your product and service offerings satisfy the Required Capabilities better or differently than competitive offerings.
  • Proof Points
    • Verifiable evidence that you can satisfy the Required Capabilities in a way that advances the Positive Business Outcomes.

It’s sort of like brand therapy meets sales enablement.

Not always perfectly pleasant because it’s so common for differences of opinion to exist among strong leaders and external stakeholders. But if you and yours can trust the process (we say that in Philly), you’ll be rewarded in the form of powerful new positioning and messaging that projects your total value, and can be confidently taken to the field by your global team.

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