There is a restaurant in my community that has been around for almost 40 years. It doesn’t provide fancy food but when you order a meal you get plenty of good wholesome food like your mother used to make. The food is piled high on your plate, leaving no doubt that your appetite is going to be satisfied. At the end of your meal, you are almost always offered a small desert at no cost. If you are like me, you leave that restaurant knowing that you got your money’s worth.
As a result of the economic crisis created by the lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the business environment has changed. No longer are customers going to be satisfied with mediocre service for their hard-earned money. No longer will businesses be able to spend lavishly on perks for their owners and managers while their employees and customers look on. The reality is that if your business is going to survive the next few years of economic constraints and downturn, you are going to have to passionately create value for your customers.
So what is value and what does it mean to our customers?
Value is technically defined as something of importance, worth or usefulness. Each customer base is going to respond differently to value offerings. I know of businesses that are reaching out to customers right now during the lockdown just to check in. For some people, that is considered valuable because nobody else is doing it and their phones haven’t been ringing for weeks.
If you search for anything besides cleaning materials and toilet paper on the internet right now, chances are it is on sale. Companies are desperate for cash flow with their brick and mortar businesses being closed for weeks. They are offering deep discounts to entice customers.
The problem with this model is that it is going to be a race to the bottom. Businesses are cutting their margins to sell a dollar. While there is a need for discounted prices, more than discounts, customers are looking for something valuable. Cutting margins to near nothing will speed up your own departure from the business landscape. Businesses cannot survive without making a profit, however small that profit is.
We need to consider what we can do for our customers that will help them save money and reduce their anxiety, while at the same time increasing the number of our customers. When we provide products or services that do something more than their functional purpose, we create value. When we think about what it is our customers really need, we can specifically identify how we can reach them. When we are clear about what we do that is really valuable for our customers, we can focus on delivering that value each and every day. If you have problems with this, please email me for a target market identifier worksheet.
Survival isn’t about doing more or scrambling to be busy. Survival is going to be figuring out how we can deliver value to our customers in a manner that ensures that we make money while we satisfy our customers. When times are tough, we need to creatively ensure that each and every one of our customers leaves our business knowing that they got their money’s worth and then some.
- Dave Fuller, MBA, is an award-winning business coach and the author of the book Profit Yourself Healthy. Unclear how you can add more value? Email [email protected]
