George's Slusser's earlier post about NAR's forecasted 4% decline in Realtor ranks by the end of the year brought out some great points about the new year fallout; it also reminded me of the snippet below from the Swanepoel Trends Report DVD.

The snippet above is great, at least for me, because I'm a visual guy. And the thing I see immediately in that graphic is, my goodness, look at all the agents! Then, look at the transactions I have to share...! Then more to the point...

What's my differentiator...? How do I stand apart from everybody else when that transaction line is shrinking?

Now, take that snippet from the Trends Report, along with George's reminder that 4% is just the beginning, and agents should start asking -- at least the keen ones should -- "what's my value proposition? How do I communicate that to my client?"

And you know what? It can't be just the presentation binder with the glossies purchased from the brokerage's marketing department. Your value proposition should be the result of a deliberate exercise that gets at the core of your competencies and your ability to deliver unique value to your customer; value that matches your customer's pain.

Problem is, that's not a casual exercise.

Three years ago it was fine to come in with glossies in a binder. But that environment was different. Heck, back then if you threw a dead cat, you bagged a client. (I don't know... I'm on a roll. Just work with me here.)

Today, not only do we have to keep up the skils, training and education, but we also have to constantly re-evaluate how our customers define "pain" in context of changing economic factors. Then, armed with that insight, change-up what we promise to deliver in context of changing technologies, capabilities and skills. I might add, don't just consider your own capabilities and skills, but evaluate your competition's, as well.

Sales and marketing consultant, Michael Perla, presents a sound approach to crafting your value proposition. To paraphrase:

1. Internal Analysis
   a. Think deliberately about how you create value.

   b. What are your core competencies? (This highlights the importance of continuing investments in training, education, skills development.)

   c. How do you differentiate youself from the competition? (And from the Trends Report, it's evident there's a lot of it.)

   d. What capabilities can you bring to bear in fulfilling your promise of value?

   e. Why should your customer accept your particular offer? (How is it different from the unique value your competition is saying she offers?)

2. External Analysis
   a. How will your customer quantify the value you say you will deliver? (Think: metrics.)

   b. How will you link your value proposition to your customer's pain points?

   c. How will you communicate your UVP (unique value proposition) from your competitor's UVP? (How will you say it succinctly? What technologies will you use to say it? A presentation binder? A computer? The internet? Words?)

   d. How will you substantiate that? (Testimonials? Charts? Statistics?)

   e. How will you evolve your business model to deliver higher levels of value? (How do you keep your pulse on the state of change in the market? How well do you respond to change?)

At the end of the day, our unique value proposition relies on our business discipline. Discipline needed to block out time for periodically evaluating responses to each of the questions above.

Until next time. Thinking of your success,

Mel