Knowledge Model

The Value Mapping process was conceived around a universal knowledge model that enables a company to manage the facts, insights, and opinions about the value and differentiation of its products and services in a relational fashion. There are three core concepts that drive this simple yet elegant knowledge model.

Concept One:

The first concept is predicated on the observation that most solutions centric positioning & messaging focuses only on the high level customer need, and the generic contextual value that a solution provides. The problem however, is that customers usually perceive their business challenges and objectives as a two level hierarchy; the over riding needs and the key underlying issues that must be solved in order to satisfy those over riding needs.

As the diagram shows, Value Mapping’s more granular view of a customer need enables the knowledge about both the need and the related underlying issues to be aligned to the solutions and its key capabilities as well as to the different markets and stakeholders who are involved in the buying process.

Concept Two:

The second core concept of the Value Mapping Knowledge Model is called “Differentiated Value”.  It’s based on the fact that it’s impossible to represent a company’s strengths and weaknesses in a computer without integrating the knowledge on customer needs and solutions with knowledge on the competition.

As the diagram below shows once you combine these three dimensions into a single knowledge model you can more easily identify the strengths and weaknesses of a company’s solutions and capabilities in the context of the customers needs and issues (i.e. the customer’s perspective), as well as the areas where there is little differentiation between that company and its competitors. 

Concept Three:

The third core concept of the Value Mapping Knowledge Model is that the knowledge in it must evolve and continually improve over time to reflect the ongoing changes in markets, solutions, competition, and strategies.  This process of continuous improvement is reflected in the diagram below.