The instant answer that everyone offers for how to attract customers, please customers, keep customers, get referrals, win contracts and get rich is to simply "provide value." "Value" is a slippery word. And slippery words are nothing but trouble because they are the prime cause of misunderstandings. Misunderstandings kill relationships. And business and making money happens only where there is a relationship and trust.
Can you explain "value" to anyone, in action steps, so we know how to create it? Sometimes it's easier answering the child's question, "Where do babies come from?" rather than answer the business owner's question, "Where does value come from?" They both have that puzzled look on their faces, and instinctively know this is a "life itself" knowledge bite they must have.
Help has arrived and I know you're going to love this and break the "value" code for your own business.
In the August 16 issue of Today's CRM Industry Alert there is a great article, Understanding Why People Buy.
They buy because there is customer value. Innovation is a big part of that. The article tells us, a focus on creating customer value is the single most powerful driver of successful innovation. We know that successful innovation isn't just developing cool new products and services. It's about creating higher-margin, higher-visibility, and high-velocity products that deliver a host of financial, functional, and perceptual benefits to the developer. The article goes on to say creating customer value isn't some soft West-Coast notion about making people feel good or delighted. It's about hard-nosed business. Ultimately, it's bottom-line performance and top-line growth.
The point of innovation is to create value for customers. So why do businesses spend more resources defining what creates value for the company rather than what creates value for customers? For one, it's easier than reading the hearts and minds of customers, which is hard work that never stops.
The first person who taught me, and then millions of other business executives in every size company, all there is worth knowing about reading the hearts and minds of customers is Dr. Martha Rogers. She is still doing a great job explaining exactly how to build customer value and you can find it right on the Teradata website.
Can you calculate the lifetime value of your customers? This is basic if you want to throw the "value" word around because you need to know what in the world you are measuring or counting up. Why do we emphasize "Customers Count"? That's because they can measure your value and you can measure theirs. To make this as easy as possible for you, Click Z Network - Solutions for Marketers
provides a very detailed calculator that includes a downloadable Excel spreadsheet. Take a stab at calculating the lifetime value of your customers. If you are not treating that number like your business life depends on it, then treat the exercise as much-needed practice.
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