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Value Proposition Template

List what your customer is trying to get done, what gets in the way and what they want. Then list what you offer and tick which pains and gains each part answers. The fit check shows what nothing addresses, and three statement formats turn the canvas into sentences you can say in your next sales call.

The value proposition canvas in plain words

The tool follows the Value Proposition Canvas, which Strategyzer created and which Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Gregory Bernarda and Alan Smith explain in the book Value Proposition Design. It has two halves: a customer profile that describes one customer segment, and a value map that describes your offer.

You have a fit when the value map answers the jobs, pains and gains that matter most to that customer. Strategyzer is clear that a match you drew is still a guess until customers confirm it.

The original canvas and its guide are on strategyzer.com.

  • Customer jobs

    What the customer is trying to get done: tasks to finish, problems to solve, needs to meet. "Write up visit notes before the next stop."

  • Pains

    What annoys them before, during or after the job, or stops it getting done: bad outcomes, obstacles, risks. "Notes typed at night."

  • Gains

    The outcomes and benefits they want, including ones they would not think to ask for. "Evenings back."

  • Products and services

    What you offer that this value proposition is built on. Just the list, no claims yet.

  • Pain relievers

    How your offer removes or eases a specific pain. Each one should point at a pain in the profile.

  • Gain creators

    How your offer produces a specific gain. Each one should point at a gain in the profile.

Three ways to write it

  • Positioning statement

    Geoffrey Moore's template from Crossing the Chasm: "For [target customer] who [need], [product] is a [category] that [key benefit]. Unlike [main alternative], we [key difference]." Good for aligning a team and briefing marketing; too stiff to read out to a buyer.

  • Headline, subheadline and three bullets

    The end benefit in one line, a sentence on what you offer and for whom, then three concrete benefits. This is the shape of a web page hero or the top of a one pager. The bullets come from your first pain relievers and gain creators.

  • Sales conversation

    Problem, impact, how we help, proof. The customer's top pain in their words, what it costs them, the relievers that address it, and a result you can name. This is the version you say out loud.

How to test it in a sales call

  1. 1. Ask before you pitch

    Open with the job and the pain, as questions: "How do you handle visit notes today?" If the pain you listed first never comes up, it may not be the top pain.

  2. 2. Listen for their words

    Write down the exact phrases customers use for a pain. Put those in the canvas instead of your own; the statement will sound like them.

  3. 3. Say the conversation version

    Problem, impact, how we help, proof. Watch for a nod or a follow-up question on the impact: that is the fit confirming itself.

  4. 4. Update the canvas

    After five or so calls, reorder the pains, drop what nobody mentioned and add what surprised you. Then rewrite the statements.

Questions for the first part of the call: discovery questions in sales.

Turning pains into value is the core of value-based selling.

More on selling on value: value-based selling, customer pain points, consultative selling.

Sources

Your customers already told you their pains. Use their words.

The jobs, pains and gains on a good canvas come from customer calls, not a whiteboard guess. Record your discovery calls with ParrotNotes and you have the transcript and a summary of each one, so the canvas says what customers said. Free for 100 minutes of recording a month.

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Value proposition questions