Simple Question to Increase Your Value to Your Clients/Customers

Today I wanted to share with you a simple question to spark you to increase the value of what you offer your customers or clients.

This question is:  How can you increase the received value of your core product or service without increasing your costs?

You’ll notice a new term here, “received value”.  In a very real way the value of what you deliver is directly impacted by how your clients perceive and USE your product or service.  Anything you do that enhances how they perceive your product or service… or improves how they USE it to get a better result, enhances your product or services received value.

So how can you enhance your received value?

Here are two quick case studies of clients we’ve worked with in our Business Coaching Program.  One is for a product-based company, the other is for a service-based company.

See if you can model this idea and use it to enhance your received value.  Remember, the higher your received value, the greater the pricing premium you can legitimately command, and the greater your competitive advantage is in your market.

Case Study One:  Windswept Marketing Inc.

Windswept is a specialty item manufacturer (branded shirts, bags, pins, etc.)  It does work for businesses who want items for a special promotion, for tradeshows, and for its team to wear.

Over the years, Windswept has built up a reputation for being a place to go to for fresh ideas for interesting specialty items.  A client would come to Windswept, and they would put together a custom sample of several ideas for the client to choose from.  Some of the clients would buy, others wouldn’t.

The received value was low because the client didn’t understand the huge value that Windswept was doing behind the scenes to create, design, and manufacture the samples.  It wasn’t that the client was intentionally taking advantage of things, it just didn’t understand the value

After a recent consulting program mastermind session Windswept designed a multi-step process it will walk a client through to do an explicit, branded “Custom Design Process” with the end result being the client getting a “Custom Concept Prototype”.   This new process won’t increase costs for Windswept (they’re already doing the process, just informally and without getting any credit for it.)  The key is that it will increase the RECEIVED value for Windswept’s client.

I mentioned this in an email to you all about 12 months ago and promised to let you know later the impact of this and the other consulting program ideas on the bottom line for Windswept.

In Brian’s own words here has been the impact:

“In the first 6 months of the program I’ve stepped out of over 90% of our operations and we’ve increased doubled our profits!”

Case Study Two: Emerge Occupational Therapy Clinic

We’ve been working with Emerge in our BusinessCoaching Program now for over a year.  They have a thriving clinic helping children with physical and behavioral needs.

One of Emerge’s challenges is how does it scale the expertise and talent of its owner, Bonnie.  Bonnie has years of experience working with kids.  She is good, very good, at the clinical work.

Taking this concept of “received value” to a service business is even easier than for a product based business.  Bonnie will create a specialized “New Client Evaluation and Treatment Design Process” that will help her systematize the strategies and techniques she has already internalized to get such amazing results for her clients.

Not only will this process-based approach help her to train her clinical team to do better work, it will also make visible the immense value her team brings to its clients.

Plus she now audio records the initial evaluation summary when her therapists meet with the parents after the evaluation and hands the parents a flash drive with the recording right there at the conclusion of the session!  (Parents love this!  Hard cost: under $5.)

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that by looking for ways transform what you do into a defined Core Value Process™, you’ll increase the received value of your product or service, often without increasing your costs.  This means better margins and a more sustainable market advantage.  Not a bad blend is it?