The ValueMapper Golden Rules

• Follow the 80/20 Rule: ValueMapper is designed to provide a quick reference for that 20% of the knowledge that drives 80% of the most critical selling conversations. Effective Value Maps are like Sales Cliffs Notes that augment the more detailed information contained on a company’s Marketing & Sales Intranet.  Value Maps are not a replacement for that content; they link to it instead.  As such a Value Map becomes a “smart index” for sales people who want to access information based upon Customer Need.

• Start Small:  The best Value Maps for a Solution start out with one Customer Need and a couple of Underlying Issues, and they evolve in detail and specificity over time as issues are refined and Knowledge Objects are added to the system. You don’t need to wait till the map is perfect or complete to begin to let sales people use it and provide feedback on it. 

• Continuously Improve: In many respects, Value Maps are like geographic maps.  The maps drawn by early explorers were not as detailed or accurate as we have today, but they did help people find their way, kept them out of trouble, and got better over time.  This is the beauty of the Value Mapping Process.  It establishes a simple, consistent framework where people collaborate and systematically share key nuggets of knowledge in a way that improves everybody’s performance.   And, as the Value Map gets better and better over time; everybody wins!