Create Value for your Customer or Boss

What is Value?

Value is the monetary, material, or assessed worth of an asset, good, service or work.

At the end of this article, there is a short video that I want you to watch which is enlightening to me on the delivering of value. I can relate it to the 2 articles on CPF 101 and CPF Hacks which I had written recently among all the other posts that I have written to share with the community. An article that has no value to your readers will have no readership over the long run.

Price is the conversation people have in the absence of Value

While I am not a salesperson, it is not uncommon to observe during the sales process, how people have a disparity between value and price. It is both interesting and intriguing to me. Customers always desire the cheapest, whether they are being illogical, irrational or unpredictable.

Everyone wants a good bargain, but do you look beyond that for good value instead?

There are usually many similar products in the market for the same objective. Think health insurance (7 Integrated Shield Plan providers). Think property (HDB 4-room, 5-room, Executive Condo, Condo etc). Think family MPV (Honda, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Kia etc). What if you are in the market with the only offer to customers is being the cheapest? Where is your value?

Personal Experience

One example I could fondly remember is when I was buying Hospitalisation plan for myself. I was focusing on prices among the 7 Integrated Shield Plan providers. My insurance agent was focusing on value. As a consultant, she understood my medical history and the first thing she did was to sell me on moratorium underwritten. The insurer was more costly as compared to others in the market. But I was sold. Now, that was Value.

What is moratorium underwriting? With moratorium underwriting, applicants are not required to submit any medical history records. This underwriting method will not be available for new business application from 1 January 2019. Under moratorium underwriting, no underwriting is required. Any new, unexpected medical conditions arising after commencement of life assured’s coverage will be covered, subject to the terms and conditions of the policy. Other than the list of permanently excluded pre-existing conditions, pre-existing conditions can be covered after a continuous period of 5 years from the cover start date or reinstatement date or date of upgrade, whichever is later, provided the life assured has NOT in respect of that particular pre-existing condition…

As a customer, is searching for the cheapest the only objective in mind? Is there not a bigger picture to it? Let us take a look whereby being expensive is still sought after.

Perspective from Mercedes-Benz

While Mercedes-Benz is one of the more expensive car brands, it continues to be highly sought after among the top brands. Why is this so?

Mercedes motto: “Das Beste oder Nichts” which literally means – “the best or nothing”.

We talk about Value again, not Price.

Premium Parts
Mercedes uses only the highest quality parts for their vehicles. Most mechanics who are not Mercedes-Benz certified cannot fix these cars as the parts are too high quality, thus too expensive. The better the parts, the better the car.

Technology
Mercedes has a long history engaging in long-time research and development and using cutting edge technology in their vehicles. Innovative features for each new model is much appreciated by the consumers who is willing to pay at a price that is well worth it.

Quality & Consistency
Mercedes vehicles are generally made in Germany, even though production costs abroad might be lesser. Some people are still driving the same Mercedes Benz they first purchased in 1980s. Premium parts, knowledgeable factory experts, elegant craftsmanship and attention to detail has exalted Mercedes for its long-lasting cars that stands the test of time.

A Trustworthy Name
The above three has made Mercedes-Benz a household name for years and an epitome of luxury. Think VVIP, think Mercedes. Think chauffeured vehicles for important events, think Mercedes. Luxury comes at a price but promised quality, which is the value Mercedes offers its customers.

Customer Service
When you go next visit a Mercedes Benz dealer, whether it is for car servicing or purchase of a new vehicle, you can expect the employees there to be patient, dedicated and experienced.

There is no product too expensive, only the wrong customer. Would somebody walk into Lamborghini and say that a Toyota cost less?

As an Employee for a Company

How do we apply the concept of Value as an employee to the company? As a regular salaried employee who have multiple bosses above me, the concept of value to the organisation is even more so important to me.

If you are a salesperson, talk value not price.

If you are a salaried employee, talk value not workload or number of project hours or number of overtime hours or even effort spent.

Promotion and Bonus distribution

So your colleague is being promoted over you, or receives more bonus this year as compared to you. Is the reason being our colleague is more handsome? Is it because he comes to work earlier than anybody else, or put in more hours at work than others? I bet you not!

What he would probably have done was to have created lots of value for the organisation during this work year or that Bosses are well aware of the good work he is doing. Any talk on workload or number of project hours or number of overtime hours or even effort spent without the correlated value brought to the organisation is not going to ring bells on how good you perceived to be. If any, you might be ineffective, redundant or even pose a burden to the organisation.

Do not work in silo environment! More importantly, highlight what you have achieved to your Bosses! When your Bosses do not see what you are doing, they cannot assess your value to the company. Think email correspondence, presentation update, keeping them in the loop for major milestones. Asking them for their opinions, comments and inputs “forces them” to take a closer look at your work but in a good way.

Lastly, you might have “created a lot of value” during this work year. However, your competitors are stronger by creating even more value than you did. This is where you might have lost out at annual ranking exercises, but do not fret on macro-factors that are uncontrollable by you. Do your best.

10:04 mins onwards is a good watch. If you have time, you can watch the entire video. Inspiring!