Value Proposition Development

I helped transform a South American agency into a market leader in the US. If your business is expanding into new regions too, read this 👇🏻 First thing you need to do: Throw out the rulebook that got you to this level of success. Reinventing yourself is critical. Why? Because each market is unique. What worked in the last market will likely not work here. → Your pricing model won’t translate → Your proposal format won’t resonate → Your communication style may confuse Remember: you’re not scaling, you’re starting over. Expansion is a reinvention, not a duplication. Yes - sticking to tried and tested SOPs is good. But adapting your approach to cater to new people is far more important. Agencies that win in new markets listen to what the consumer wants and make iterations. Blindly copying old processes won’t help you conquer new lands.

Most service businesses fail at differentiation. Want proof? Visit 20 tech agency websites. 16 will say nearly the exact same thing: "We're a full-service digital agency delivering innovative solutions." Translation: "We have no idea who we are or why clients should choose us." When everyone tries to be everything to everyone, you end up being nothing to anyone. Here's my step-by-step framework for creating a service offering that actually stands out: → Step 1: Start with WHO, not WHAT Don't list capabilities first. Define the specific client profile you serve best. "Tech startups between seed and Series A with distributed dev teams" beats "businesses of all sizes." → Step 2: Narrow down to specific pain points Not "marketing challenges" but "trouble scaling customer acquisition after product-market fit while maintaining CAC under $100." → Step 3: Show the "Before & After" state Document what life looks like before working with you, and the promised land afterwards. Be ruthlessly specific. → Step 4: Package your methodology Give it a name. Make it tangible. "Our 5-phase implementation process" is forgettable. "The Revenue Acceleration Framework" sticks. → Step 5: Price for positioning, not hours Commodity pricing = commodity perception. Value-based pricing signals confidence. → Step 6: Say what you DON'T do The magic happens when you explicitly eliminate services from your offering. "We don't do X, Y or Z" is more powerful than "We do A through Z." I used this exact framework to transform my agency from competing on price to commanding premium rates with a waitlist of clients. Your most valuable business asset isn't your client list or your team. It's clarity about who you serve and how you serve them differently than anyone else. What's stopping you from getting brutally specific about your service offering?

I’ve spent years helping B2B companies build and standardize sales messaging. Here’s my model, in five acts. 1️⃣ Define the problem Your prospect called because they have a problem to solve. Help them tell you. ▶ Reflect domain knowledge about the big issues that trigger buying cycles ▶ Land on a clear, simple, mutually agreed statement getting to the heart of the problem 2️⃣ Frame the decision You’re talking to someone trying to understand their options and choose the right one. Help them make sense of what’s in front of them. ▶ Offer your expert perspective on their options, what makes them different, and where your product sits ▶ Be honest about the advantages and disadvantages 3️⃣ Share your unique value Your company or product solves your buyer’s problem in a certain way, which unlocks value that’s hard to get anywhere else. ▶ Tell them what the unique value is ▶ Make it short, sharp, and simple 4️⃣ Break down product capabilities What new abilities do buyers gain from your product? ▶ Tell them what they will do with it that they couldn’t before ▶ It will probably come down to 3-5 short present-tense action statements ▶ Then, reinforce this narrative with your demo 5️⃣ De-risk the decision Prospects are looking for reasons to say no. Take them off the table. This means speaking directly to things like: ▶ Your bona fides ▶ Relevant case studies  ▶ Value relative to cost (i.e., the price and the business case) ▶ How you support the implementation ▶ How you stand by your product ▶ Support after the sale And anything else you need to say to diffuse concerns. After that, you’ll have your obligatory call-to-action/next steps section. But you know all about that already because you’re smart. That’s pretty much it. PS: I am sharing this as a highly distilled, foundational mental model, not a template. You can use it as a framework for writing a deck, developing a sales elevator pitch, or as a jumping-off point for deeper sales messaging and assets. This framework can support a big, lofty narrative as well or a nitty gritty, in-the-weeds approach. Treat it as a springboard, not a Mad Libs exercise.

I had a call this week with a founder who has been running an open, free beta. The product has been really well received, and a significant (impressive, actually) number of users have come from many different industries and sectors. Now, he wants investment to develop the product further and market it. Here's what I told him: 1. Investors need to know who your target customer is, how big of a market that is, and where you will get to them. Niches = Riches and Broad = Broke. 2. Investors want to see traction, which means revenue (for his business). You must show them the customer is willing to pay for your service (metric: Monthly Recurring Revenue) and stick with it (metric: Lifetime Value of the Customer). That's all easy for me to say, right? Well, I gave him specific action items: 1. Nail down who your target customer is going to be. a. Survey your customers - give them something small to encourage participation (like an Amazon gift card) and ask them: i. Their industry - see if you're naturally already serving a specific customer type you can focus on. ii. What problems you've solved for them with your product. Sometimes, it's different from the original problem/solution you thought it would be. iii. How much they are willing to pay for the services. This is key - the product can't be free forever. iv. To rank the features in order of importance to them. Again, you might be surprised, plus you'll see what is the most valuable. v. What features they'd be interested to see in the future. Keeping the customer is just as critical as acquiring them. b. Review the data. Find the lowest-hanging fruit. c. Find out how big the market through industry data/stats. d. Ask your current customers in the identified target market to make introductions and give them a free month of service for every new client they bring in (i.e., an affiliate program). 2. Turn on payment for the full product offering and limit the features for the free model. a. Figure out what you can charge through A/B testing. b. Survey the customers unwilling to pay to find out why and what they'll use instead (which will help identify the competition). c. Measure customer acquisition cost (CAC), customer retention (Lifetime Value of the Customer), monthly recurring revenue (MRR), user growth, and revenue growth for at least six months. Here's one thing I didn't need to help this founder with - understanding the value of his customer. He knows that his customers ARE his business. And that, along with the above and more, will make him investable.

You don’t need a product to test your side hustle. You need proof someone will pay for it. The biggest mistake I see people make? Quitting their job for an unvalidated idea. After helping launch multiple businesses (and watching countless fail), I've learned: Success leaves clues. Validation creates confidence. Smart testing beats blind faith. Swipe → for my battle-tested validation framework. How to Validate Your Side Hustle 📝 The 3-List Test ↳ Your Skills ↳ Market Demands ↳ What People Pay For ✓ Ideas must hit all 3 circles to proceed 🔍 The 24-Hour Survey ↳ Ask 10 potential customers ↳ "What's your biggest challenge with X?" ✓ If 7/10 share same pain point, continue 💰 The Price Check ↳ "Would you pay $X for a solution?" ↳ Start high, negotiate down ✓ Target: 3 people commit real money 👥 The Competition Scan ↳ No competition = No market ↳ Too much = Need unique angle ✓ Find 3 competitors making real money ⏳ The Weekend Test ↳ Launch MVP in 48 hours ↳ No coding, just manual work ✓ Get 1 paying customer before scaling 📈 The Platform Play ↳ Test on existing marketplaces ↳ Use others' traffic first ✓ 10 sales prove initial concept 🏗️ The Scale Check ↳ Calculate hours vs. revenue ↳ Project 6-month growth ✓ Need 3x your hourly rate to scale Red Flags: • "Everyone" is your customer • Can't explain it in 10 seconds • Requires huge upfront investment • No one's actively searching for it Green Lights: • Specific audience with money • Clear, urgent problem • Can start solo, scale with team • Existing market, unique angle Your first idea rarely wins. Your first customer changes everything. Which validation step are you on? Share below ⬇️ ♻️ Repost to help other creators ➕ Follow Kabir Sehgal for more business frameworks

When I started tarka, I had 0 customers and 100 problems. Today, we have a waitlist of 50 qualified customers and a "path" to product-market fit. Here's my 3-step strategy that made it possible: (This could well be your task list for the next 3+ months) Step #1 → Validate the value proposition Don't assume you know what customers want. Test it. Create at least 3 different value propositions for your idea. Then, reach out to potential customers and ask them to rate each one on a scale of 0-10. Go deeper: Ask them to rank the propositions together and explain their thinking. This gives you quantitative and qualitative data to work with. The highest-rated proposition becomes your focus. Step #2 → Create a pilot offer Forget about building a fully-fledged product. Start with a pilot. When we tested Tarka's concept, we created three different pilot versions: small, medium, and large. This allowed us to test price sensitivity and feature preferences. Pro tip: Include a 50% "pilot discount" for your first round. It incentivizes early adopters and gives you room to increase prices later, with the same users. You could also just grandfather them in. Step #3 → Convert them to a pilot When a potential customer shows interest, don't just say yes to everything. Dig deeper. Ask questions like: - "Why is that a requirement?" - "What about that is absolutely necessary?" - "Can we deliver that faster or slower?" These conversations help you design a pilot that truly takes care of a burning problem. Don't rush to create a perfect product. Learn as much as possible WHILE delivering real value. With these strategies, we turned Tarka from an idea into a waitlist of 50 qualified customers in just a few months. Your turn: Implement these steps. I promise you'll uncover insights you have never considered before. P.S. If you're struggling with identifying customer problems, check out my previous post on turning prospective customers into solvable problems.

I was speaking with someone a few days ago about FAB (Features, Advantages, Benefits), and then it struck me—how often we skip straight to features and wonder why sometimes our pitches don’t resonate with the customers. The truth? Features might inform, but it’s the benefits that sell. Here’s the breakdown: Features are the specs, processes, or tools behind the service—important for credibility, but not what convinces a client. Advantages start to show why our approach or tools stand out compared to alternatives. This is good, but it often doesn’t spark that client “aha” moment. Benefits? That’s where we connect to the client’s needs, aspirations, and goals. Benefits say, “Here’s how our service makes a real impact on your business.” Take, for example, a supply chain visibility solution: - Feature: Real-time, end-to-end visibility across the supply chain. - Advantage: Enables faster response to disruptions than standard reporting. - Benefit: Reduce stockouts, improve customer satisfaction, and build a resilient brand that’s prepared for the unexpected. So, how do you implement FAB effectively? 1. Customize for Each Client: Benefits vary depending on the client’s priorities. For a premium brand, it might be about “ensuring product availability for demanding customers.” For a value-oriented brand, it could be “optimizing costs through efficient inventory management.” Speak to each client’s unique goals. 2. Tell a Story: Clients remember scenarios, not specs. Frame FAB through real-world examples that show how your service addresses their specific challenges. Example: For a client struggling with fluctuating product availability, share a story about another brand that used real-time visibility to catch bottlenecks before they happened, keeping shelves stocked even during a sudden demand spike. Relate how this enhanced customer loyalty and built trust in the brand’s reliability. By crafting a vivid scenario around FAB, you help the client picture your solution working for them, making the benefits tangible and memorable. 3. Balance in Messaging: FAB is perfect for deep dives like presentations or proposals, but in shorter interactions, focus on benefits and let features and advantages subtly support. Example: In a short pitch, instead of listing “real-time visibility” (feature) or “faster response times” (advantage), highlight how “our solution ensures shelves stay stocked and customers keep coming back” (benefit). You might briefly mention the underlying feature (“using real-time data”), but let the benefit drive the message. This way, you’re speaking directly to the client’s goals, catching their attention with what matters to them most, and making a memorable impact, even in a short touchpoint. When talking about services, lean heavily into benefits. Clients want to see how your services drive tangible impact—not just what’s under the hood. How have you used FAB in your pitches? #cpg #cpgindustry #consumerproducts

The key to success in your service business is nailing your Offer. But here’s how you might be BSing it: Your Offer is what you provide as a service and encompasses all the benefits, features, value, reasons to buy, and sooo much more. It’s an absolutely critical component to growing a service business. But an easy pitfall is adding a bunch of filler services that don’t actually drive results for your customers. BSing your offer like this only causes more inefficiency in your business and annoyance with your clients. You might think you're doing 10 things that are effective, but only 3 of them are truly valuable. The rest is just wasted time and energy. That’s why I love diving deep into the offer process. When you go through the process of nailing your offer and diving deep into what matters to your client and their customers, you’ll be forced to: • Truly understand what hurts your customer • Identify the highest level pains • Provide the highest level solutions • Deliver extreme value And when you nail your Offer, you’ll trim the fat from your business and achieve 4 key things: 1. Simplify: Cut out the busy work and focus on offering the few services that actually produce results. 2. Productize: Turn your service into a product with clear deliverables, inputs, and outputs. 3. Systemize: Create SOPs, document processes, and build a team around your offer. 4. Maximize Value: Instead of charging $10,000 for $12,000 of value, you package $50,000 of value into a $10,000 offer. But you can only get there with transparency and genuine care for the client’s business and their customer. How many of you have spent dozens of hours obsessing about your customer’s problems to where those problems became your problems? So, at the end of the day: Don't get caught offering services that don't provide any value just to inflate your price. Narrow it down and charge for what truly makes an impact.

There’s one thing I use with all of my clients - an experimentation framework. Every month, we brainstorm ideas to close the gap between our demo request goal and what we think we can drive with the resources we have. Here’s how it works. 1 - The brainstorm meeting. This is where we pull a lot of the GTM team, including Sales, into a room for an hour to come up with as many ideas of things we can try as possible. No bad ideas. Also, this list can be added to throughout the month. 2 - Triage the ideas by scoring them. We score on a few different values - 1) Which KPI(s) it will influence. 2) How much effort it is to build. 3) What possible impact it might have on those KPIs. 4) Which areas it touches (to ensure we’re not only doing work in one area or only focused on short-term initiatives). 5) How confident we are that it will work. 3 - Choose which to work on. My preference is we tackle 3 of these per month - but this is all depending on the resources we have. The score is what’s primarily used to determine what gets worked on; however, some judgment is also used in this stage. 4 - Build a plan for how to bring each of these to market and assign a single owner. 5 - Implement and optimize - usually an MVP. It’s important to not over-engineer the solution in this stage because it’s an experiment. You should be a little embarrassed by the quality at this point - if you’re not, you may have spent too much time on it. 6 - Revisit the data and determine if it’s something to continue doing. If so, put it up on a shelf and put more money towards it. You also might consider if you want to put more development behind it to make it less of an MVP. This can all be managed in Airtable with a framework I got from the one and only Guillaume "𝑮" Cabane. If you’d like a copy of this framework - let me know. If enough folks would like it, I’ll create a clean version and get it out.

Agencies need offers that deliver value QUICKLY without being perceived as tactical, commodity, vendor junk. I'll give you three. The Dilemma: We want our clients to see us as strategic partners but we struggle with long sales cycles... it's just hard to convince clients to buy something strategic NOW when they've got tactical issues to deal with. I've pulled a few exercises from last week's workshop on service design... these three offers can be combined to accelerate your sales process without sacrificing your positioning as strategic partners. They'll also help you gain the buy-in you need from other stakeholders to sell your longer term service engagements. TRIGGERS: Remember that when clients talk about their business opportunities and challenges it doesn't mean they're willing to do anything in the short term. If you want to close a deal quickly you're better off aligning the offer with a current initiative: a project with timelines, budget and human resources. VENDORIFIED: Resist the temptation to fill tactical execution roles. You'll forever be an order taker in your client's eyes and you won't get an invite back to the decision maker table. Three STRATEGIC offers: 1. The Alignment Workshop (page 3) Steve Lishansky defines an indispensable partner as someone that understands what is most important to their clients. The problem is that clients rarely understand, share or agree on their most important business opportunities. Your first offer should always be CLARITY. Clarity about the goals and gaps in their current initiatives. You'll need is a point of view to facilitate the conversation. What are the top three capabilities necessary for your clients to capture their greatest business opportunities and navigate their greatest challenges? When I run alignment workshops I discuss their abilities to (1) talk about, (2) sell and (3) deliver their strategic services. 2. The Benchmark (page 4) Peter Caputa has armed thousands of agencies with the ability to benchmark their clients' performance. Why? INSIGHTS are a free ticket into leadership conversations: - organizational capabilities - performance metrics - budget allocation They're irresistible to decision makers and position you as part of the decision making process. 3. The Roadmap (page 5) Use your insights and experience to give clients a phased map of initiatives. Help them document goals, team roles, activity timelines and budget. You probably do this for free as part of your current proposal process, marginalizing your strategic value. Charge for it if you want clients to take you seriously. Combine all three and you've got a 3-5 week strategic offer that sets you up for long term success as an indispensable partner, not an easily replaceable vendor. (Charge 10-20% of whatever your clients typically pay you for the year) Have fun, drop some ideas below or shoot me a DM if you're working on offers. #agency #servicedesign