The full title of this book by Jack Hardy is
Core Value Proposition: …A powerful tool that provides a customer focus to your business development
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it Three Stars.
Here is my review.
Build your core value proposition up from five factors
This book makes the point that a core value proposition is a combination of:
– core values that are the basis for everything the business does;
– value proposition as a promise of particular values made to and believed by customers.
It builds up the core value proposition from five things:
1) Idea (for the business)
2) Benefit (received by the customer)
3) Target (customers)
4) perception (what the customers, employees, society think)
5) Rewards (what you get back).
It also includes a useful IF/THEN format to test your ideas even if though it might convince you of a false logic if badly used.
For example, the book talks about SouthWest Airlines in Texas, USA which was the model copied by Ryan Air and EasyJet.
To quote “IF we get our passengers to their destinations when they want to get there, on time, at the lowest possible fares, and make darn sure they have a good time doing it, THEN people will fly with our airline.”
That all makes sense on the surface and it was of course a great idea.
My issue is that the concept starts with an idea and not the particular needs, wants and current frustrations of customers and non-customers.
The SouthWest idea works because of the unmet needs and wants and current frustrations. People used to have to fly through a hub airport and then out along a spoke extending journey times and with two flights that introduced two elements of potential delay meaning they were often late. Despite the poor service, tickets were expensive and flying was a source of irritation and annoyance and no fun.
I also feel that the system doesn’t look at what competitors are offering and therefore you don’t find a genuine hole in the market or “blue ocean” but instead might copy an existing business with a strong internal logic and therefore be forced to compete on price.
It makes some good points but I don’t feel this tells the entire story of creating an effective value proposition for your customers. It’s more about having an idea and then justifying to yourself why it will work.
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