By Saiful Bahri Kamaruddin
Pix Shahiddan Saidi

BANGI, 14 June 2016 – Graduates of The National University of Malaysia (UKM) who want to be entrepreneurs must have a clear statement that explains how their product solves customers’ problems or improves their situation, says Vice-Chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Noor Azlan Ghazali.

Known as the Value Proposition, he said it tells how the product solves the customer’s problem,  delivers specific benefits of quantified value, and  tells the ideal customer why they should buy from you and not from the competition.

“You have to present your value proposition as the first thing the visitors see on your home page, but should be visible in all major entry points of the site, or in your advertisements,” he said when meeting young student entrepreneurs at  the CEO Talk series.

He explained that value proposition is the main factor that determines whether people will bother reading more about your product or hit the back button.

“It’s also the main thing you need to test – if you get it right, it will be a huge boost,” he stressed at the talk organised by the university’s  Centre for Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium Enterprise Development (UKM-CESMED) here on 21 May.

The vice-chancellor, an economist, advised them to test their value proposition because the less known the  company is, the better value proposition is needed.

He said when he saw some online sales pitch, one of the most common shortcomings was that the value proposition were either  missing or of poor value.

He said a value proposition is a promise of value to be delivered.

“It’s the primary reason a prospective customer should buy from you, and not from anyone else,” he argued.

He said budding business people must be clear in convincing potential customers about the value of their products.

“Without value proposition, no matter how good your product, it will become very difficult to sell,” he said.

Another tip he gave is for the business owners to anticipate potential customers what they want by staring abreast with the latest shopping trends.

The best way to do this to this is to ask as many people as possible, i.e a survey or a focus group.

However, he cautioned that value proposition is not a catch-phrase or tag-line of a brand.

He said a typical value proposition would take into account the product or service the  company is selling, the end-benefit of the product,  the target customer, and the uniqueness of the goods.