Customer Value Proposition Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Product Marketing Managers, Marketing Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-M-076

Before you join: Participants should have practical exposure to marketing, sales, product management, account management or customer experience work.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Marketing and sales teams often describe products accurately yet fail to show why a buyer should change, pay or prioritise a decision. Generic personas, feature lists and claims such as “save time” do not give account teams a defensible commercial story. The result is low message relevance, stalled opportunities, price pressure and campaigns that attract attention without attracting qualified demand. A credible value proposition begins with evidence about the customer’s situation, desired progress, decision process and economic stakes.

This course develops the ability to research buyer needs, build evidence-based personas, identify jobs to be done and translate customer insight into differentiated value messages. Participants learn to segment audiences, map buying committees, quantify financial and operational benefits, create proof-backed claims and adapt messaging for executives, users, finance teams and procurement. The course also covers competitive positioning, objection handling, value-based sales conversations and governance for consistent claims across marketing and sales materials.

Teaching combines short instructor briefings with sector-based cases, group analysis, message-development workshops, buyer-conversation simulations and individual application planning. Participants work with practical frameworks including Jobs to Be Done, the Value Proposition Canvas, value driver trees and message houses. They leave with a reusable buyer persona and value messaging toolkit, supported by a quantified value case, message architecture and 90-day implementation plan. Delivery is instructor-led over five days, available in classrooms in 50+ cities or live online. Participants receive a certificate of completion.

The course suits marketing, product, sales and customer experience professionals who need to make customer value clearer, more credible and easier for commercial teams to communicate.

What you will be able to do

  • Construct evidence-based buyer personas using interview, win-loss and customer data
  • Conduct Jobs to Be Done analysis to identify customer progress and purchase triggers
  • Segment audiences using needs, buying conditions, value potential and account fit
  • Design differentiated value propositions using the Value Proposition Canvas
  • Quantify customer benefits through value driver trees, ROI and payback calculations
  • Create message architectures with primary promises, proof points and audience variants
  • Adapt value messages for sales conversations, proposals, campaigns and procurement reviews
  • Implement message governance and a 90-day plan for proposition adoption

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Build buyer personas supported by evidence rather than internal assumptions
  • Write value messages that connect product capabilities to customer outcomes
  • Quantify commercial benefits in proposals, business cases and sales conversations
  • Handle competitive comparisons without relying on feature checklists
  • Create reusable messaging assets for campaigns, presentations and account plans

For your organisation

  • Improves message consistency across marketing, sales, product and customer teams
  • Raises campaign relevance through clearer segment and buyer-priority choices
  • Supports value-based selling instead of discount-led commercial conversations
  • Strengthens proposal quality with quantified benefits and credible proof points
  • Creates governance for approved claims, evidence sources and message updates

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define customer value in terms of measurable buyer outcomes and commercial consequences.

  • Commercial value drivers: revenue, cost, risk, speed and strategic outcomes
  • Customer value versus product features, advantages and evidence-backed benefits
  • Value equation linking desired gains, pains, price and switching effort
  • Segment economics: buying context, urgency, budget ownership and decision criteria
  • Quantifying value hypotheses with baseline metrics and financial impact assumptions
  • Distinguishing customer outcomes from supplier activities and internal capabilities
  • Ethical value claims: substantiation, limitations, compliance and customer trust

Participants can create buyer personas based on credible qualitative and quantitative customer evidence.

  • Persona scope defined by buying role, use case and market segment
  • Stakeholder mapping identifies users, champions, influencers, buyers and blockers
  • Interview guides elicit triggers, desired progress, constraints and language
  • Win-loss analysis separates stated reasons from underlying decision patterns
  • Voice-of-customer coding groups evidence into recurring needs and anxieties
  • Persona evidence rated by recency, frequency, credibility and commercial relevance
  • Assumption logs distinguish validated insight from internal opinion

Participants can identify the circumstances, motivations and barriers that shape buyer decisions.

  • Jobs to Be Done interviews identify functional, emotional and social progress
  • Job statements frame circumstance, motivation, desired outcome and obstacles
  • Timeline mapping traces first thought, active search, choice and consumption
  • Push-pull forces explain switching, inertia, anxiety and habit
  • Desired outcome statements use direction, metric, object and context
  • Opportunity scoring prioritises underserved outcomes by importance and satisfaction
  • Purchase triggers separated from enduring needs and downstream outcomes

Participants can prioritise customer segments and identify the stakeholders who influence purchase decisions.

  • Needs-based segmentation groups accounts by problems, economics and buying conditions
  • Firmographic, behavioural and situational variables tested for discriminatory power
  • Segment attractiveness assessed through fit, access, value potential and urgency
  • Ideal customer profile criteria specify account signals and exclusion rules
  • Buying committees mapped by role, influence, information needs and objections
  • Persona cards connect job context, pains, gains, evidence and language
  • Prioritisation matrices compare segment opportunity against delivery capability

Participants can develop differentiated value propositions tied to verified customer needs and proof.

  • Value Proposition Canvas aligns customer jobs, pains, gains and offerings
  • Pain relievers and gain creators linked to verified customer evidence
  • Value propositions state audience, problem, outcome, proof and differentiation
  • Feature-to-benefit translation connects capabilities with operational and financial consequences
  • Value ladders distinguish table stakes, differentiators and strategic outcomes
  • Reason-to-believe inventories assemble proof from data, customers and operations
  • Claim hierarchy prevents generic promises and unsupported superlatives

Participants can build credible value cases using customer metrics, assumptions and financial measures.

  • Value driver trees connect solution effects to customer financial metrics
  • Benefit calculations estimate revenue uplift, cost reduction, risk avoidance and time savings
  • Baseline, target and attribution assumptions documented for credible value cases
  • Total cost of ownership includes acquisition, implementation, operation and change costs
  • ROI, payback period and net present value applied appropriately
  • Sensitivity analysis tests assumptions, adoption rates and benefit realisation timing
  • Value calculators designed without false precision or misleading inputs

Participants can position offers against credible alternatives and respond to buyer objections with evidence.

  • Competitive alternatives include status quo, internal workarounds and direct rivals
  • Comparison matrices assess customer outcomes rather than feature checklists
  • Positioning statements define category, target, difference and reason to believe
  • Message houses organise primary promise, supporting pillars and proof
  • Objection handling uses acknowledge, clarify, respond and confirm sequence
  • Competitive claims checked for accuracy, fairness and legal defensibility
  • Battlecards focus sellers on relevant contrasts and discovery questions

Participants can adapt a core value proposition into clear messages for different audiences and channels.

  • Message architecture adapts core value for executives, users, finance and procurement
  • Audience-language matrices preserve customer terminology without copying interview transcripts
  • Problem-agitate-solve and SCQA structures selected for message purpose
  • Email, presentation and landing-page messages matched to buying-stage information needs
  • Proof points sequenced from assertion to evidence, implication and action
  • Plain-language editing removes jargon, abstractions and unsupported claims
  • Message testing criteria assess clarity, relevance, credibility and distinctiveness

Participants can apply value messaging in discovery, proposals, stakeholder meetings and procurement discussions.

  • Discovery questions uncover current state, desired state and measurable consequences
  • MEDDICC evidence connects economic buyer priorities to value messaging
  • Value-based selling conversations quantify impact before discussing solution features
  • Mutual action plans align stakeholders, decisions, evidence and next steps
  • Proposal structures link recommendations to agreed needs, outcomes and proof
  • Procurement discussions defend value through cost, risk and implementation evidence
  • Sales enablement assets establish approved claims, examples and escalation paths

Participants can establish practical controls and an adoption plan for sustained value messaging use.

  • Message governance assigns owners, approval criteria, review cycles and version control
  • Content audits identify inconsistent claims across campaigns, sales materials and web pages
  • CRM fields capture persona, job, trigger, value hypothesis and proof
  • Leading indicators track message adoption, meeting quality and opportunity progression
  • Win-loss reviews test proposition performance against buyer feedback and outcomes
  • 90-day application plans sequence research, messaging, enablement and measurement
  • Personal commitment statements define first actions, sponsors and review dates

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Evidence-based buyer persona template
  2. Jobs to Be Done interview guide
  3. Value Proposition Canvas worksheet
  4. Customer value driver tree
  5. Message house and proof-point library
  6. 90-day value messaging application plan

Who should attend

  • Product Marketing Managers — need to position offerings around validated customer outcomes
  • Marketing Managers — need clearer campaign messages for priority buyer segments
  • Sales Managers — need consistent value stories that reduce feature-led selling
  • Account Managers — need to quantify value during discovery, proposals and renewals
  • Product Managers — need customer evidence to guide positioning and roadmap priorities
  • Customer Experience Leaders — need to connect service improvements with customer priorities

Skills and tools covered

Buyer persona researchCustomer insight analysisValue proposition designValue quantificationMessage architectureValue-based selling

Tools and standards

Jobs to Be Done, Value Proposition Canvas, MEDDICC, Message house

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce each framework, followed by cases drawn from business-to-business, financial services, public-sector and technology buying situations. Participants analyse buyer evidence, build personas, develop value propositions and test messages against realistic stakeholder concerns. Group exercises examine competitive alternatives, economic value and proof requirements. Simulated discovery and objection-handling conversations connect messaging with sales execution. Individual application planning converts course outputs into actions for participants’ own portfolios, accounts or campaigns.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical exposure to marketing, sales, product management, account management or customer experience work. Familiarity with their organisation’s products, services, customers and sales process will help them apply the methods quickly. Participants should be comfortable discussing customer problems, commercial objectives and basic business metrics such as revenue, cost and retention. No formal marketing qualification is required. Prior experience with buyer research, financial modelling, customer interviews or value proposition frameworks is not required.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand your organisation’s products, customers and commercial objectives. Previous experience with customer research, financial modelling or formal marketing frameworks is not required.

Bring examples of your current marketing messages, sales materials, proposals or campaign content if permitted by your organisation. You will also benefit from knowing a priority customer segment, account type or offering to use in application planning.

The course is designed for product marketing, marketing, sales, account management, product and customer experience professionals. It is particularly useful where teams need stronger buyer insight and more credible value messaging.

This course concentrates on buyer personas, customer value, quantified benefits and message development. It connects marketing research with sales execution, rather than focusing primarily on campaign planning, branding or sales negotiation.

Participants can use the templates to research a priority buyer, clarify their value proposition and produce approved messages for campaigns, sales conversations and proposals. The 90-day plan identifies the first research, content and enablement actions needed at work.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The course progresses from customer value and buyer research through proposition design, value quantification, sales application and message governance.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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