Getting to Wow! by Bill Reichert
by surajksingh · 56 things on Twos
- How to create a value proposition that will dazzle investors
- https://www.garagetechnologyventures.com/resources/getting-to-wow/
- 3/4 sentences spoken by a normal human, understood by a normal human, that captures why your company so interesting?
- Something short and compelling: a “Wow! Statement.”
- Three Key Principles:
- Be clear
- Your listener needs to understand in simple, specific terms what the heck you are talking about
- Be credible
- Let them know something impressive you have already accomplished
- Be compelling
- A dramatic improvement over the current state of the art, not just a nice incremental improvement.
- Be novel or clearly differentiated – something your listeners haven’t heard before.
- Your Wow comes from the size of your advantage
- Your primary objective is to sell
- Four Step Framework
- Part One: Context
- State what you do better than anyone else in simple, easy to understand words
- Part Two: Benefit
- Clarify your unique benefit or advantage
- “The big idea behind [your company] is…”
- For whom is this a big benefit?
- Part Three: Differentiation
- Clarify how you are different from the competition and the alternatives
- “Unlike other companies that offer… because we use...”
- Close: Call to action
- Gets your listener to talk more
- This might be your “mantra” or tagline, along with a call to action
- "Does this sound like an interesting opportunity to you?”
- Other useful approaches are stories and analogies
- Top Ten Additional Tips
- Keep it simple
- The value or benefit of a great innovation is obvious
- Be engaging
- Interesting is an intellectual response; engaging is an emotional response
- Emotional responses are always more compelling
- Avoid negatives
- Don’t disparage the shortcomings of the competition
- Show how you create a better future
- Your audience should feel enchanted, not battered
- It’s not about you
- Make your value proposition customer-focused, not technology-centric
- Anticipate the obvious objections
- Explain how it is different, or why the time and the opportunity are different
- Avoid purple farts
- Don’t use adjectives or pointless phrases
- Never say “nobody can” or “we conservatively project.”
- Use one or two numbers
- Don't make your listener do the math
- Maybe it is about you
- Your Wow statement may be something about your team that makes you the only company that can pull it off
- Is the problem clear?
- It may be best to frame your statement using the problem you are solving, rather than the technology you have invented
- Don’t lie
- The best salespeople are credible and trustworthy
- Keep it simple, crisp, easy to read, and easy to say
- Use it in your email introductions, executive summary, pitch, website, and other communications