A 15-Minute Team Exercise to Clarify Your Value Proposition

Your team may know the offer well and still explain it in different ways. A brief exercise can reveal where the message is clear, where it becomes vague, and which claims need better evidence.

Use this activity with colleagues who speak to customers or prepare proposals. The output is one draft value statement and one question to investigate with real customers. It does not establish demand or guarantee a sale.

Prepare one customer situation

Choose a specific customer segment and a familiar problem. Bring a public product description, an anonymised proposal, or a sample offer the team is authorised to discuss. Use fictional details if appropriate material is unavailable.

For broader preparation, start with our five market-readiness questions.

Minutes 0–3: write independently

Ask each participant to complete:

We help [specific customer] achieve [relevant outcome] through [clear approach].

Use ordinary language. “A complete solution for all businesses” does not tell a buyer who the offer is for or what it helps them do. Keep each draft to one or two sentences.

Minutes 3–8: practise a customer conversation

Work in pairs. One person explains the offer while the other takes the customer's role. The customer asks:

• Why does that matter in my situation?
• What would working with you involve?
• What evidence supports the outcome you describe?

Switch roles halfway through. Listen for assumptions, jargon, and promises that need qualification. The aim is to understand the buyer's questions and answer them accurately.

Minutes 8–12: review three qualities

Score each quality as unclear, partly clear, or clear. This is a discussion aid, not a validated assessment.

For example, a fictional training provider might replace “We transform every sales team” with “We help customer-facing teams practise clearer discovery questions through role-play and feedback.” The second statement describes an activity the provider can demonstrate; it does not promise revenue growth.

Minutes 12–15: revise and choose a test

Rewrite the statement using the feedback. Record one assumption that still needs checking, such as whether buyers prioritise the problem or understand the proposed outcome. Decide who will investigate it and what evidence would change the statement.

If the exercise exposes an unclear delivery process, resolve that with the responsible manager. Wording alone cannot repair an offer the company is not equipped to deliver.

Use the result in real work

Apply the revised explanation to one proposal or customer conversation, then review what happened. This moves the activity beyond the workshop. Use our 30-day training application review to agree a baseline, a work sample, and follow-up support.

For a fuller customer-and-offer mapping tool, see Strategyzer's official Value Proposition Canvas. Its customer jobs, pains, and gains can support deeper exploration. The timed activity above is Tibyan's exercise and is not an official Strategyzer workshop.

Explore Business & Marketing Thinking, or contact Tibyan to discuss practice adapted to your team.

Examples are illustrative. Cover image: AI-generated conceptual illustration.