We've been talking to lots of business leaders about life and their business trajectory over the past few months. A few common themes have emerged: early panic, checking in on customers and suppliers, and most recently taking stock of what may be working and what isn't anymore. If you have not revisited your value proposition to target what your customers need most, you may have missed an opportunity. Here's how to do that, for best results.

Know Your Market

First, you must know your customer market quite well. What are they seeking when they come to your business? How do they find you, versus others in the market? New competitors are always entering high growth markets. Existing competitors may be offering new services, or there may be fewer competitors surviving in tight economic markets. Your priority is to understand and update your value proposition to the changing market needs. A few areas to check:

Is your customer demand the same, higher, or lower?

What new issues are facing your customers? Do you offer a solution for those?

Are you still relevant and preferred, or is there a bright, shiny new competitor?

Have you talked with your customers about their biggest challenges, concerns or pain points? How can you best help them before someone else does? 

If your customer's biggest issue is not where you add value, you may be on the path to irrelevance. Take stock, revisit your value proposition, and make some changes. Always keep close communication with your best customers to build agility and value. The hardest part may be to listen and learn, yet smart business leaders listen, learn, and make effective changes as quickly as possible. Get started now, if you're not already in discussions. In fact, you're doing market research, which offers a huge advantage in the long run. Yes, it takes time and skill. If you're not comfortable or confident, hire an expert. 

Revisit Your Business Plan

Once you understand where the market may have shifted, it's time to revisit your business model. Does your business focus on current customer needs, pain and value expectations? If not, changes are needed. Have you reconsidered what you specifically produce that your customers want, and how much demand is present in the market? What is your market share position, and where are there growth opportunities? Take stock of your assets, and consider where you can reduce expenses and add more value. We recommend a review and modification of the business or strategic plan at least annually. 

Innovate & Focus

What can you do to help customers get more done faster, easier, or at a better value, targeted to their biggest problem? When you focus on the most important customer problem with a value-added solution, you've added to your value proposition substantially! Can you solve more problems, solve a more important one than before, raise the solution up a notch to create more desired value, serve more customers with the same problem, or solve the problem better than anyone else? These are your value proposition assets. Here are some examples of ways that you may be able to innovate and expand:

• Create a new solution for a given customer profile (avatar)

• Imagine a new product or service that you've not done before, but have the assets and ability to deliver in the future

• Create a new advantage for a certain customer profile

• Dramatically lower your cost structure to lower your costs substantially

• Build upon your existing capabilities, including patents, infrastructure, skills and user base

• Develop a new value proposition based upon a new partnership

• Develop a new value proposition that your competitors can't copy

• Create value based on a new technology trend, or turn a new regulation to your advantage

• Be first to apply an existing business model from another sector to your sector

Design, Test & Deliver

You've identified what products or services to tweak, change or deliver going forward. Next comes the design and build phases, of exactly what and how to deliver the new value proposition. What is your marketing strategy to reach new prospects? There are at least seven critical questions to assess your model design for value, sustainability and profitability, before you deliver. Take a few minutes to review your business model design assessment, and assess your value proposition when your market changes. We also recommend that you sample any product or service changeswith your target market to find out what works well, and what needs tweaks before you expand. Once you refine your offerings, you're ready to capture a broader market at a better ROI! 

Business Value Proposition Checkup 

If you aren't sure how strong your value proposition is, click on the Business Value Proposition link above, and take our Checkup Survey. If you see many areas of opportunity, we recommend that you follow the outlined process above, or contact us to help navigate the process faster and easier. The strongest businesses see downturns and economic challenges as opportunities to recreate themselves even better. That's our vision for your business...

Dawn Garcia is Principal and Founder of Pursuit of Excellence LLC, an independent business management consulting firm specializing in service-based businesses; delivering leadership, business and talent strategy, and execution expertise. Experience the Excellence Driven® System and The Predictive Index® for your business, and achieve the results you need!  Every business needs help sometime; great leaders get help early, realizing greater returns.

When you need help, consult the experts. We're here for you and your business! 

Your Success is Our Success

Now, more than ever, business leaders must deliver services with streamlined resources, yet still meet customer expectations. Smart systems can get more done with less. Use technology to automate the routine aspects of your business, for better reliability and value! Enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms were designed years ago to meet this very need. Now, they are essential tools for business efficiency. Using an integrated set of software programs helps to minimize tedious steps in the process, by having the software seamlessly sending information to carry out specific functions automatically. Sound terrific? It really is. Automating and integrating back end functions save time, money and headaches, while actually growing your business!

How it Works

What kind of activities can be automated through an ERP? Routine functions where information is passed from one individual or system to another are great ERP uses, either in a message, document, invoice, or other means, triggering an action. Here's an example: managing a sales lead through a sale. 

1 - Prospective customer lands on a facebook post, and is interested in connecting for more information. They click on the link, taking them to the website. 

2 - Once on the website, the prospect is welcomed by a chat box with a bot, who is able to reply and route answers to the top 5 questions from most prospects. The prospect clicks an area of interest, and a lead form opens. The prospect enters a couple pieces of info, and sends. 

3 - An automated email is sent to the prospect, thanking them for their interest, and offering to download the answer to their question. When the form is accepted, the prospect is added to the CRM, and is routed to a sales associate for a follow-up call on the next business day. 

4 - An automated thank you message is sent once the prospect downloads the document. Included in the message is a special offer to receive a 20% discount on a related service, available for a low monthly fee. The prospect is interested, and clicks "learn more."

5 - Selecting the "learn more" option opens a next message that offers the discounted service, at the referenced rate. The prospect only has to select yes, enter payment information, and can begin right away. It's a great offer. The prospect engages, and submits payment.

6 - Completing the payment window triggers the service subscription for the prospect, referencing the information in the CRM. Additional fields or information are populated based upon the payment form completion, and the subscription service is activated. An order confirmation email is sent to the customer.

7 - A monthly recurring invoice is established automatically, with routing of revenues realized to the business bank account. Invoicing is auto-generated, and sent based upon order criteria (monthly on a set date, or other selection). Your sales are seamlessly recorded on your business financials. 

8 - An update to the customer account is now posted for the sales associate with a task for their follow-up call on their daily task list, for the next business day. Your customer is amazed with the efficiency and value of your services and team, and offers a raving testimonial on your site!

Realize, the first payment has been ordered and received without any human contact, with services delivered when and how the customer wanted, with all related documentation retained in the systems involved, for easy report generation. This is how easy it is to provide some services to customers through technology, reliably, and efficiently. Your business operates like a large business, at a fraction of the cost. That's smart business operations!

Getting Started

There are some essential background and setup pieces to make the system work exactly as you need it. First, you need to have systems that are capable of integration across types of functionality. Second, you need to have the specific processes set up within each program, and connected by rules and automation. Third, you need to test each of the processes, and likely build some content in specific messages for prospective customers, to make it all make sense on the customer side. That said, an ERP system typically includes at least: 1) a sales/CRM cluster, 2) financial management & bookkeeping cluster, 3) communication/task/project cluster, and 4) people/human resource cluster. Often software systems can be integrated through APIs, where the systems are programmed to talk to each other. If this sounds amazing, but you're not a tech guru, then you'll need to work with a professional to set this up, or plan on spending months learning how to do it yourself. Either can work, depending on your time, skills, and patience, however your customer will get a better experience when you use experts, and it helps you leverage the benefits a lot faster. 

Systems & Resources 

Like most professionals in this space, we have preferred systems that allow us to set up workflow functionality reliably and efficiently, using systems that are easy to integrate, or are already built for this purpose. If you're interested in finding out how this could work for your business, click the ERP Evaluation form on the link below, and we'll evaluate your business for a software system fit for greater efficiency. There's no cost to check it out...Why not? 

ERP Evaluation - Find Out More

Change can be hard, and yet staying on the same path may be dangerous if the world around us continues to change. In the midst of major work flow and talent disruption, explore how you may be able to maintain high levels of work quality using technology supports. When you use technology supports for the backend work, you free your team from the tedium, and allow them to expand their skills along with business growth. Most businesses find that they can automate as much as 30% of the routine tasks. That's a huge competitive advantage. Let's connect on the link below and explore your next steps! 

Your Success is Our Success

Dawn Garcia is Principal and Founder of Pursuit of Excellence LLC, an independent business management consulting firm specializing in service-based businesses; delivering leadership, business and talent strategy, and execution expertise. Experience the Excellence Driven® System and The Predictive Index® for your business, and achieve the results you need! Every business needs help sometime; great business leaders get help early, realizing greater returns. 

When you need help, consult the experts. We're here for you and your business!