“Once you’ve stated your value proposition,
you don’t have to keep it forever. As a matter
of fact, you should go through the steps again
as a refresh every so often.”
essence of Miraval—who we were at the core of our
business. It was my way of evaluating: are we all saying
the same things? Who is our audience? Is this what we
are offering? It was this internal evaluation with the
team that lead me to go back to the tagline “Life in
Balance.”
Hutchinson Consulting recently partnered together
with Charter Senior Living and LifeCenters Communities
to break ground on Wellpoint at Hampton Cove in
Huntsville, Alabama. Wellpoint at Hampton Cove will
blend senior living, integrative health and wellness,
coworking and a hotel into a new formula for intergener-
ational living. The first phase, the senior living center, will
open in May 2020. The unique selling points of this
facility are the wellness programming, community life,
innovation center, freedom of choice, living in place and
evidence-based research. These were distilled down to
our key message, which would be similar to an elevator
pitch. It is: “Wellpoint celebrates healthy living through a
revolutionary concept that combines innovative wellness,
learning, meaningful engagement with the wider
community, new technology and most importantly, the
freedom to choose.”
You may not need six value propositions in your road
map; you may only need two or three. But remember,
you can’t just say these things, they must be true.
digital messaging
When helping other companies, I specifically zero in on
your business’s website, because that’s going to be the
first impression of your brand for most potential clients,
and it should communicate exactly what you do. You
have between five to 30 seconds to hold the attention of
a viewer on a landing page. When your audience is
viewing your homepage, they should understand the
answers to these questions:
1. What is the company selling?
2. What is the benefit of using it?
3. What makes the offering different from
competitors?
Companies get this wrong when their website highlights
their name or logo more than the message of what the
potential customer is getting from them. Remember: why
should they choose you? The headline is the most
important part of your value proposition. Eye-tracking
studies have shown that people often look at the
headline more than anything else. Use your headline to
give a quick statement summing up the benefit of your
offer.
This is where your reservation staff and front desk
team also come in—they are often the forgotten front
line of the sales process. If employees don’t know what
makes you unique, how will they communicate it when
someone calls to ask questions? You can develop scripts
for the team so that they are all driving home the same
unique selling points, even within the first words they say
to a guest. For example: “Thank you for calling Miraval,
the number one wellness retreat in the nation.”
From there, they can use open-ended questions to
further determine what unique selling points the guest
will want to know about. Asking, “What do you hope to
accomplish while visiting our wellness retreat?” opens
the door to help them share all the other amenities and
offerings the guest might not know about.
Knowing what makes your business unique is half the
battle. Clearly telling the world is the other half. Confirm
your value proposition and make the necessary shifts.
These types of simple changes can make a big impact on
your bottom line. n
carol stratford is a partner at Hutchinson Consulting, where she consults with spas to help
uncover value propositions and marketing opportunities. She previously held marketing leadership
roles with green mountain at Fox run, marriott and miraval resort & Spa, among others.
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