Adding Value in Business
One of the first things I learned in business was the principle of adding value. Adding value is about bringing something to the table that customers will pay you for. In business it can involve adding convenience, by saving your customers’ time, money, resources, energy.
It can be closer-to-hand, on-demand, just-in-time. It can make things easier for customers, saving them effort, worry, frustration. It can provide them with expertise and knowledge to help them get better results. It can help people get closer to their goals by increasing efficiency, motivation and productivity or help them be more effective in their goal seeking. It can help them solve problems, such as medicines do for the ill, or losing weight, being healthier and fitter, or unblocking bottle necks from their production processes. It can make people feel better about themselves by adding prestige and luxury to their lives. Adding value can involve increasing quality, reliability, durability to something they purchase.
List of value added characteristics
- Newness – satisfying an entirely new set of needs that customers previously didn’t perceive because there was no similar offering. i.e. cell phones
- Performance – improving product or service performance i.e. PCs
- Customization – tailoring products and services to the specific needs of individual customers.
- “Getting the job done” – helping customers get certain jobs done i.e. rolls Royce servicing jet engines for airlines
- Design – getting a product to stand out with superior design
- Brand/status – finding value in the simple act of using or displaying a specific brand i.e. wearing a Rolex watch signifies wealth.
- Price – offering a similar value at a lower price to satisfy the needs of price sensitive customer segments.
- Cost reduction – helping customers reduce costs is an important way to create value. i.e. salesforce.com sells a hosted CRM application. This relieves buyers from the expense and trouble of having to buy, install and manage CRM software themselves.
- Risk reduction – reducing the risk of purchasing products of services. i.e. for a used car buyer, a one year service guarantee reduces the risk of post purchase breakdowns and repairs.
- Accessibility – making products and services available to customers who previously lacked access to them. i.e. netjets popularised fractional private jet ownership.
- Convenience/usability – making things more convenient. i.e. ipod and itunes offered unprecedented convenience searching, buying, downloading and listening to digital music.
Adding Value in Relationships
In a personal situation, adding value can be done through friendship, by supporting, listening, understanding, caring, encouraging, not putting friends down or making fun of them, or defending them when someone else does. Being fun to be around, and adding to others’ lives rather than taking away from them. Friendships are about connecting emotionally, being empathetic, and authentic. Keeping your word, keeping a secret when you are asked to. It’s about giving them your time, attention, your love and sincerity.
Adding Value for Strangers
Add value to strangers by smiling at passers-by and saying hello, being considerate, friendly, courteous, pleasant. Holding a door open for someone struggling with shopping, letting someone go in front of you when you can see that they are rushing.
The Bottom Line
At the most basic level, adding value is about adding something of value to another person’s life. No matter how large or small that value may be. It’s about making people feel better about their lives even just a moment of their life. Move them towards a better state of being. Move them away from worry, pain, frustration, unfulfilled, disappointment, feeling conflicted, angry, useless, resentful, dissatisfied, struggle, lack of.., limited, confused and towards pleasure, love, completeness, success, their goal, wealth, the realisation of something, triumph, progress, accomplishment, expansion, abundance, freedom, a breakthrough, a work-around, to survive or even thrive. Go out into the world and make it a better place for yourself and others by being a giver and not just a taker.
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Add Value Quotes
“Stop Selling, Start Helping.” – Zig Ziglar
“My mission is to add value. My attitude is of active curiosity, and my method is through relationships of trust.”
“Key to wealth: Provide more value than anyone else.”
“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” Albert Einstein
“I learned the value of hard work by working hard.” – Margaret Mead
“Add value to everyday. Sharpen your skills and your understanding.”
“If your presence doesn’t add value, your absence won’t make a difference.” – Zero Dean
“Find your passion, learn how to add value to it, and commit to a lifetime of learning.” – Ray Kurzweil
“Smiles ADD VALUE to our face, love ADDS VALUE to our heart, respect ADDS VALUE to our behaviour and friends and family ADD VALUE to our life.”
“The more value you add to the lives of others, the more valuable you become.” – Hal Elrod
“Price is what you pay, value is what you get.” – Warren Buffett
“Strive not to be a success, strive instead to be of value.” – Albert Einstein
“innovation is change that unlocks new value.” – Jamie Notter
“Never waste your feelings on people who don’t value them.”
“You add value to people when you value them.” – John C. Maxwell
“Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.”
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
“Be the type of energy that no matter where you go, you always add value to the spaces and lives around you.”
“Once you realize your worth, it will be easy to get go of those that don’t.”