In Sunday's email I said that one of the best ways to create a powerful value proposition is to start with what you want it to be – even if you can't quite deliver on it yet.

Then set yourself the goal of making that value proposition a reality by refining what you deliver.

That way you're spending your time bringing a really strong value proposition to life, rather than wordsmithing a weak one hoping it'll do the trick.

In my next emails I'm going to talk about how to come up with that ambitious, future-focused value proposition.

But it's important to realise that you need to build that future on the strengths you have today.

For a sales trainer, for example, it's great if they decide they want to be seen as the trainer who bases their approach on the latest scientific advancements in the psychology of persuasion and influence.

But if they have no background in that, haven't been keeping up with the latest research and have no idea where to start – it'll take them way too long to get up to speed for this to be a value proposition they could use any time soon.

So it's a good idea to harness what you're already good at and make your future-focused value proposition something that extends it to give you a real edge.

But how do you know what you're already good at vs your competitors?

Well, sometimes you just know of course (though I would definitely check to confirm).

Sometimes you can get it from benchmarking your competitors offerings and what they say about them. I know that my online training is more in-depth and more practical than any competitors I've seen in the areas I cover for example – so that's something I could build on.

But it's important to try to understand it from your clients' perspective too.

That's where the magic email comes in.

In short, the magic is simply that when you sign up a new client, send them a welcome email that asks them what the primary reason they chose to work with you was.

Mostly when we send welcome emails we send our new clients a whole bunch of stuff to do to get started.

Quite rightly, we want to get them going and getting results fast.

But asking them to spend just a few minutes right at the start to answer that question (or an equivalent worded to suit your business) can pay huge dividends.

Of course, you'll have to decode what they say.

When I won my first big consulting project working for Gemini Consulting in the 90s I had dinner with the client decision-maker shortly afterwards. A few beers in I asked him why they chose us vs Accenture who they'd been working with for years.

His answer was that “we just kind of clicked with you and your team more”.

It took me quite a while to figure out what that actually meant and what we could do with it to win more similar projects.

You might need to do the same thinking based on what your clients say.

I can promise you it's worth it. And it will help you understand what direction to take your value proposition in.

And if you haven't been regularly gathering this feedback from new clients, it's well worth reaching out to your more recent clients and asking them.

Of course, I fully recognise that there are far more sophisticated methods for getting this kind of insight from clients. And sometimes getting an external firm to do the research for you helps too.

But if you're a small firm or a solo business, this is a great way to get started fast.