Creating your Unique Value Skills Statements

In my last post, I detailed a self-examination process to identify your Unique Value Skills (UVS). Now we are ready to create positioning statements that will articulate your UVS. This will enable you to express them succinctly and clearly when approaching networking targets and preparing written materials to self-promote.

To help you craft your own personal UVS, I will use an adaptation of Geoff Moore’s value positioning statement that was first introduced in his book Crossing the Chasm. 

Element 1: Defining your target

The target can be defined by many attributes – the most common would be industry sector, size of the company, stage of company development (i.e. start-up, growth, mature, stagnation), geographic location, the form of ownership (private, public, private equity-owned), etc. Your targets should be ones you have experience in and know their business. This enables you to claim expert status and gives them a reason to listen to you. 

In addition to being able to clearly articulate your value, the benefit of very specific is that it enables you to:

• Focus and be deliberate about your networking and targeting activities. You will not waste time reaching out to inappropriate targets. 
• Claim expert status within a specific niche and become intimate with your target client’s unique challenges (as it relates to their position within organizations as well as challenges in specific industry verticals).
• Get referred! When you’re able to convince an individual that you understand their unique challenges, they will refer you to others in their network.

Element 2: Statement of need or opportunity

To what challenge or opportunity will you apply your UVS to assist them? This needs to be very specific. When describing the “pain” points it is to your benefit to cause them to feel the pain a little. I was once told by a sales trainer that you have to stir up their pain - to hurt them before you can help them… meaning that if you can motivate them with their own pain, you won’t have to convince them that what you are proposing is worth considering.

I share this with you to drive home the point that the people you are networking with have egos and emotion. It will serve you well to stir up some emotions, so they are more receptive to your proposition.

Element 3: Your skill(s)

In Element 3, you describe the UVS or capability that you would apply to solve their problem. These are the skills where you have achieved mastery and they encompass the Unique Value that you bring to the market. If they are experiencing the pain you mentioned in Element 2, this is where the target will start to appreciate your unique value and you can explain how you will help them. This part should be descriptive enough so that the target is thinking “yes, that might work”.

Element 4: Statement of benefit(s)

This is the end-state they will see if they engage you to deploy your UVS to solve their problem. In many cases, the benefit can be expressed in a metric such as “you will see a reduction in costs from 10-20%”. It should elicit the response “Yes, I want that too” and be both aspirational AND believable. You don’t want to over-promise. You want to present a scenario that you will be able to over-deliver once they agree to engage you. A philosophy of “under promise, over deliver” will enhance your brand and build your refer-ability.

Element 5: Proof

The proof is so important because anybody can make an empty claim. This establishes that you have delivered value in the past and it solidifies your credibility. This is not to say that you did it perfectly, but you learned something that may accelerate another organization’s transition from where they are now to the desired future state. Keeping in mind that it takes time to achieve mastery and having multiple examples is ideal.

A real example

Let’s look at an example, using the very common pain of cash flow issues.

►    For food manufacturers (target customer – defined as a sector, size, etc.)

►    Who experience tight cash positions because of their suppliers’ demands for quick payment and their retail customers' slow payments (statement of the need or opportunity)

►    My ability to negotiate favourable supplier’s terms and reduce DSO (skill or capability)

►    Will dramatically improve your cash flow and keep you out of onside of your bank covenants (statement of benefit)

►    Proof: Then describe an example of when you have done this.

You will notice that the skills used to solve the cash flow problem involve negotiation. This is considered a soft skill that takes time to master and cannot be easily duplicated by less-experienced people. 

This example can be adjusted for any type of organization where you’ve applied your cash management skills. The point is to keep these statements flexible because you may have accomplished this objective for multiple business types.

Some final thoughts

It is not necessary to follow the format rigidly. This is a guide to ensure that all five elements are present in your statement. You want to convey that you understand their business, a potential problem (s) they may be experiencing and that you can help. If that problem is important enough to them, this will spur a conversation that could lead to a meeting or a more detailed conversation.

If the problem you have chosen is not important to them, just by demonstrating some knowledge of the sector and you have earned the right to ask for two things:

• For them to talk about some of their other challenges because you will have more than one skill where you have achieved mastery.
• Ask to be referred to their network… perhaps some of their contacts are experiencing an issue you have described.

Also, keep the technical “jargon” to the minimum. Your statements should be simple enough that anyone with a basic business background can understand. I hear people throwing around the term “actionable insights” when it is far better to say, “figure out the real cause and the best options”.

So now you know how to articulate your UVS(s) in a compelling format. Most people I speak with have at least five unique skills that they can describe in this format. As you build them, test them with friends and family members to see if they convey a simple message. As with anything, success is in making progress – not perfection.

Kevin Tennant is a Partner in the Interim Management practice of LHH Knightsbridge. Kevin serves the Financial Services sector and can be reached at [email protected].