Value is that warm glow someone feels after a transaction. I’ll re-hash a good Seth Godin analogy to help define this. Is a £150 pair of shoes good value? Well, yes it is if you get £150 worth of joy from the purchase. If they make you feel confident, smart, successful, fashionable, and happy then yes. If you felt like royalty (or a friend) in the place where you purchased them, they were good value. If 5 people comment how lovely your shoes are, they were good value.
Me? I tend not to spend much on shoes, because they aren’t very important to me, but you should see my golf trolley! My wife (incorrectly) thinks it was a waste of money, but I could see the value.
So what do you sell, and how can you deliver great value?
I have a web design business, and we made fundamental decisions early on that the value we were going to provide was low prices and a very high quality product.
That’s because our core market is start-ups (see the Duport connection?). But to provide this sort of value we have to make compromises in other areas. We have to ask our customers to work to a very tight and efficient schedule, and in nearly all cases, they are happy to do that, because for start-ups the product and price is essential to their perception of value.
I also have an immigration business, and we made fundamental decisions early on that the value we were going to provide was all about quality and personality. That’s because you can’t afford to rush (or mess up) somebody’s visa application, it’s too important. To do this we head-hunted amazing staff from the most prestigious names in the industry. We have to charge more, but our clients know they can trust us with their future. Some of the largest companies in the world also trust us.
For every business, there is an opportunity to provide great value in some way. Find a way to differentiate your business and become the best in some way. Not everyone will view your differentiator as value, but you shouldn’t try and market yourself to everyone. A slice of any market is enough for most companies.
It’s very rare that you can be the supplier that offers the best quality, offers the best customer service, and sells at the lowest price etc. If you try and sit in the middle in all areas of value, you’ll just be another generic competitor.
How you deliver value becomes your unique selling point. It becomes the personality of your business, and it becomes the reason somebody purchases from you rather than a competitor.
Your USP certainly is important but this must also be combined with personality. People buy from people and a good sales person will leave the customer feeling happy and satisfied. It is sad however that not all companies take this approach. Instead they intimidate and frighten customers into using their services. Clearly they have no USP or personality and they must realise that this model is not succinct to success.
Comment by Rebecca — March 23, 2010 @ 3:22 pm
I agree however I will add that it is equally important for companies to stick to their USP. I recently completed a customer satisfaction survey over the phone for a large gas & electric company. I gave them good marks because I was happy with the service they provided. The following night, I received the same phone call and when I explained that I had already completed this survey, the telephone assistant put the phone down without so much of a goodbye.
Their USP means nothing to me now and I will have serious reservations about using them in the future.
Comment by Aimee — March 24, 2010 @ 4:14 pm