01
Change the logo, nobody notices.
Cover the names on three competitor sites and you can’t tell them apart.
Warning signs your proposition isn’t working.
Most propositions describe what a company sells.
Few explain why anyone should choose it.
01
Change the logo, nobody notices.
Cover the names on three competitor sites and you can’t tell them apart.
03
Features doing all the talking.
You can explain what it does, but not why that matters enough for customers to choose it.
05
Five people, five versions.
Sales says one thing, marketing another, the product team a third. The market hears all three.
02
Big promise. Thin delivery.
The messaging is confident, the campaign is beautiful, but there isn’t much underneath it.
04
Past its sell-by date.
What once set you apart is now expected.
06
Price does all the talking.
Too many conversations come down to discount because nothing else is doing the persuading.
02
Big promise. Thin delivery.
The messaging is confident, the campaign is beautiful, but there isn’t much underneath it.
03
Features doing all the talking.
You can explain what it does, but not why that matters enough for customers to choose it.
04
Past its sell-by date.
What once set you apart is now expected.
05
Five people, five versions.
Sales says one thing, marketing another, the product team a third. The market hears all three.
06
Price does all the talking.
Too many conversations come down to discount because nothing else is doing the persuading.
What is a value proposition?
It tells customers why to choose you, and it tells the business what it has to deliver.
Promise
The value customers can expect and the reason to choose you over the alternative.
Offering
The products, services, bundles and terms that deliver that value.
Experience
The journeys, interactions and support through which customers receive it.
A strong proposition aligns what you promise, what you offer and what customers experience.
It is not a strapline or a feature list. Those may express the proposition, but they are not the proposition.
Working out which value matters most to a customer, and what would genuinely make them switch, is what Jobs to Be Done is for.
It’s very easy to be different, but very difficult to be better.
Jony Ive — Former Chief Design Officer, Apple
The proposition checklist.
A strong proposition passes all six.
Valued
Does it address something customers care enough about to act on?
A meaningful need, goal or tension, not one invented by the business.
Focused
Is it clear who it serves and what it prioritises?
A proposition that tries not to lose anyone wins no one.
Better
Does it give customers a meaningful reason to choose it over their current alternative?
Be specific about where it is better, for whom and why that matters.
Believed
Is there a reason to believe it?
Proof, track record, guarantee, the product itself. Adjectives are not evidence.
Deliverable
Can the business deliver it consistently, not just on a good day?
The offering, the experience and the organisation behind them all have to hold.
Commercially sound
Can it create a sustainable return at scale?
It has to create value for customers and work commercially for the business.
From unmet needs to a standout offer that scales.
01 · Discover
Find where you can create greater value.
- The business decision we need to inform, the target customer and what success looks like
- The job customers are trying to get done and the compromises they accept today
- The alternatives they weigh, what competitors own and where customers remain underserved
OutcomeA focused opportunity and the case for it
02 · Develop
Shape and test stronger propositions.
- Explore different ways to deliver the value
- Bring promise, offering and experience together in concepts tangible enough to test
- Test with real customers, challenge the assumptions and drop what doesn’t hold
OutcomeA proposition with the evidence behind it
03 · Deliver
Turn it into decisions the business can act on.
- What has to change across the offering and experience
- The commercial case, capabilities and delivery risks
- What to launch, what to test next and how success will be measured
OutcomeAn agreed proposition and a roadmap to market
Propositions worth betting on.
Connected Prisons
From selling kit to delivering outcomes.
Instead of asking what technology BT could sell prisons, we asked what prisons were trying to achieve: cut reoffending, improve behaviour and welfare, lower running costs. We built an outcome-led proposition with operators, government, charities and prisoners themselves. It pioneered a category BT hadn’t competed in before.
Scheme proposition
A future-fit proposition for the Scheme.
One offer had to serve a high-mileage commuter and an occasional weekend driver, someone who wanted everything online and someone who needed everything handled by phone, all inside the same Scheme. We separated what needed to flex, mileage, channel, how support was delivered, from what had to stay constant: the guarantees the Scheme exists to provide. The result offers more choice where it actually differs, without touching what makes it the Scheme.