Know-How Exchange : Strategy

If they don't understand it's because you don't understand it.

Ask yourself a simple question and give yourself a long time to answer it:

What do we do for our membership?

Don't futz with elevator speech stuff . . . take as much time and as many pages as you need . . . get everyone involved . . . really work the thing over until you've exhausted the topic

Now . . . figure out from that what you do for your membership . . . cut out the stuff about "bringing real value to our . . ." and so on. Find the meat in the answer.

Now boil it down to its core message . . . that ought to take a little while too.

That's your value proposition.

I had a project for an international not-for-profit membership organization that basically required that we come up with a clear expression of the value proposition.

It was like peeling an onion ... many layers and levels. I had to interview members all over the world -- some face-to-face, others by phone, and others by email (not very effective) -- to find out what they each thought the real value was. The process took about 4-5 months.

The good news is that it really helped the organization -- from the executive director on down -- clarify what they were all about, what the priorities should be, and how they could accomplish their mission more effectively.

Start with a SWOT analysis that has input from all constituencies. You may also need/want some quantitative market research to identify the "gaps" between what people want and what they think you currently offer.

These should get you pointed in the right direction. If you need more detail, feel free to contact me by clicking on my id at the top of this message.