Know Your Value

Would you say you understand and know your value?

What I'm asking here is about your company or firm's value proposition. Some call it the USP or Unique Selling Proposition. I like value more. Let me explain.

Know, Like, Trust

In case you haven't heard, companies do business with other companies based on whom they know, like, and trust. More accurately, it's people in businesses that do business with other people with whom they know, like, and trust.

I was speaking with an expert in the automotive dealership industry the other day. She sees what I see in the accounting industry, namely that leaders in either industry need to view their industry from a different vantage point.

In accounting, it's mostly business-to-business interactions and car dealerships are typically in business-to-consumer interactions. No matter. What really matters is not what service or product you have to sell. And this is the distinction.

Relationships

It really doesn't matter what business you are in. What you need to understand is that you are in a people business or relationship business.

People matter. People are making decisions every day that impact the companies they work for and people are choosing your firm or someone else's firm based on something that is intangible.

Know Your Why

I think Simon Sinek got it right when he said, "People don't buy what you do, they buy Why you do it". Sinek's point was that we make all sorts of decisions based on emotions, a feeling, intuitively. We then rationalize our choices with data and information to support our emotions-based buying decisions.

Recently I was leading a workshop for a client. The full day was devoted to understanding their unique value proposition.

We spent the morning focusing on the "Why", and why their firm exists, and the mindset that is necessary for professionals serving clients to have to be successful. Let's face it, if you can't grow your business eventually the business will wither and cease to exist.

The afternoon session was devoted to brainstorming to identify the ideal customers and the attributes that define what an ideal customer looks like. Then we dove into the markets that the customers operate in and from there, we identified the services and products, delivery of these to the customers, and the marketing channels used to promote these products and services. The goal was to highlight gaps in any one of these areas so corrections, if any, could be made.

The bottom line is this. You are in a relationship business and the best way I know to strengthen your relationships with your clients is to help them solve their problems.

Delivering Win-Win Experiences

If you have a customer or client who has a problem that is costing them time, energy, and money, you are doing a disservice to them if you do not offer them a solution. Hopefully, you have just the right service or product that can help your client. If not, then partner with a reputable source that can.

The value of your products or services is the value that your customer places on the solution you provide. If you can clarify the real impact on your clients of the costs to them, they will gladly pay your firm to help them solve it.

Create win-win experiences for your customers by listening to the problems and issues that are keeping them up at night. Know the value that your firm brings with every solution to their problems.

This builds customer loyalty because you are connecting with them on a personal and emotional level. Remember, most clients buy based on how they feel about the relationship and whether you have their back or not.

Interested in learning more about my workshops and retreats? Grab a spot on my calendar here and let's have a conversation.

Until Next Time