Every company has a value proposition. That is a statement of their perceived value to their clients. Often a company will have one perception at the executive level, another at the sales level, and even a third one at the client level.

Value propositions need to be aligned so that the customer is getting a consistent message. If the value proposition is not aligned you will have different level, different directions, and different speeds that not aiming at the same results. If you take the time to find out what others are saying about your value and compare that to what you think your value is, you may be quite surprised that the two values are not the same. If you aim to keep happy customers, then you must change your value proposition to match that of the customer's perception.

I have a colleague that was working on a company assessment to find out if the value proposition from the executive level, sales level, and customer level were the same. What he found was that this company and others of similar size ($100 M in sales) do not align their value proposition to what the customer sees as the value, In fact, he found that what they thought was the best part of their company was actually not very important to the customer.

Ask yourself what your value proposition should be, not what you think it should be. Work with your clients to achieve an alignment of perceived values and actual value. Keep a record of everything that is said about the company and its value. Help them to understand what they bring to the table and you will likely win more business.

Bette Daoust, Ph.D. has been networking with others since leaving high school years ago. Realizing that no one really cared about what she did in life unless she had someone to tell and excite. She decided to find the best ways to get people's attention, be creative in how she presented herself and products, getting people to know who she was, and being visible all the time. Her friends and colleagues have often dubbed her the "Networking Queen". Blueprint for Networking Success: 150 ways to promote yourself is the first in this series. Blueprint for Branding Yourself: Another 150 ways to promote yourself is planned for release in 2005. For more information visit http://www.BlueprintBooks.com