Creating Value Propositions That Resonate

Innovation isn’t just about upgrading your tools—it’s about reinventing how you create, deliver, and capture value. Digital business models are reshaping industries by creating value in ways unimaginable a decade ago. These aren't your grandparent’s business models with a digital veneer—they're transformative, leveraging tech to disrupt markets, engage customers, and redefine competition. This revolution is captured brilliantly in the book: 𝐷𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐵𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐼𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑦 4.0: 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝐼𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑇𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑛𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑦 𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑒𝑠. 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐏𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐬: • 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐄𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Value driven by tech, not just supported by it. Think smart thermostats optimizing energy, not just controlling it. • 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐲: New offerings or ways of doing business—like predictive maintenance or on-demand manufacturing. • 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬: Customer relationships built through apps, IoT, and connected services. • 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐃𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐔𝐒𝐏: Unique selling points rooted in data and digital capabilities. But how do we map the revenue streams emerging from these shifting dynamics? I’ve come to see it through three essential components: • 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 (What is being offered?) • 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐬 (How is value created?) • 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 (How is value captured?) 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞: https://lnkd.in/ewhRUM28 ******************************************* • Visit www.jeffwinterinsights.com for access to all my content and to stay current on Industry 4.0 and other cool tech trends • Ring the 🔔 for notifications!

Here's how to simplify your pitch and 10x your sales: 1. Talk less, sell more. Short sentences = more sales. Hemingway once bet he could write a story in 6 words that'd make you feel something: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." Your pitch should pack the same punch. 2. Complexity is for people who want to feel smart, not be effective. The worst salespeople make simple things sound complicated. The best make the complex simple. 3. Complexity says, "I want to feel needed." Simplicity limits to only what is needed. 4. Read your pitch out loud. I remember when I'd asked my COO to read the manuscript of my book. He chose to do it aloud. All 258 pages. Ears catch what eyes miss. The final version reads like butter. 5. "Be good, be seen, be gone." This was the best sales advice I ever got. - Good: Deliver value - Seen: Make an impression - Gone: Don't overstay your welcome People buy from those they remember, not those who linger. 7. Speak like your customer, not a textbook. We like to sound sophisticated. "We create impactful bottom-line solutions." But we like to listen to simple. "We help small businesses explode their sales." Which one would you buy? 8. Every word earns its place. Your pitch should be lean and mean. - Be specific - Avoid cliches - Check for redundancy - If it doesn't add value, cut it out 9. Abstract concepts bore. Concrete examples excite. ❌ "We'll increase your efficiency." ✅ "We'll save you 10 hours a week." Paint a picture. 10. People buy on emotion & justify with logic So tap into their feelings: - Fear of missing out - Desire for success - Need for security Then back it up with facts. 11. The "Grandma Test" never fails. If your grandma wouldn't get your pitch, simplify it. No jargon. No buzzwords. Just plain English. 12. Benefits > features. Dreams > benefits. ❌ "Our group hosts 10+ events per year." ✅ "Our program helps you close deals." 🚀 "Let's take back Main Street through ownership." 13. Use power words: - You - Free - Because - Instantly - New These words grab attention and drive action. Two final things to keep in mind... Simplicity isn't just for sales. Apply these principles to: - your business operations - your thinking processes - your next investment - your relationships - your to do list Sales isn't just for car dealerships. You pitch when you: - Negotiate a raise - Interview for a job - Post on social media - Hire someone for a job - Talk to an owner about buying their biz If you found this useful, feel free to share for others ♻️

I’ve analyzed 100s of presentations over the years. The difference between good presentations and great ones often comes down to this… Contrast. Contrast creates the tension between the audience’s present reality and desired future. And, when done right, that tension leads to action. Here are the three most persuasive forms of contrast: #1: Problem-Solution Start by establishing a specific problem your audience faces, then reveal how your solution directly addresses it. This builds urgency before positioning yourself as the cure. In my TED Talk, I used this framework to demonstrate how presentations often fail to move audiences. I first established the problem: many presentations lack emotional impact and fail to inspire action. Then I revealed the solution: a specific structure behind history’s great talks that creates contrast between the audience's present reality and their desired future. The key is spending enough time on the problem before rushing to your solution. Make the pain real. Use specific examples, emotional language, and quantify the impact. #2: Compare-Contrast Structure your content by showing how two approaches differ…the current state vs. the future state. This creates natural tension between where the audience is and where they could be. Here's how this could look with a marketing strategy presentation: The opening half focuses on your current marketing approach. You’d tell stories of what you’ve done and where that got you, showing campaign examples and results to create urgency for change. Then you shift to the new marketing strategy. You’d talk about what's possible if your team pursues this new direction, give compelling data, and connect it back to your company’s mission. This creates a natural contrast between the present state, which no one is satisfied with, and a future state with limitless potential. #3 Cause-Effect Organize your information to demonstrate clear causal relationships and inevitable outcomes. This makes your case feel like natural law rather than opinion. Here's how this could look with a customer service improvement presentation: You establish clear causal chains in your current situation… Long hold times cause customer frustration, which causes negative reviews, which damages your brand, which leads to lost sales. Then show how your solution creates a new chain… Your omnichannel platform causes faster response times, which causes improved satisfaction, which leads to positive reviews and higher retention. Each link builds logically to the next, helping your audience follow the inevitable consequences of both action and inaction. But there’s a secret ingredient you need if you want any of these forms of contrast to truly convince your audience. Story. That’s why I made a FREE multi-media version of my award-winning book, Resonate, that gives you skills in using story in your presentations. You can grab your copy by clicking the link in the comments. #presentationskills

At Amazon, we would often spend months working on a single paragraph of the PR/FAQ for a new product idea. This was the "problem paragraph". Done well, it could lead to a successful product. Done wrong, it will lead to failure. Here is how to write a successful problem paragraph: The “problem paragraph” defines the customer problem you’re solving. Without this, you will build a product that doesn’t address a customer pain point. It shows whether you truly understand your customer's needs, not just your company’s capabilities. To write this paragraph, start by precisely identifying the customer segment that will be served by your product. Great products are built for specific people with specific needs. For instance, designing a car for single urban professionals under 35 differs significantly from designing for suburban families with three kids and a dog. If you think your product is for everyone, you’re mistaken. A strong way to begin your paragraph is: “Today, [customer segment] has [problem], which they currently solve using [methods A, B, and C]…” Next, quantify the problem: → How large is the segment? (e.g., 17 million households) → What methods do they use? (e.g., 45% use A, 25% use B, 30% use C) → What are the tradeoffs? (e.g., speed, cost, quality) Here’s an example for a hypothetical robot vacuum product: “Today, 15 million busy urban and suburban professionals earning between $100,000 and $200,000 struggle to find the time and energy to keep their homes clean. Approximately 30% of these households use traditional vacuuming, which requires up to 2 hours per week. 55% hire a cleaner at a minimum of $50/week, and 15% use robot vacuums that cost $600 plus $100/year in maintenance, while leaving behind up to 30% of dust and dirt.” This problem paragraph quantifies the customer problem in terms of money, time, and other metrics where possible (in this case, the dust and dirt left behind). The problem should always be quantified; otherwise, how can you assess the potential value of a product that solves it? Well-defined customer problems are built on data-based insights. Insights are gleaned from swimming in data and metrics. This includes customer usage metrics, process or operations metrics, user interviews, demographic data, customer feedback, customer support data and anecdotes. The more data-based and specific your insight, the more accurate and helpful your problem paragraph will be. This is why the process can take months. However, distilling these quantified insights into a single paragraph gives you the best chance at building a truly useful product. At Amazon, this paragraph was always the most debated section in a PR/FAQ. This is because getting the problem wrong is the worst mistake you can make in building a product. Everywhere else, you can pivot. But if the problem is incorrectly diagnosed, nothing else matters. (cont. in comments)

Our client landed a director-level role in the wellness space. Time to offer: 62 days. Here are 7 strategies they used to make it happen: 1. They Started By Gaining Clarity Personalization wins in this market. In order to personalize, you need to have a clear target. We started by: - Prioritizing goals (Comp, Management, Culture, etc) - Defining examples of "great" for each - Brainstorming ways to vet companies for each criteria 2. That Clarity Was Used To Build A Scorecard The steps above allowed them to create a set of actions they could use to “score” opportunities. When a new opportunity came across their desk? They ran through that set of actions. Then they looked to see how many criteria this opportunity met compared to their total criteria. That allowed them to give each opportunity a “Match Score.” 3. They Went Deeper On A Smaller Set Of Companies That scoring system allowed them to know which opportunities were worth investing in -- before they applied or networked. Now they could invest 100% of their time and energy into a smaller set of companies that matched their values. So they didn’t have to apply to hundreds of jobs in order to land an interview. 4. They Prioritized Company Research They didn't just browse the company's "About" page. They dug deeper to identify each company's goals, challenges, and initiatives for the next 6-12 months. - They combed the company's website - They analyzed reviews - They explored marketing channels - They checked news articles and blog posts 5. They Identified An Angle They knew that simply relying on a resume and some interview answers wasn’t going to cut it. That research led to the discovery of an online community that drove a lot of engagement for the company. They decided that this community was going to be the angle they’d use to personalize their value proposition, and to go above and beyond to stand out. 6. They Built Out Their Pitch They performed an audit of that community. They compared their findings to the company's goals and challenges. Then they created a Value Validation Project in Notion. It consisted of 3-4 ideas that addressed each of the company's major initiatives, along with ways for the company to address those within that community. 7. They Used This To Personalize Their When they were interviewing, they didn't just summarize their background. Instead, they leaned into all of the research and preparation they invested. They made their answers about the company's needs and goals. While other job seekers were going wide and shallow? Our client went deep on a smaller set of value-aligned companies. That's how you land a great job in today's "impossible" market.

Stop guessing your growth path. Map it instead with the Lean Canvas model. Last year a client was losing cash after a bad investment. Their Board wanted a clear plan, but management's ideas were scattered. Pressure rose as their cash runway shrank. I used a blank Lean Canvas and met with management. Box by box, we turned fuzzy thoughts into clear statements. In a few hours, the team could see the whole business on one page. A week later, decisions sped up, waste was cut, and revenue began increasing. The Board praised the new focus because just one sheet had replaced weeks of endless slides. 1. Start with the Problem box because pain fuels purchase: ⇀ List the top three headaches your market hates. ⇀ Ask customers for blunt complaints. ⇀ Rank pains by urgency and frequency.  ⇀ If the pain is weak, the plan is weak. 2. Name the Customer Segments who wake up with that pain: ⇀ Avoid lumping everyone together - be precise. ⇀ Describe one real person, not a demographic blur. ⇀ Note where they already search for help. ⇀ Specific faces drive focused solutions. 3. Your Unique Value Proposition attracts attention: ⇀ Write it like a headline your customer would repeat. ⇀ Highlight the biggest outcome, not features. ⇀ Short, clear value wins the click. ⇀ Keep it under ten words. 4. Now sketch your Solution: ⇀ Draft three bare-bones features solving each top pain. ⇀ Mockup screens or sketches quickly. ⇀ Show them to five prospects tomorrow. ⇀ Speed beats perfection in early design. 5. Channels tell you how messages travel to wallets: ⇀ Pick the two cheapest tests before buying ads. ⇀ Leverage existing communities and email lists. ⇀ Measure response time and cost per lead. ⇀ Cheap learning outruns expensive guessing. 6. Revenue Streams prove the idea can feed itself: ⇀ State exactly who pays, how much, and how often. ⇀ Compare price to the pain’s current cost. ⇀ Pilot a single pricing tier first. ⇀ Real cash beats hypothetical guesses. 7. Analyse Cost Structure for sustainability: ⇀ List the three largest costs and make them variable. ⇀ Negotiate monthly, not annual, contracts. ⇀ Lean costs preserve runway for learning. ⇀ Automate before hiring. 8. Key Metrics keep founders honest on progress: ⇀ Choose one north-star metric and two support numbers. ⇀ Link each metric to habit or revenue. ⇀ Track weekly in one simple dashboard. ⇀ What gets graphed gets fixed faster. 9. Finally, name your Unfair Advantage: ⇀ This is the asset rivals can’t match. ⇀ Lean on unique data, patents, or proven community. ⇀ Document founder expertise that speed cannot buy. ⇀ Without moats, margins leak. 10. Don't forget to summarise your high-level concept and identify early adopters too. Review our lean canvas model weekly to stay on track with your strategy. What's your favourite strategic model? ------- ♻️ Repost to help others in your network. Follow Jonathan Maharaj FCPA for more insights on accounting, finance and leadership.

After helping over 150 startups craft their value propositions, this is the best way we've found to build them ⬇️ Robert Kaminski 🎯 and I moved away from doing long term consulting with one company at a time, and switched to a volume-based business for one main reason: We wanted as many opportunities as possible to improve our framework for value proposition creation. By narrowing our scope of focus to something hyper-specific (i.e. helping early stage pre-product-market-fit startups write their homepages), it allowed us to: 1) drastically decrease our price point from where it was with custom consulting 2) work with a TON of startups in the exact same stage 3) continuously test, update, improve, and ship new versions of our framework The canvas below has been the singular focus of our business for the last year and a half, and this is version 8403 (jk, but it has gone through a crazy amount of iterations). You've probably seen us post various versions as we've updated it, but we've never done a dedicated post on how to actually USE the canvas. And through countless rounds of trial and error, we've found it's best to not just go left to right but to follow a very specific pattern that jumps you around the canvas. Follow the directions below in the carousel — and let me know how it goes! #productmarketing #saas #startups

One question turns failed PropTech pitches into closed deals. And most vendors never ask it. Here's the strategy alignment secret nobody's talking about. Last week, I watched another great product get rejected. Strong features. Clear value prop. But they pitched long-term efficiency to a merchant builder focused on exit value. Now they're wondering why the deal went nowhere. Here's how to align your pitch with their investment strategy: 1. Focus on strategy, not just asset type The secret isn't just knowing office from multifamily. It's understanding their investment timeline: Most vendors only see: • Office vs. retail • Multifamily vs. industrial • Class A vs. Class B Smart sellers also ask: • Hold period length • Exit strategy • Value creation timeline • Cash flow priorities Most fail because they stop at asset class. 2. Tailor your pitch to their timeline For long-term holders, focus on: • Operational efficiency • NOI improvement • Portfolio-wide impact • Solution stability • Compound ROI over time For short-term players, emphasize: • Repositioning acceleration • Lease-up support • Quick implementation • Flexible contract terms The timeline mismatch breaks more deals than price. 3. Ask the right questions first Start with: • "What's your typical hold period?" • "Are you looking to stabilize and hold or exit?" • "How do you handle property management?" • "What's your current solution stack?" Not: • "What types of properties do you own?" • "How many units do you have?" • "What systems are you using now?" • "When can we demo our product?" 4. Connect your value to their strategy Your pitch should show: • ROI within their ownership window • Value that matters to their strategy • Implementation that fits their timeline • Flexibility that matches their exit plans Never assume: • All owners want long-term savings • All GPs prioritize NOI • All buildings are forever holds • All operators think the same 5. Become a strategic partner Investment strategy changes everything: • It shapes their decision criteria • It determines their value metrics • It drives their timeline needs • It defines their success The difference between just another vendor and a strategic partner is understanding their investment strategy. Want to learn how the best PropTech companies align their pitches to investment strategies? Check out our free PropTech Pipeline Playbook email course in the comments.

If I had to start my 6-figure business, this would have been my first few steps (with a real example at the end) - Step 1: Identify Your Unique Value Implementation: - Complete a "Before & After" grid: List what clients experience before working with you (pain points) and after (benefits) - Use the "So What?" test: For each feature you offer, ask "so what?" until you reach the true benefit - Tools: Miro for visual mapping, Google Forms to survey past clients about what they valued most Step 2: Analyze Your Competition - Create a simple competitor matrix: List 5 competitors across the top, key service features down the side, mark what each offers - Highlight pricing, deliverables, timelines, and guarantees to find underserved areas - Tools: Ahrefs for keyword research on competitors, notion for tracking competitive intelligence Step 3: Define Your Ideal Client - Draft a "Day in the Life" scenario for your ideal client, focusing on their challenges and objectives - Plot clients on a 2x2 matrix: "Easy to Work With" vs. "Profitable" to identify patterns in your best clients - Tools: Make Persona for creating client avatars, LinkedIn Sales Navigator for researching prospect profiles Step 4: Craft Your Offer - Write your offer using the PAS formula: Problem-Agitation-Solution in under 100 words - Create a bulleted "This Includes/This Doesn't Include" list for clarity - Tools: Hemingway Editor to simplify language, Loom to record a 60-second pitch for testing Step 5: Test and Refine - A/B test two versions of your offer in outreach emails or discovery calls - Track conversion metrics: inquiry-to-call and call-to-client ratios - Tools: Calendly for tracking booking rates, TypeForm for collecting prospect feedback Real-World Example: BEFORE:  "WordPress development services at competitive rates." AFTER:   "7-day WordPress sites for fitness coaches that convert 30% better, with same-day tech support and DIY training included." This focused offer speaks directly to a specific client's needs, timeline concerns, and desired business outcomes. Hope this helps!

Most brilliant ideas die not because they’re bad, but because they’re pitched wrong. And that collapse usually happens in the first 90 seconds. A 2023 McKinsey study found that senior leaders make decisions up to 5x faster when information is presented with clarity and relevance rather than sequence and storytelling. And neuroscience backs this up. Our prefrontal cortex, the part involved in complex decision-making, has limited working-memory capacity (about 3–4 chunks of information at a time). If your pitch starts with a long background story, you overwhelm the very system you’re trying to engage. You feel you have no influence? Let’s fix that. 𝟭. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 Executives process outcomes first, explanations second. Open with: “The decision I’m asking you to make today is…” This immediately reduces cognitive load and boosts listener retention by up to 30%, according to research. 𝟮. 𝗔𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗿 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗮 𝗶𝗻 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 Executives listen for impact drivers (P&L, risk, timing, strategic alignment, reputation…) If your idea doesn’t connect to their priorities, it becomes noise. 𝟯. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝟯-𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 Layer 1 The One Sentence Your idea in 12 words. If you can’t explain it simply, it’s not clear, and the brain can’t store it. Layer 2 The Value State the pain and the outcome. One slide. One paragraph. Keep it simple and straightforward. Layer 3 The Proof Pilot data, customer insight, small wins… you need facts that make the idea tangible. And remember... people trust a message more when it includes a concrete marker of progress. 𝟰. 𝗘𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 Senior leaders don’t buy ideas. They buy safe momentum. Close with: “The smallest low-risk step we can take is…” Micro-commitments trigger the brain’s preference for loss avoidance. We’re more willing to start small because the perceived threat is low. And it goes without saying that you always need to prepare for objections. Executives consistently push on cost, risk, and timing. When you proactively address these, you signal confidence and reduce perceived uncertainty. Common mistakes that people make (that kill a pitch)? - Starting with a long narrative instead of the decision - Explaining the problem in painful detail - Using vague verbs such as “improve,” “optimize,” “enhance” - Not making an explicit ask - Pitching to be liked instead of aligned - Having no clue of the company’s priorities And a small trick before you enter the room to enhance your influence… Ask yourself: “What do I want them to feel?” Your intention shapes your tone and tone shapes the room. Ready? GO!