The purpose of an offering is to create value and succeed. In other words, it creates value for your customer and brings you success. Success has three main components. First, there is viability. This means that your offering survives or thrives in the way you want things to work out. Second, there is aesthetics. This means that you like your offering. Third, there is ethics. This means that you believe your offering is the right thing to do.
A value proposition is the set of promises that your offering makes to your customer. Some of these promises matter and some don’t. On one hand, there is one promise that matters most to you. This promise is the main promise. On the other hand, there is one promise that matters most to your customer. This promise is the main preference. The success of your offering depends on the main promise and the main preference being the same. To win, your wants and needs must match the wants and needs of your customer.
The best possible offering is one that creates value and succeeds. On one hand, you know your offering creates value when your customer chooses to pay you for it. Value creation is all about your customer’s needs and wants. On the other hand, you know your offering is a success when it meets your expectations. Success is all about your needs and wants. You know that you have the best possible offering when both you and your customer win.
Each one of your offerings makes a set of promises to your customers. Some of these promises matter and some don’t. No matter what you sell there is one promise that matters the most. This main promise is the focus of the most successful offerings. Success means that your offering meets your expectations. It’s all about your wants and needs. The way to succeed begins and ends with focus. The lack of focus leads to failure.
Each of your offerings has a value proposition. This means you need to have a clear picture of how each one will create value and succeed. However, that is not enough for you to survive and thrive. For that to happen, you need to have alignment between offerings. Each offering needs to create value and succeed in a way that fits together. If this is not the case, there will be conflict that leads to failure. It’s just a matter of time.
Knowing what matters means that you see, share and do what matters. It’s the key to the best possible outcome. Knowing what matters is a moving target. The more you know, the more that you know what you don’t know. This means that to know what matters you need the logic of focus. In other words, you need to prioritize what matters and ignore what doesn’t. It’s a never-ending cycle. What matters today, may or may not matter tomorrow.
An offering is a solution that you sell in a market. Each of your offerings has its own value proposition. It is a set of promises that defines the way you will create value. Some of these promises matter and some don’t. The one promise that matters most is the one that your customers want the most and they will pay you to get it. In other words, you know that you create value when people will pay for what you want to sell. This means the value your company creates is no more than the collective value created by all of your offerings.
The logic of an offering is simple. An offering’s purpose is to create value and succeed. In other words, you must have your solution aligned with the market. On one hand, you know your offering creates value when your customer chooses to pay you for it. Value creation is all about your customer’s needs and wants. On the other hand, you know your offering is a success when it meets your expectations. Success is all about your needs and wants.
A minimizer is an offering that makes life easier for your customer. If this is the way you want to play the game, there is one of two possible paths. One path is focus on delivery. This means that you win by minimizing the time to get your offering. The other path is focus on price. This means that you win by minimizing the cost of your offering.
A maximizer is an offering that makes life better for your customer. If this is the way you want to play the game, there is one of two possible paths. One path is focus on flexibility. This means you win by maximizing the customization of your offering. The other path is focus on quality. This means you win by maximizing the functionality of your offering.
