Checklist
10 questions to test your value proposition
A value proposition holds up when it answers ten questions a sceptical buyer would ask: who it is for, what problem it solves, what changes for them, why you rather than the alternative or doing nothing, what it costs them in effort, what proves it, whether a customer would say it the same way, whether your sales team does, whether it survives the person who signs, and whether a competitor could claim it word for word. Most B2B propositions pass four or five. The ones that win pass nine.
The ten questions
Answer each honestly, out loud, in one sentence. If the sentence takes more than one breath, that is a no.
1. Who exactly is it for?
A company type, a role and a situation. "Mid-market software companies whose growth has stalled" passes. "Businesses that want to grow" fails, because everyone does.
2. What problem does it solve, in the buyer's words?
The words a customer used in a conversation, not the category name. If you cannot quote a customer, you have not asked one.
3. What changes for them?
A result they would recognise in their own numbers or their own week: deals that stop stalling, a month-end that closes earlier, a board that stops asking the same question.
4. Why you, rather than the obvious alternative?
Name the alternative. Usually it is the incumbent, an agency, doing it in-house or doing nothing. Then say the one thing you do that it does not.
5. Why now, rather than next year?
The cost of waiting, in the buyer's terms. Without it, every proposition loses to "let's revisit this in Q2".
6. What does it cost them in effort?
Time, people, change. A proposition that hides the effort gets found out in procurement. One that names it earns trust.
7. What proves it?
A customer result with a number, a named method, a credential that matters to this buyer. Logos alone are not proof.
8. Would a customer say it the same way?
Ask three. If their description of why they chose you matches your sentence, the proposition is true. If it does not, theirs is the real one.
9. Does your sales team say it the same way?
Ask three salespeople separately. Three answers means the proposition lives in a document, not in the company.
10. Could a competitor claim it word for word?
Swap your logo for theirs. If the sentence still reads as true, it describes the category, not you.
Scoring
Count the clear yeses. Nine or ten: the story is working, and the job is keeping it current. Six to eight: it works in places and leaks in others, usually at questions 4, 5 and 9. Five or fewer: the story is holding growth back and the fix starts with customer evidence, not with rewriting.
The faster version
The Growth Story Score asks 15 questions across the same ground, scores you out of 100 and names the weakest area on screen in four minutes. If you want to see what a proposition that passes all ten looks like, what is a value proposition has the definition and B2B examples, and how to tell if your messaging is working covers what to measure after.
Questions people ask
How often should we test our value proposition?
Every time something changes: a new product, a new market, a new competitor or a new leadership team. Once a year as a minimum, because the market moves whether you do or not.
Who should answer the ten questions?
The CEO, the head of sales and the head of marketing, separately. The gaps between their answers are the first finding.
What if we pass all ten and growth is still flat?
Then the proposition is sound and the problem sits elsewhere: the sales process, the product, the price or the market. That is useful to know before spending on messaging.
Is this the same as the value proposition canvas?
The canvas helps you build one. These questions test whether the one you built will survive a buyer, which is a different job.
Get your Growth Story Score Or speak to Dan or start with the free sales pitch audit