Five hundred and sixty (560). That is how many commercial Chapter 11 filings occurred in April 2020, a 26% increase from the same time the year prior.

That is 560 data points proving that creating a value proposition is not a one-time deal, unless you want to be left behind as the market shifts and your business changes to meet those new market needs. Just consider the year 2020 as a microcosm for these shifts. The economy, technology, consumers, and nearly every market in every industry have changed significantly in a few short weeks because of the Covid pandemic.

Some of the companies are large brick-and-mortar retailers like J. Crew, Neiman Marcus, and JCPenney. The market had been trending to online sales for quite some time, yet they got complacent and continued with their legacy brick-and-mortar retail strategy. Coronavirus simply accelerated the consumer transition to e-commerce apparel shopping, leaving these iconic stores behind.

Earlier this year…January to be exact…which feels like a different time and a bygone era, I wrote an article on the essentials of the value proposition to tell an epic fundraising story (“Is Your Fundraising Story Epic? Blueprint: How to Open Doors to Funding Starts with the Value Proposition”). The fundamentals to create or reshape the value proposition still apply. After all, your company culture, your product, and, most of all, your why constitute the raw material for the destiny of your company. But how many of the 560 companies who filed for Chapter 11 in April could have avoided bankruptcy proceedings if they revisited their value proposition and evaluated some of the following questions:

  • What is your “why”?
  • Why is it your “why”?
  • Is there still a need for your product or service? What problem does it solve for customers?
  • Is there a better way to deliver your product or service for today’s market?
  • Is your product still unique?
  • Do customers inherently understand what your product is and how it helps them?
  • Does your value proposition compel your target audience practically AND emotionally?
  • Can your product or service transcend a crisis?
  • The numbers tell the story…have you paid attention to your bottom line?

To learn more on how to create a winning value proposition at any company stage or as part of an effective 1-page executive summary and pitch deck, contact me for a complimentary consultation by phone at 314-578-0958 or by email at ilebow@transformationsolutions.pro.