Inside Out Value Propositions

If you haven't yet watched Simon Sinek's TEDx video that explores his model, The Golden Circle, you really should WATCH IT HERE.  Although Sinek focuses on applying the Golden Circle specifically to leadership, I think it is highly relevant for how any marketer or entrepreneurial business should think about approaching marketing.

 

Sinek's premise is that most leaders and companies mistakenly focus their positioning on their product's benefits instead of their unique point of difference.  His contention is that being passionate about your "why" is the key to energizing not only your internal team but your customers, too.   

 

This "why" is often the reason why your business was started: because you (or the founder) passionately believed that you had a unique way of meeting an unmet need.  To understand how Sinek's model relates to a classic value proposition, substitute "why" for "Point of Difference" in this positioning framework.  

 

Sinek cites some great examples of how companies like Apple and leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. have found success by focusing on the why.  He also uses TIVO as an example of what happens when you fail to speak passionately about your unique point of difference to a relevant audience.  

ENTREPRENEURS THINK DIFFERENTLY 

Not surprisingly, successful entrepreneurs approach problem solving very differently than do their equally successful large company peers.  It all boils down to something called effectual reasoning.  

 

In plain English that basically means that entrepreneurs are "brilliant improvisers" and create their goals along the way, based on specific situations and the tools available to them at the time.  Their corporate counterparts, on the other hand, excel at deliberately setting goals to solve specific problems and then creating plans to achieve those goals. 

 

Saras Sarasvathy's fascinating study findings were summarized in a great Inc. magazine article, How Great Entrepreneurs Think.  Click Here to read the full article.