When the world finds a good word they over use that word until it has no meaning and it puts the listener to sleep or on the defensive.
Value is one of those words. Sales, marketing and advertising push “value” at us all the time and like any good myth (* the definition of Myth is partially true evidence), we feel value at least some of the time.
There are 3 common ways “value” gets pushed at us:
First – The product or service I want to sell you is the best and because it is the best, it is worth every penny of the price (often this means it is more expensive than other similar products or services) and people like you who value having (and showing off) the best – will have to have this.
Second – The Late-night TV value offer. “You get the product, the CD, a year’s subscription” and if you act now you get a second product along with 2 months of free phone consultation for the low, low price of $19.95. This “value” has never been offered before and is available for a short-time only.
Third – How to delight customers, engage employees and print money. There is time clock software that tracks employees through employee badges to align employees in the organization with the work that needs to be done, the customer demand that is captured real-time from cash registers and online pickup orders. The research for the deployment of this software shows greater employee engagement, less employee turnover, more revenue per hour, greater customer delight and less total staffing cost, which creates measurable “value” in the form of cash and satisfaction for all stakeholders.
It can be argued that all three of these examples produce some form and amount of value for at least some buyers and stakeholders.
The first example is about the belief that having the best, displaying something many others cannot afford, showing your commitment to art, engineering or technology, that tells the world who you are. Sometimes buying the best just lowers the risk of dissatisfaction. However, there is NO money being saved, recovered or printed.
The second example has a lot of possible value elements. Two for one can be two Christmas gifts for the price of one to give to people who won’t ever meet each other. You may have a problem that this product solves and the CD along with the 2 months of phone consultation may give you comfort. You may have a home and a cabin, so getting the same item in both locations may be important. You may only need one and you were willing to pay $19.95 for one, so getting a second that you can give to your Mom is a GREAT value to solve your problem and say, “Mom, I love you.” However, there is NO money being printed. If you have a justification for the second one (where you were going to pay for a second one anyway) or you would have paid for the CD and for phone consultation, then there is financial value for you. For those who were ready to spend the first $19.95 and were ready to buy a second you saved money and got value (from the item and the saving), but NO new printed money.
The third example is different from the first two. In the third case, there was a lot of money being spent already. Spend to attract customers, spend to try to delight customers, to find and hire engaged staff, managing staff for operations and customer delight and online ordering systems. That money was leaving the building until the new software and badge alignment system was implemented. Now attracting and delighting customers produces more positive results with less cost. The staff is proud of the new customer relationship and service levels they provide the customer, while enjoying the larger bonuses. There is less staff turnover, training and recruiting, and for the first time the online ordering is getting 5 stars with a 40% increase in repeat business. In this example there are more sales, less operating cost. These are new dollars in the door and the old dollars that now stay in the store are the “Value Printing Money.” These are NEW dollars to pay staff, improve the store, delight more customers and fund future growth.
True value takes the current situation and “prints” new money that can be used to survive, thrive and grow. The value of satisfaction is nice, saving a few dollars is nice and stretches what we have, but adds nothing new. Value example three is printing new money. We are better off, we have more cash, we can invest to make tomorrow better, and all stakeholders share in this newly printed money. This value is not about status quo, or being a little less bad than yesterday. This value is being better off and producing an abundance from value that “prints more money” by investing less.
Upcoming Revenue Science™ Certification Classes:
Coming in the Fall of 2017