Category Archives for "Elements of Value"

How Getting Organised Benefits Your Clients

Getting organised benefits your clients and so this is an important element of value.

What is It?

Organisation is one aspect of administration.  Generally, the aim is to organise so that specific items are found with minimum fuss.

Human error always limits organisational systems.  I once worked in an office responsible for properties across the UK.  There were thousands of paper files, stored in a room in a particular order.  Everyone knew how to find a specific file and how to return it to the shelves.

Files still went missing.  They never left the building but sometimes a file would disappear for days.  Experienced admin workers were usually able to track down missing files.  The problem was users did not organise their desks to the same degree.  Everyone had their own system and passed files informally around the office.  Once a file left its shelf space, the rules no longer applied.

And of course, once you found a file, it would not necessarily contain everything it should.

All systems are subject to human error, including online systems.  But any system is better than random piles on the floor.  A well-managed system saves much time.

We can distinguish two approaches to organisation;

Value to the Client

Let’s dig deeper into the time savings.  Lost items are the most time-consuming elements in an office with a complex filing system.

Lost items don’t just consume time searching for them.  They consume mental energy.  Can they be replaced?  Has a member of staff removed it from the office, against regulations?  What was in that file?  How do I explain the lost file to the client?  And on and on.

No system can guarantee against lost items.  People make mistakes.  However, with a good system:

How to Get There

The basic principles of organisation are well-known.  However, an experienced administrator knows the pitfalls and designs a system that works for their office.  They save time by guaranteeing stuff does not go astray.

Another way things get lost is where vital papers disappear into a pile of paperwork.  This could have serious consequences for an office if bills or cheques go astray.  The well-organised system processes and files everything new to the office.

Your Offer

If your offer assists with any of these activities you can market this element of value.  You don’t necessarily have to offer complete solutions, you could market filing systems to administrators, for example, to help them do their job.

This is the twenty-second of 31 posts about elements of value.  Make sure you don’t miss any by signing up for the offer below.  Access posts from this sequence here:

• Social impact: Self-transcendence
• Life Changing: Provide Hope, Self-Actualisation, Motivation, Heirloom, Affiliation and Belonging
• Emotional: Reduces Anxiety, Rewards Me, Nostalgia, Design / Aesthetics, Badge Value, Wellness, Therapeutic Value, Fun / Entertainment, Attractiveness, Provides Access
• Functional: Saves Time, Simplifies, Makes Money, Reduces Risk, Organises

Next: Integrates + 8 more

Making an Offer that Reduces Risk

The world is a risky place and so an offer that reduces risk is attractive.

What is It?

Risk reduction can be internal or external.

External risk reduction may be easiest to understand.  Your offer addresses some inherently risky aspect of life.  An accountant prepares accounts for tax purposes and reduces risk for the business-owner who otherwise prepares their own accounts.  An Independent Financial Advisor manages investments and so reduces risk for the asset owner.

For any professional service, this Element of Value is crucial.  State risk clearly because the prospect may not immediately see the need for protection.  However, risk reduction alone may not be enough, where the prospect considers more than one provider.

Internal risk reduction usually takes the form of a guarantee.  So, the accountant might guarantee accounts prepared properly and submitted to the authorities on time.  If the accountant fails, the guarantee indicates the compensation the prospect can expect.

It is easy to see the power of an offer that reduces both external and internal risk.

Value to the Client

Internal risk reduction is primarily reassurance.  We all know things go wrong from time to time.  Guarantees simply recognise that fact.  The prospect has faith in the professional provider and the guarantee covers the unlikely possibility something might go wrong.

External risk reduction offers more advantages to the client and opens up more possibilities for professional service.

You might keep accounts of equal accuracy and reliability to the professional provider.  So, why consider taking on their services?

There is  the time you save.  If you use the time it takes to prepare accounts to generate more income, professional assistance might be attractive.  The chances are professionals produce accounts as good as or better than yours in less time, because they do it all the time.

They can do more.  Accountants produce management accounts and offer advice about financial arrangements for their client’s business.  They may be able to save their client money.  OK, you may be clever enough to work all this out for yourself but do you know that for certain?  They take responsibility for the risks you take when you do it yourself.

How to Get There

Do you really control risk?  A risk is an external threat.  It is there whatever the prospect does about it.  Internal threats are weaknesses the prospect has some control over should they choose to exercise it.

Do non-professional businesses control risk?  A gymnasium might reduce risk of ill-health.  If it trains soldiers to fight in wars, maybe it reduces risk.  Similarly, nutritionists deal mainly with weaknesses, problems prospects can address themselves.

Both of these claim to constrol risk of ill-health.  These are problems prospects address themselves and can be solved only if they do so.  Their client may need help to develop a plan and stick to it but the risk is internal.  Guarantees support the offer through reassurance but work only where the client co-operates.

For professional firms threats are external and so the client’s co-operation is less critical.  Changes in tax law or falls on the stock exchange are external and the accountant or IFA addresses them without interventions from the client.  All the client does is make regular contributions, eg by submitting income and expenditure for the month.

Your Offer

Consider whether the threat is internal or external.  Shape your offer, being clear about the expectations of your clients.  Consider whether you need a guarantee.

Your clients need to understand about the risks they expect you to tackle and what your expectations are of them.

This is the twenty-first of 31 posts about elements of value.  Make sure you don’t miss any by signing up for the offer below.  The posts in this sequence can be accessed below:

• Social impact: Self-transcendence
• Life Changing: Provide Hope, Self-Actualisation, Motivation, Heirloom, Affiliation and Belonging
• Emotional: Reduces Anxiety, Rewards Me, Nostalgia, Design / Aesthetics, Badge Value, Wellness, Therapeutic Value, Fun / Entertainment, Attractiveness, Provides Access
• Functional:   Saves Time, Simplifies, Makes Money, Reduces Risk

Next: Organises  + 9 more

Offers that Make Money

Oh, isn’t this the popular element of value?  Is yours one of those offers that make money for clients?  Take care when making this claim.

What is It?

This is perhaps the most popular claim made by marketers.  After all, if you don’t make money out of your marketing, what is the point?  What I want to suggest is we need to take care making this claim.

Let’s be clear, no-one can offer a 100% guarantee their offer makes money for their clients.  Nowhere near.

There are a number of reasons, mostly outside the control of either business owners or clients.

Approaches work when applied in the right circumstances.  Many marketers sell on their authority.  They have experience and made a good living because they stumbled upon something that works for them.  They made a £100K profit in a single product launch.  They’ve had many clients and know the many pitfalls en route.  So, they claim they can help you make money.  This is one common approach to offering this element of value.

Alternatively, think of something like Facebook ads.  You pay them for access to their database.  Everyone gets the same service.  Success depends on the ad you put up.  So there is risk involved.  But Facebook and similar organisations sell access.  They leave it to you to work out how to use that access but they can claim to help you make money.

Value to the Client

Note I am not criticising either approach but be cautious about making this claim.  The customer receives insights that may help them make money at some stage in their business development.  Those insights can be valuable but they don’t always make money.

Let’s say you try a Facebook ad and no-one clicks on it.  You can work on that and improve your ad until people start to click on it.  You learn from experience.

The same applies to training and coaching.  You may in time use the insights you glean to make money but this is not always a direct result of the service you receive.

The difference is analogous to brand and direct marketing.  With Facebook you have means to monitor your investment.  You can apply yourself to working out what works.

With a coach the results can be harder to pin down.  It is more like brand marketing, where you slowly see an improvement in learning over time.

How to Get There

The challenge to the coach is how to manage expectations.  If you stand on stage and promise the audience will make money as a result of listening to you, what is the best way to say this?

Some audience members may not have capacity to make the promised results.  Their business may not be developed to a stage where they can take full advantage of your offer.

If you cannot, like Facebook, provide feedback so the customer can see how much they are earning, then be cautious about making big claims.

Your Offer

People expect any marketing service or business coach to help them make money.  You can help your clients understand financial implications for their business.  You can help them find options to make the money they need.

Help them design a strategy and work on its strengths and weaknesses.  Help them reflect on experience, identify where they are going wrong and put it right.

But in the end you cannot help them make money.  They are the business-owner and ultimately that’s their responsibility.

This is the twentieth of 31 posts about elements of value.  Make sure you don’t miss any by signing up for the offer below.  The posts in this sequence can be accessed below:

• Social impact: Self-transcendence
• Life Changing: Provide Hope, Self-Actualisation, Motivation, Heirloom, Affiliation and Belonging
• Emotional: Reduces Anxiety, Rewards Me, Nostalgia, Design / Aesthetics, Badge Value, Wellness, Therapeutic Value, Fun / Entertainment, Attractiveness, Provides Access
• Functional:   Saves Time, Simplifies, Makes Money

Next: Reduces Risk + 10 more

Offers that Reduce Complexity and Simplify

Things are complex and the human mind cannot cope with complexity.  Offers that simplify are therefore attractive.

What is It?

Complexity happens along the border between order and chaos.  Anything complex treads a path between ordered patterns and muddled confusion.

Consequently, complexity is difficult to comprehend and specific complex systems are the domain of specialists.  Mostly people do not want to spend time and energy understanding complexity.

One useful concept is the black box.  You know the inputs and outputs but do not need to know what happens in the box.  So long as the outputs are what you need and you can provide inputs, the details of what happens in the box are not important.

Value to the Client

Find a pattern among the complexity that allows the customer to understand enough to make the system work in their favour.

How to Get There

Take marketing as an example.  There are a bewildering number of marketing techniques available.  Some of these techniques are themselves complex.  No-one set out to create a complex market for marketing techniques.  It has become complex through addition of more and more systems.

The marketing specialist has two choices.  They can specialise in a single technique or else interpret the whole.

Single Technique

Single techniques work well for businesses that know their stage in development and have a clear message to get across to a specific market.  The provider of the technique helps the business clarify whether it meets requirements for the technique.  What if they find the business does not meet the requirements?  OK if they find out before they are a client but several weeks into a contract, it could be a real problem.

Many clients do not know what they want and are likely to show interest in whatever method captures their attention, even though it may not be for their best interest.  The provider must work out whether this is the right client.  It is likely they spend a lot of time setting prospects on the right road instead of making sales.  They can mitigate this to some degree through marketing, so they are clear who benefits from their technique. Few do that perhaps because it is difficult and they are not clear about their own message.

Classification

The second approach is to classify the field and teach the classification. I call this orientation.  The idea is to help the client understand their own business needs and so interpret the approaches on offer.

The former approach, sometimes called Done-for-You or expert consultancy, simplifies using the black box model.  The latter, sometimes called Done-with-You or coaching, builds understanding.

Your Offer

These two approaches are found in many fields, eg healing, life coaching, business coaching.  In terms of your offer, pick one and whichever you pick remember you must simplify your field.

Most offers are too complex.  They dwell on matters important to the business and not to the client.  For example, I know what the word empowerment means but I have no idea whether I would benefit from empowerment coaching.  The world is full of people offering all manner of useful methods but it is much harder to convey what any method can do for those who use it.

And remember it is likely, whatever your prospects seek, they’ll be interested in something that simplifies.  Complexity is the problem, few people want more of it.

This is the nineteenth of 31 posts about elements of value.  Make sure you don’t miss any by signing up for the offer below.  The posts in this sequence can be accessed below:

Next: Makes Money + 11 more

How a Good Offer Saves Time

Today we move from Emotional to Functional Elements of Value.  This is the lowest level of Bain’s version of Maslow’s triangle.  The idea is to have functional elements in place before we meet higher values.  The first of these elements saves time.

Functional Elements of Value are practical skills or services.  We can expect them to be technical and measurable.  Emotional values have a subjective dimension that is hard to measure. Here we would expect observable positive change.

What is It?

The change we expect to see is some measurable savings in time.  Our competitors take three days, we take two.

There are two ways to interpret this.  There are services that save me time.  If I employ an administrator they save me time to devote to other things.

Time can also be saved indirectly.  The delivery that takes 2 days instead of 3, might not save me any time.  For example, a birthday present must arrive by a specific date but only saves time because if it doesn’t arrive, I have to go shopping!

Waiting for a part I need to complete an order enables me to meet a deadline.  The actual time it takes me to complete the order is the same even if the part is late.  However, if it is late, I have to re-negotiate my contract with my customer.

Value to the Client

For most businesses time is money.  So, any dimension of your offer that saves time is potentially attractive.

From the point of view of the customer, there are several aspects of saving time.  Note any of these are urgent sometimes and just an inconvenience at others:

How to Get There

For many businesses, an offer that saves time is important but secondary to the service they deliver.  Honouring an order where delivery is promised by a certain date, is second to whatever is to be delivered.  Of course, a shorter delivery time is an advantage but it becomes important when the customer wants the offer.  Some customers may not be bothered about the exact date of delivery.

Similarly a business offering administrative services might choose to emphasise efficiency or competence over time savings.  However, mention of time saved is likely to appeal to some customers.

Similarly a time management coach can emphasise stress relief or health benefits.

It is worth mentioning time because for some customers it is crucial.

Your Offer

For any offer, consider whether you can claim it saves time.  Some customers say they don’t mind whether it takes three days or five, so long as it is done well.  For others three days instead of 5 may be crucial.  The main thing to remember is once you make the promise, keep it.

And don’t forget some offers are not about saving time.  If you coach, it may be best to take a few months because it allows time for reflection and practice.  Be upfront and explain why it takes as long as it takes.

And if someone wants something faster than your normal delivery time, is there scope to charge for fast delivery?  So long as you can deliver faster and you explain potential disadvantages, this is an advantage.

This is the eighteenth of 31 posts about elements of value.  Make sure you don’t miss any by signing up for the offer below.  The posts in this sequence can be accessed below:

Next: Simplifies + 12 more

How Your Offer Provides Access to Other Services

Last time, I suggested coaches might offer style advice as an extra.  If this includes meeting with a style coach, it’s an example of how a coach provides access to other services.

What is It?

Coaches and other business people open doors to additional support, as a step towards collaboration between businesses.  Here are three types of support.

Collaboration delivering an offer.  A business that offers businesses outdoor pursuits as an opportunity for team building or strategic planning needs experts to supervise outdoor pursuits and business coaches.  One or the other is likely to be brought in.

Another approach is to offer bonuses.  These may be optional or integral but not strictly part of the offer.  They are something the client takes advantage of if they choose.

For example, as part of my coaching, I might offer a free session with a style coach.  I can approach this as optional.  Or I can suggest this is important and so make it integral to my offer.  If the client refuses, it is unlikely to have a major impact on the overall success of the package.

Finally, you can have contacts on your books and offer to set up meetings.

Value to the Client

The value is potentially three-fold:

The specialist gains by perhaps finding a new client themselves.

How to Get There

This is an unsung aspect of networking.  If you make contact with people offering suitable services, build a database of likely contacts.  These people may offer additional services to your clients.

Two things to consider.  One is the quality of their services.  Should you offer to put your client in touch with someone, if you do not know the quality of their services?  If you have not used them before, explain this to the client and suggest they report back to you about how it goes.  It might be possible to approach the third-party together.

As an advocate can you negotiate a good deal for your client?  Most coaches offer a free first session.  What does the third-party provider normally offer and are they willing to offer a bit more?  Also, is a discount on normal prices possible?  Clients are often reluctant to ask on their own behalf and if you do it for them, it adds value to your offer.

Your Offer

Ideally, you want three happy people if you do this as part of your offer.  You, your client and the third-party should all benefit.  Building a portfolio of good referrals can be really helpful.

And remember, if you add clients to your list of trusted providers they have another reason to value your service.

This is the seventeenth of 31 posts about elements of value.  Make sure you don’t miss any by signing up for the offer below.  The posts in this sequence can be accessed below:

+ 13 more

How to Find Entertainment in Your Offer

Beware the f-word!  It’s odd how rarely fun or entertainment features as part of an offer despite frequent references to fun in business circles.

What is It?

Perhaps for some people, fun diverts from serious matters.  Whether a welcome diversion or to be avoided at all costs, fun is definitely secondary.

However, to claim something serious is fun or entertaining in some way attracts more people.  They don’t want to be bored and no matter how important the topic, to make it palatable is no bad thing.

Fun or entertainment has intrinsic value.  It’s an opportunity to take a break, try something new and relax.  Done with others it enhances relationships and perhaps defuses antagonism.

Value to the Client

Fun may be memorable.  To what extent does fun, where it engages attention, help people remember important stuff?

Getting away from the familiar helps strategic planning or team building.  Sometimes when we engage with the unfamiliar, we find new insights spontaneously come to our attention.  Fun has utility.

So, fun helps us to

How to Get There

For coaches fun may be a means to an end.  It is rarely an end in itself.  If clients enjoy coaching sessions or training, they are likely to benefit more and return for more.

How do you market the fun element; convey fun without undermining seriousness of purpose?

Some things are enjoyable without being fun.  For example, a therapeutic massage may be enjoyed but we would not describe it as fun.  Clients might enjoy learning a new skill through hard work.

Your Offer

Most important is benefits to the client.  If you promise they’ll enjoy picking up benefits, all well and good.  Ask for testimonials that say they enjoyed working with you or even had fun.

This is the fifteenth of 31 posts about elements of value.  Make sure you don’t miss any by signing up for the offer below.  The posts in this sequence can be accessed below:

How to Market Therapeutic Value

In my last post about Elements of Value, I described the value of well-being.  Perhaps a more obvious value is where health–related offers have therapeutic value.

What is It?

The focus here is not so much the value of well-being in support of other activities, as curing or relieving medical conditions.

Therapy should be provided by trained medical practitioners.  Many work independently of the health service.  For example, someone using massage to treat sports injury can practice independently.  If you pay for treatment privately, it is reasonable to ask about qualifications and accountability.

So, this heading covers a multitude of alternative therapies, eg hypnosis or homeopathy.

Sometimes therapy and well-being are closely related.  Stress coaching includes aspects of well-being, eg resilience coaching but can be therapeutic for acute stress.

Many products are therapeutic, eg clothing, food and drink, prosthetics, various aids.

Value to the Client

This is fairly straightforward.  Cure of acute conditions, eg sports injuries and mitigation of chronic conditions.

Remember there are other benefits.  Mitigation of a chronic condition has a major impact on the client’s comfort, relationships, effectiveness and prowess.  The value can be far greater than immediate relief of pain or disfigurement.

How to Get There

Probably a more important aspect of this element of value is providing evidence you are qualified to treat the condition.  Show you are qualified, accountable and effective:

Similar questions apply for products.

Your Offer

Remember to focus on the benefits of using your service.  Chronic conditions can last for years and people become accustomed to them.  What are the benefits of taking up your offer?

It is worth focusing on a single condition so prospects who search for you see clearly you have helped people with the same condition.  Sell the benefits and not the service.  If I have heard hypnotherapy helps people give up smoking, when I see the word I may not associate it with weight loss.  So, to engage my interest tell me what you treat and not so much about how you do it!

This is the fourteenth of 31 posts about elements of value.  Make sure you don’t miss any by signing up for the offer below.  The posts in this sequence can be accessed below:

Marketing Physical and Mental Well-Being

Physical and mental well-being is important and integrates into a range of packages.

What is It?

Some offers are primarily about well-being, whilst other packages integrate with aspects of well-being.

For example, a health practitioner offers outdoor activities to businesses for team building and strategic planning. This business moves from health to business services.  The offer combines business objectives with an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors, learn new skills and experience something other than sitting at a desk.

Other coaches offer walking days or half-days to their clients.  Walking improves physical health and it is an opportunity to reflect at a deep level.

Here are a few well-being related things businesses offer clients:

Value for the Client

Where someone is stuck, health can be a reason.  Chronic conditions creep up on people, particularly where they spend a lot of time sitting.

To take part in healthy activity is not just an adjunct to the serious business in hand.  Go out of the office, sit in a training session and apart from the walls, little is different.

Physical exercise helps reach for insights that do not come to someone following their daily routine.  In other words, physical activities are not just enjoyable, they are the point.  Many people can’t solve their problems because they don’t keep themselves healthy!

How to Get There

Many people understand this and seek offers that incorporate healthy activity.  Others are not so keen.  So, understand the connections between health and problem solving and show how your activities help clients meet their goals, whatever they are.

Your Offer

Be clear about what you offer.  It might be some aspect of physical and mental well-being.  On the other hand, you may use the same methods as a part of coaching to solve apparently unrelated problem.

This is the thirteenth of 31 posts about elements of value.  Make sure you don’t miss any by signing up for the offer below.  The posts in this sequence can be accessed below: