MT453 Unit 8 Sanitation Value Proposition Memo Example

Two Differences Worth $398,000: An MT453 Unit 8 Value Proposition Memo Built on the Buyer's Own Figures

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

MT453: Professional Selling

Unit 8 Value Proposition Memo

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

Pellston Hygiene, Salado Creek Foods, every person and every figure are composite; the sources cited are real.

Memo Header

To: Dale Kessler, Plant Manager, Salado Creek Foods. Copy: Ramón Treviño, Owner. From: South Texas Territory Representative, Pellston Hygiene. Date: March 18, 2026. Subject: What shorter changeovers and fewer failed swabs on line 1 are worth.

The Proposition

Pellston's sanitation program for line 1 would shorten allergen changeovers and cut failed swabs, worth roughly $398,000 a year in recovered production, against about $70,000 of added cost in the first year.

Why Only Two Differences

Pellston could list a dozen benefits: safer chemistry for the crew, less water use, better training records and more. This memo does not. Anderson et al. (2006) found that the most persuasive value propositions in business markets choose the one or two differences that matter most to a particular customer and show their worth in that customer's terms, an approach they call resonating focus. In our March 12 meeting, you named line 1's backlog as your largest problem, and your quality manager's concern is the spring audit. The memo is built around those two concerns and nothing else.

Points of Parity

On safety data sheets, the supplier approval documents your quality team requires and delivery reliability, Pellston matches your current supplier. These are listed so you know they were considered, not because they are reasons to switch.

Point of Difference One: Shorter Changeovers

The changeover we timed on February 26 took five hours and thirty-eight minutes, including forty-seven minutes waiting for hot water to recover and fifty-two minutes of re-cleaning after two failed swabs. Setting the re-cleans aside, which are counted below, Pellston's program would size foam and dosing equipment to your hot water system and redesign the cleaning sequence around the line 1 filler. We estimate this would shorten a typical changeover by about 1.3 hours. Line 1 runs about 150 allergen changeovers a year, so that is about 195 line hours. At the $1,900 of contribution per running hour your controller estimates for line 1, which is sold out, those hours are worth about $370,500 a year.

Point of Difference Two: Fewer Failed Swabs

Your sanitation records show 26 re-cleans after failed swabs on line 1 last year, each adding about 52 minutes. Pellston's verification step, which checks the filler heads before the final rinse rather than after, would reduce re-cleans to an estimated 9 a year, avoiding about 15 line hours, worth about $28,000. Fewer failed swabs also matter for the spring audit, since each failure is a record an auditor may ask about.

Most of the value sits in line hours the plant cannot currently sell, not in anything on the chemical invoice.

Point of Contention: Price

Gallon for gallon, Pellston's chemistry is priced roughly 30 percent above your current supplier's. The line 1 program would cost $6,900 a month, or $82,800 a year, plus $17,000 for foam and dosing equipment. Your current chemical spend on line 1 is about $29,000 a year. The added cost in the first year is therefore about $70,800, falling to about $53,800 in later years. We state the difference openly, because for a line that sells everything it makes, the useful measure is what each changeover costs, not what each gallon costs.

What This Memo Asks

We ask for the sixty-day pilot discussed on March 12, starting after the spring audit, with success criteria agreed in writing with your quality manager. The pilot will show whether the two estimates above hold on your line. If they do not, the case in this memo does not hold either.

Appendix: Where Each Figure Comes From

From Salado Creek's controller: contribution of about $1,900 per running hour on line 1. From Salado Creek's sanitation records: about 150 allergen changeovers and 26 failed-swab re-cleans on line 1 last year, and current line 1 chemical spend of about $29,000. From the February 26 observation, timed jointly with your sanitation supervisor: a changeover of five hours and thirty-eight minutes, forty-seven minutes of hot water recovery and fifty-two minutes of re-cleaning. Pellston estimates, still to be proven in the pilot: a reduction of 1.3 hours per changeover and a fall from 26 to 9 re-cleans a year. Anderson and Narus (1998) recommend that value estimates be built with customer data wherever possible and that supplier estimates be labeled as such, which is why this appendix separates the two. Rackham (1988) notes that a value case persuades best when the buyer has already stated the problem, and both differences here answer problems you raised.

References

Anderson, J. C., & Narus, J. A. (1998). Business marketing: Understand what customers value. Harvard Business Review, 76(6), 53-65.

Anderson, J. C., Narus, J. A., & van Rossum, W. (2006). Customer value propositions in business markets. Harvard Business Review, 84(3), 90-99.

Rackham, N. (1988). SPIN selling. McGraw-Hill.