What is a value statement and why is it important?
There is a common misconception in SaaS that value-realization is simply a one-time event where customers understand the benefit of your product. But in today's cost-sensitive business landscape, constantly justifying the value of your product is a must if you want to maintain healthy retention rates. A value statement helps you keep track of each customer’s unique needs alongside your product’s value drivers so you can work with them to achieve their goals.
How to create a value statement
The most important step in developing your value statement is understanding your customer. If you don't know your customer's goals then you will not be able to identify the outcomes that your product or service can deliver to help them achieve those goals. You won’t be able to show how your product or service is delivering value and churn is likely to follow.
If you don’t yet know your customer’s goals, you need to switch to discovery mode. Dig into what the customer is trying to achieve as a business and how your product supports that.
Once you’ve got your customer figured out, you can start drafting your value statement. We’ve made a (free, no email required) template that you can use. You can also use Velaris to create your value statements (more on that later.)
Your value statement should consist of 5 main sections:
1. A relationship summary
This is where you note all the general information about the account, including key personas and specific pain points.
2. Current objectives
This section should list your customer’s most pressing goals for the next 3-6 months. They should be linked to the pain points or value drivers that the customer cares about.
3. Key results
How do you measure the success of your customer’s current objectives? This section is where you should include a specific outcome the customer hopes to achieve.
4. KPIs
What metrics do you use to measure your ongoing performance? List all the key ones here (but remember not to go overboard. 3 should be more than enough).
5. How is our platform influencing decisions?
Beyond KPIs you can show the value of a strategic tool by demonstrating where it adds value to decision making processes.
How to use a value statement?
You can use this document as a cheat-sheet or the equivalent of a battlecard in sales. It should be something you can pull out in the middle of a call and be able to articulate the value that you are providing.
Remember, this is a document that you’ll be relying on over and over again, so we recommend that you regularly review and update it every 90 days.
Get the editable template of our Value Statement here (it’s free, and no email required). Or, keep reading to see how you can do it Velaris.
How to make a value statement in Velaris
If you don’t feel like keeping track of multiple value statement documents for all your accounts, here’s how you can use Velaris’ Success Plan feature to bring them all in one place:
1. Create a Success Plan
2. List your objectives as Milestones
3. Add your KPIs to the “KPI” section of your success plan. If you link them to an Attribute, Velaris will automatically track them for you!
4. Create notes to document how your product influences decisions
Creating your value statements in Velaris means that you have all your cheat-sheets in one place to whip out whenever you need. Plus, Velaris will track your KPIs automatically - that’s one less thing you need to keep updating! You can also set yourself tasks for action items needed to help your customers achieve their goals.
Want to see this (and more!) in action? Book a demo with us.
