Proposal of Value: The Key to Closing Sales - Emptor

The Value Proposition Canvas was initially developed by Dr. Alexander Osterwalder as a framework to ensure there is a fit between the product and the market. It is a detailed tool for modeling the relationship between two parts of Osterwalder’s broader Business Model Canvas: customer segments and value propositions.

The value proposition canvas can be used when it is necessary to refine an existing product or service offering or when developing a new offering from scratch. We’ll tell you how you can define your value proposition to test a new product or service and achieve product market fit.

VALUE PROPOSITION CANVAS

JOBS

Jobs are the tasks that the customer seeks to perform in their job or in their life. The job can be a task, a problem to fix, or a need they seek to satisfy. Jobs are divided into: Functional, Social, and Personal or Emotional.

PAINS

Pains or frictions describe anything that annoys your customers before, during, or after trying to get a job done. Pains can be perceived as risks in not achieving their goal or obstacles that prevent a job from being completed.

GAINS

Gains describe the outcomes and benefits that your customers want. Some gains are expected or desired by customers, and others would be received as a pleasant surprise. Gains can be functional, social, or cost-saving.

CUSTOMER JOBS

Jobs describe the things your customers are trying to do in their work or life. A customer’s job could be the tasks they are trying to perform and complete, the problems they are trying to solve, or the needs they are trying to satisfy.

Use the following questions to help you think about different jobs your potential customers want to get done:

What is the one thing without which your customer could not live? What are the steps that could help your customer achieve this key job?
What are the different contexts in which your customers find themselves? How do their activities and goals change depending on those different contexts?
What does your customer need to accomplish that involves interaction with others?
What tasks are your customers trying to perform in their work or personal life? What functional problems are your customers trying to solve?
Are there problems you believe your customers have that they may not even be aware of?
What emotional needs are your customers trying to satisfy? What jobs, if completed, would give the user a sense of self-fulfillment?
How does your customer want to be perceived by others? What can your customer do to help themselves be perceived this way?
How does your customer want to feel? What does your customer need to do to feel that way?
Track your customer’s interaction with a product or service over its lifetime. What supporting jobs arise throughout this lifecycle? Does the user change roles throughout this process?

CUSTOMER PAINS

Pains describe anything that annoys your customers before, during, and after trying to get a job done, or simply prevents them from getting a job done. Pains also describe risks, i.e., potential bad outcomes, associated with doing a job poorly or not doing it at all.

Use the following questions to think about different pains your potential customers want to avoid:

How do your customers define “too costly”? Does it take too much time, cost too much money, or require substantial effort?
What makes your customers feel bad? What are their frustrations, annoyances, or things that give them a headache?
How are current value propositions working for your customers? What features are they missing? Are there performance issues? What bothers them or what malfunctions do they cite?
What are the major difficulties and challenges your customers face? Do they understand how things work, have trouble doing certain things, or resist particular jobs for specific reasons?
What negative social consequences do your customers encounter or fear? Do they fear losing power, trust, or status?
What risks do your customers fear? Do they fear financial, social, or technical risks, or wonder what could go wrong?
What keeps your customers up at night? What are their big problems and concerns?
What common mistakes do your customers make? Are they using a solution the wrong way?
What barriers prevent your customers from adopting a value proposition? Are there upfront investment costs, a steep learning curve, or other obstacles that impede adoption?

CUSTOMER GAINS

Gains describe the outcomes and benefits your customers desire. Some gains are required, expected, or desired by customers, and some would surprise them. Gains include functional utility, social gains, positive emotions, and cost savings.

Use the following activation questions to ask yourself: Could your products and services…

Create savings that delight your customers? In terms of time, money, and effort.
Produce results that your customers expect or exceed their expectations? By offering quality levels, would they recommend your product or service?
Outperform current value propositions and delight your customers? In terms of specific features, performance, or quality.
Ease your customers’ work or life? Through better usability, accessibility, more services, or lower cost.
Create positive social consequences? Making them look good, empowering them, or increasing their status.
Do something specific your customers are looking for? In terms of good design, guarantees, or specific features.
Fulfill a dream your customers are wishing for? By helping them achieve their aspirations or relieve a difficulty?
Produce positive outcomes that match your customers’ success and failure criteria? In terms of better performance or lower cost.
Help facilitate adoption? Through lower cost, less investment, lower risk, better quality, better performance, or better design.

Product Market Fit

According to the book “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries, Product Market Fit is “the condition in which a startup finds a product that satisfies a need or solves a problem that people care about”. In other words, when something fits the market and people like it, you can see the traction. If you want to discover how to apply this digital product manager methodology, keep reading. In this article, we’ll tell you the steps to implement Product Market Fit in your digital business.

The first step is to identify the problem or need that your product will satisfy. To do this, you can conduct market research to find out what is failing in the industry and how it can be improved. Next, you must define the solution your product will offer and establish what features it will have. It’s important to keep in mind that the solution doesn’t have to be perfect, as it can be improved over time.

The next step is to create a prototype of the product to test it in the market. To do this, you can use prototyping tools to make a preliminary version of the product. This will allow you to collect user feedback and improve the product before launching it to the market.

Once you have a final product, you must start promoting it to generate traction. To do this, you can use social media or Google AdWords to reach your target audience. It’s important to measure the results to know if you’re achieving Product Market Fit or if you need to improve something.

We suggest you read: Corporate image, how it influences the perception of your brand.

In summary, Product Market Fit is the condition in which a product fits the market and people like it. If you want to apply this methodology in your digital business, you must follow these steps:

Identify the problem or need that your product will satisfy.
Define the solution and establish what features it will have.
Create a prototype of the product to test it in the market.
Promote the product to generate traction.
Measure the results to know if you’ve achieved Product Market Fit or if you need to improve something.

We share a Strategyzer resource to download your Value Proposition Canvas Here.