Adding Value to Your Product or Service Can Be as Easy as Listening To Your Customer

When you add value to what you offer, it is in most cases a direct result of understanding your customer’s needs. What could be easier than meeting frequently with your customers, thanking them for their business, and asking “What more can I do to provide you with a better product or service to meet your needs?”

Business initiatives with high expectations for value added results demonstrate how well you understand your client’s market and business challenges. One great way to deliver a value added product or service innovation is through goal setting and a value analysis. Establish areas your company can change to provide better interactions with your customers. Set priorities, establish goals for your staff, and help everyone in your organization embrace the effort. The important next step, where most companies fail,
is to measure and analyze the outcomes. To truly understand the results of your change measurable
criteria need to be identified early in the process. The data collected will help you develop the
initiative’s value analysis

The value you add does not necessarily end up piling on costs to your product or service, but rather results in an offering which is more relevant and utilized. Often the added procedure, innovation, or change to an interaction demonstrates your flexibility when addressing customer needs. Consider for a moment the clever insight of the car rental business to pick up their customers where they are stranded. When you are without a car basically there are two choices, have someone take you to where you can rent a car or have the car rental company come to you. Obviously this idea was not hatched over night nor was there a consensus by management to start the program immediately. Many great ideas and value added propositions start by having a conversation with a customer. You can just imagine the response people provided through a survey, “If you could change one thing about your car rental experience what would that be”? The result was not just a marketing home run but a real life advantage to all who used the service.

With every market being somewhat unique, customer needs can run the spectrum from simple to complex. Being tuned into your customer by utilizing effective communication tools, face to face interaction, and value added initiatives is still an important aspect of maintaining and growing the business relationship. After all you can be sure your competitors are actively pursuing your customers with a plan to grow their
business relationship.

I have developed a number of tips, tools, techniques, and resources to help improve the sales and marketing efforts of business. Please contact me for a no obligation review of your company’s sales and marketing process.

Mark Marlin received a Master of Science Degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has held a variety of increasingly responsible positions as account manager, regional sales manager, divisional sales manager and owner of a manufacturers’ representative sales organization.
Mark’s sales and marketing consulting business helps small to medium sized organizations improve sales performance and drive business to the next level. ..