In the current economy, companies are doing all they can to “hunker down” and wait out the passing storm. Doing so, however, is often a HUGE mistake. Because while you’re sitting on the bench waiting for times to get better, your competition is out there making deals, stepping up their business and finding new, innovative ways to engage and add value to their customers.
Then when the economy gets better, they’ll be getting all the customers while you’re trying to recoup from all the down time.
Don’t make the same mistake as everyone else!!
Stand out. Work smart. And do things your competition wouldn’t dream of doing during an economic hardship.
Here’s how.
Provide Added Value
During times where customers are weary about how much money they’re spending and what they’re spending it on, it’s important for companies to find ways to add to their value.
Here’s an example.
Starbucks is known for being a stand-out coffee company. They have delicious coffees, they have great customer service and they offer additional free benefits, such as the Starbucks Rewards program, which gives customers 2 hours of free Internet access in the store each day, etc.
But many critics will say that Starbucks prices are too high. No cup of coffee is worth $4, they say. And yet Starbucks still manages to sell thousands of cups of $4 (and even more expensive!) coffee each day, and customers keep coming back each morning for their daily cup. So what’s the deal?
My guess is customers realize that for their $4, they’re getting more than just a cup of coffee—they’re getting additional value.
Real-Life Example
Over the holidays, I was on the way to go pick up my brother and dad to go Christmas shopping when I decided to stop by a Starbucks and grab coffee for us. I placed my order for three coffees and drove to the drive-thru window to pick the coffees up.
When I received my drinks, they were nicely placed in a drink tray (to help me carry and keep them from spilling) and had a plastic “plug” in the hole you drink from to keep the heat from escaping, helping keep the coffee hot for the people I was bringing it to.
Now are a drink tray and a plastic heat-keeping “plug” a big deal? Not really. But it was a big deal to me because it allowed me to bring my brother and dad a hot cup of coffee that I knew they would appreciate.
This service alone makes the coffee worth $4 to me. And I’m sure others feel the same way.
You, too, can use my Starbucks example as a way to add value to your products and services. By creating new “products” for your company, you can help off-set your prices and give customers additional reasons why they should use your service or buy your product.
Adding Value to Your Services and Products
Now you’re probably wondering—how do I add value to my business? And my response would be—the best way to add value is to figure out what your customers need and give it to them for “free.”
As a business owner or Human Resources (HR) person, you obviously know your company extremely well, but do you know your customers as well? If you do, that’s great. Now you can start to discover what they need and places where you can add value. (If you don’t, then you need to get to know your customers pronto!)
To help you find places where you can add value, here are some examples to get you started:
- “Provide professional tree health evaluations and treatments by arborists when building outdoor decks," CJ Coolidge cites this as an example of providing impact on customers in his groundbreaking book, The Squaredime Letters.
- A record store could provide added value to its products by reopening the store for an hour at 12 a.m. on Tuesdays when new albums are released. A record store in my hometown has done this from its very beginnings (they also serve pizza and soda during the “Midnight Madness Sale,” as they call it) and customers really enjoy knowing that they can go to the store at 12 a.m. to get their favorite band’s new CD and listen to it right away, rather than having to wait ‘til 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. when most stores open.
- A pet store could add value by offering free in-store seminars on pet care—how to choose the dog that’s right for you, how to clean your frog’s tank, how to change your aquarium water, etc.
- A pest control company could include watering down the perimeter of your house after they spread the pesticide as an added service (since most companies only sprinkle the pesticide around your house and you’re responsible for wetting it down so it actually starts working).
- A tax prep office could add value by offering free in-house seminars on important financial topics like 401(k)s or saving money for your kid’s college fund.
Do you get the idea? When you sit down and really think about it, there are lots of ways companies can add value for little-to-no money. And if you market this added value as “included in the price of the service/product,” you will likely attract more (and keep more) customers.
In my next Insight, I’m going to give some steps you can take to start adding value for your customers.